Dr. Chihyung “Michael” Ok joined the faculty in 2013 from Kansas State University’s Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics, where he taught courses ranging from Advanced Research Methods to Cost Controls in Hospitality and Foodservice Systems.
He earned his Ph.D. in Hospitality Services Management from Kansas State University; Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Florida International University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management; and a Bachelor’s degree from Sejong University’s Department of Tourism Management in Korea.
Dr. Ok’s research interests include service design and evaluation, customer relationship management, employee emotional labor and intelligence, food and travel experience and senior citizens’ attitudes and behaviors in hospitality product and service consumption. His teaching interests are hospitality services and lodging management, research methods, hospitality management systems and strategic decision making.
His 30 peer-reviewed publications include ‘Understanding hotel employees’ service sabotage: Emotional labor perspective based on conservation of resources theory’ and ‘Modeling roles of service recovery strategy: A relationship-focused view.’ Dr. Ok has been involved in 12 funded research projects and he has participated in 67 conference proceedings and presentations.
He currently serves as a coordinating editor for the International Journal of Hospitality Management and on the editorial boards of eight academic journals including the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, the Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management, the Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing and Tourism Economics.