Dr Bora Kim


Senior Lecturer in Hospitality Management; Co-Director of Learning and Teaching; Program Director for BSc IHM and IHTM
BBA, MSc, PhD
+44 (0)1483 682015
43 AP 02

About

University roles and responsibilities

  • Programme Director for BSc IHM & IHTM
  • Early Career Researcher (ECR) Representative for SHTM
  • PhD Supervisor

    My qualifications

    Ph.D. Hospitality Management
    The Pennsylvania State University
    MSc Hospitality Management
    The Pennsylvania State University
    Certified Hospitality Educator
    American Hotel and Lodging Educational Institute

    Affiliations and memberships

    Committee Member
    Institute of Hospitality Future Forum (EDI Steering Group)
    Fellow
    Higher Education Academy
    Fellow
    Institute for Sustainability

    Research

    Research interests

    Research projects

    Start date: March 2021

    End date: September 2021

    Teaching

    Publications

    Highlights

    Cho, J., Kim, B., Shin, H., & O’Connell, J.F. (2023). The impact of political conflicts on airlines performance. Annals of Tourism Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103648

    Kim, B., Yu, H., Huang, Y., & Lee, S. (2023). Impact of Customer Incivility on Restaurant Employee Stress Spread and Turnover: COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 103522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103522

    Lee, S., Liu, B., Jung, S., & Kim, B. (2023). The effect of vaccination during the COVID-19 for the restaurant industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 103451. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103451

    Kim, B., & Lee, S. (2022). The impact of celebrity CEOs on restaurant firm performance: The moderating role of environmental dynamism. Journal of Business Research,139, 869-880. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.10.031

    Jang, S., Kim, B., & Lee, S. (2022). Impact of corporate social (ir) responsibility on volume and valence of online employee reviews: Evidence from the tourism and hospitality industry. Tourism Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104501

    Nicolau, J. L., Shin, H., Kim, B., & O’Connell, J. F. (2022). The impact of loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity on airline revenue: Price sensitivity in cabin classes. Journal of travel research, 00472875221093014. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875221093014

    Jolly, P., Van Hoof, H., Kim, B., Chen, F., Duran, M.E., Navas, A.C., Maldonado, G., Valle, J.G. (2021). Cultural Looseness and Tightness (CLT): A Study of Cultural Looseness and Tightness in the context of Latin America, PLoS ONE 16(1): e0246064. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246064

    Kim, B., & Lee, S. (2020). The impact of material and immaterial sustainability on firm performance: The moderating role of franchising strategy. Tourism Management77, 103999. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2019.103999

    Kim, B., Lee, S., & Kang, K. H. (2018). The moderating role of CEO narcissism on the relationship between uncertainty avoidance and CSR. Tourism Management67, 203-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.01.018

    Lee, S., Kim, B., & Ham, S. (2018). Strategic CSR for airlines: does materiality matter? International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management30(12), 3592-3608. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2017-0697

    Jung, S., Kim, J. H., Kang, K. H., & Kim, B. (2018). Internationalization and corporate social responsibility in the restaurant industry: risk perspective. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. 26(7), 1105-1123. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2017.1421201

    Kim, B., & Kang, K.H. (2013). Accounting Analysis for the Airline Industry: A Case Study of Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines, Management Information Journal, 23(1), 1-17. 

     

    In 2021/2022, approximately 16 million people in the UK, or 24% of the population, experienced a disability. This significant figure highlights the societal impact, with roughly one in four individuals facing varying degrees of impairment. As of February 2023, 6.3 million people in Great Britain were claiming extra cost disability benefits, representing 9 to 10% of the population, according to Commons Library Research Briefings. Notably, nearly 25% of individuals with disabilities are of working age (See Fig. 1). This demographic change emphasisesthe importance of recognising the potential of this substantial market segment. It underscores the urgent need for discussions on social inclusion, particularly focusing on strategies to integrate people with disabilities into the workforce. In light of this, it is critical for sectors such as hospitality and tourism to actively participate in dialogues aboutsocial inclusion and to strive to create environmentsthat are inclusive and cater to the diverse needs of individuals with disabilities.

    Seoki Lee, Banghui Liu, Soyeon Jung, Bora Kim (2023)The effect of vaccination during the COVID-19 for the restaurant industry, In: International journal of hospitality management110103451 Elsevier Ltd

    The purpose of the study is to determine whether vaccination rates and the use of franchising have an impact on the volatility of stock returns in the restaurant industry. Based on the agency and resource scarcity theories, this study first examines the effect of vaccinations against COVID-19 on a restaurant firm’s stock return volatilities caused by uncertainty during a crisis. The study further investigates whether firm-specific vaccination rates more greatly reduce stock return volatilities as the degree of franchising increases. With a two-way fixed-effects model, the study finds that the firm-specific vaccination rate reduces volatilities of the firm’s stock returns. However, the study also finds an opposite direction to the moderating effect of franchising in that the more a restaurant firm franchises, the further the risk-reduction effect of its vaccination rate diminishes. Theoretical and practical implications along with limitations are discussed.

    Bora Kim, Heyao Yu, Yidan Huang, Seoki Lee (2023)Impact of customer incivility on restaurant employee stress spread and turnover: COVID-19 vaccination mandate, In: International journal of hospitality management113103522 Elsevier Ltd

    In response to the unprecedented pandemic in recent history, COVID-19 vaccination mandates in the U.S. caused significant changes and disruption in hospitality operations and customer experiences. The primary goal of this study is to examine whether and how customer incivility induced by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in the U.S. affects employees’ behavioral outcomes (i.e., stress spread between employees and turnover intention) via psychological mechanisms (i.e., stress and negative emotion) and when the relationship is moderated by personal (employee prosocial motivation) and organizational (supervisor support) characteristics. Findings show that customer incivility increases employee turnover intention as well as interpersonal conflicts at work via increased stress and negative emotions. These relationships are weakened when prosocial motivation of employees and the level of supervisor support is high. Findings expand the occupational stress model by specifically incorporating the context of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and further provide implications for restaurant managers and policy makers. •Customer incivility increases both employee stress and negative emotions•Customer incivility indirectly increases employee turnover intention and stress spread at work•Employee prosocial motivation attenuates the impact of customer incivility on employee emotions and behavior•Supervisor support mitigates the impact of customer incivility on employee emotions and behavior

    Bora Kim, Yoo Ri Kim, Albert Nsom Kimbu, SUMEETRA RAMAKRISHNAN, Whitney Estanita Smith (2023)Co-creating Equitable, Diverse and Inclusive Travel and Tourism: Post-workshop Report University of Surrey

    Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are receiving considerable attention in the travel and tourism workplace and the overall sector. At a global level, a wide range of agreements and pledges exist to ensure the advancement towards EDI in the sector (Ferguson, 2018) (i.e., 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development). Despite global commitments, there is a substantive disconnection between global policy and practices of equality, and its absence across the tourism sector (Ferguson, 2018). Consequently, progress is primarily gradual and inconsistent across the travel and tourism industry. There are several societal, cultural and industry barriers that contribute to the continued inequality and inequity across the industry. An overarching barrier or challenge is the variation across the travel and tourism sector about how to define the terms and address EDI issues. While there are examples of good industry practices, there has been a general lack of successful and sustainable implementation of EDI initiatives, agendas and programmes. The aim of the ESRC IAA Project was to identify key challenges and barriers inhibiting our understanding of EDI in travel and tourism to foster inclusive organisational cultures, achieve representation and progression of diverse groups (i.e., ethnicity, gender, age, sexuality etc.) across all areas of management in the industry. The EDI impact workshops (co-moderated by the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, & the Travel Foundation) in London held on October 14th and 21st 2022 explored the issues through three tasks (See Fig. 1). Collectively, the tasks contributed to building a greater understanding of different dimensions of EDI and create a flexible and usable toolkit that meets the different contexts and needs of stakeholders. The findings of the workshops contributed to the design of the EDI toolkit of strategies and interventions may be used to support and guide organisations and policy makers toward achieving the EDI agenda across the sector.

    Janghee Cho, John F. O'Connell, Bora Kim, Hakseung Shin (2023)The Impact of Political Conflicts on Airline Performance, In: Annals of Tourism Research103648 Elsevier

    Political conflicts between countries can disrupt normal functioning of the airline industry, leading to uncertainty and affecting airline demand (Dwyer et al., 2013). Empirical evidence shows that political conflicts have a dampening effect on airline demand (Zhang & Zhang, 2017; Laufer, 2018), and can results in a significant decrease in passenger traffic (Fernandes & Pacheco, 2017). Airlines respond to political conflicts by implementing various coping strategies, such as route diversification, code-sharing agreements, and fleet renewal (Zuidberg & de Wit, 2020). For example, airlines may shift their focus to alternative destinations or establish partnerships with other carriers to expand their route options when facing reduced demand due to political instability (Button et al., 2016; Corbet et al., 2019). Understanding the impact of growing political conflicts on airline demand and management strategies is crucial as airlines serve as the primary transportation mode for domestic and international tourists. However, research has largely overlooked the differential impact on distinct airline business models, such as full-service carriers (FSCs) and low-cost carriers (LCCs). This research note aims to address this gap by examining the effects of the China-Korea political conflict, specifically the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), on FSCs and LCCs operating in South Korea in terms of flight numbers and seat capacity.

    Bora Kim, Seoki Lee (2020)The impact of material and immaterial sustainability on firm performance: The moderating role of franchising strategy, In: Tourism management (1982)77103999 Elsevier Ltd

    CSR and sustainability engagement is growing rapidly with ever-increasing attention. Accordingly, restaurant stakeholders now demand restaurant companies to disclose relevant ESG information (i.e., materiality) to analyze risks and opportunities that ESG factors bring to firms over the long term. As established in stakeholder theory, restaurant materiality is shaped by a firm's key stakeholders and also by the industry's distinguishing factor, franchising. However, despite their importance and timeliness, materiality and franchising remain largely absent from scholarly discussion in the field of tourism and hospitality. Using a novel industry-specific materiality classification of sustainability initiatives, here we show that franchising positively moderates the impact of investing in immaterial sustainability on firm performance. The results provide early empirical validation of stakeholder theory in relation to restaurant materiality and franchising, and show the impact of allocating a firm's resources to material and immaterial sustainability issues on firm performance in the restaurant context. •This study categorizes CSR into material and immaterial sustainability activity.•This study examines the effect of material and immaterial CSR on restaurant firm performance.•This study investigates the moderating role of franchising.•Franchising moderates the relationship between immaterial sustainability investment and firm performance.

    JL Nicolau, H Shin, BORA KIM, JOHN FRANCIS O'CONNELL (2022)The impact of loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity on airline revenue: Price sensitivity in cabin classes, In: Journal of travel research Sage

    While most businesses actively adopt a data-driven approach for revenue management decisions, understanding how air travellers perceive and behave differently to pricing strategies is essential for yielding optimal financial outcomes. This study analyses the loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity mechanisms of prospect theory in economy and business cabin classes. With rich longitudinal airfares, regression models and revenue data (15,868 observations from the top-10 aviation routes in the world) from 2014 to 2019, this study finds that lower-(higher-)than-expected airfares have a positive (negative) impact on revenue. When the effect of loss-coded and gain-coded tickets were compared, the extent to which passengers avoided losses (vs. welcomed gains) had a greater impact on revenue, supporting that loss aversion applies to the airline revenue, especially for business passengers. This study contributes to the further refinement of prospect theory by showing that the loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity mechanisms manifest differently in each cabin class.

    Bora Kim, Seoki Lee (2022)The impact of celebrity CEOs on restaurant firm performance: The moderating role of environmental dynamism, In: Journal of business research139pp. 869-880 Elsevier Inc

    In today’s media-saturated world, intense media attention propels some CEOs to stardom. This social escalation of CEOs to celebrities inherently affects their actions and strategic choices, and thus the performance of their host organizations. Despite the importance of understanding upper echelons—especially celebrity CEOs in the tourism and hospitality industry—researchers have devoted little attention to the implications of CEO celebrity. As a result, whether CEO celebrity serves as a company asset or liability remained largely unknown. Based on the upper echelons theory and CEOs’ behavioral constraints, this study uncovers and provides initial empirical evidence on how a CEO’s celebrity affects firm performance, with a detailed examination of the restaurant industry. Further, we show that industry dynamism, an important external environmental factor, plays a positive moderating role such that the positive effect of CEO celebrity on firm performance becomes weaker as industry dynamism increases.

    Phillip M Jolly, Hubert Van Hoof, Feier Chen, Bora Kim, Mateo Estrella Duran, Ana Cueva Navas, Julio Gavilanes Valle, Gabriela Maldonado Pérez (2021)Quantifying cultural tightness-looseness in Ecuador, In: PloS One16(1)e0246064

    Cultural tightness-looseness represents the degree to which a particular culture possesses strong behavioral norms, and the degree to which members of that culture are likely to sanction individuals who deviate from those norms. While tightness-looseness has been quantified for a large and growing number of countries around the world, there are many countries where a tightness-looseness score has yet to be determined, thus impeding the inclusion of those countries in cross-cultural research with a tightness-looseness focus. There is a dearth of research on cultural tightness-looseness in South America in particular. We report results from a national survey of 1,265 Ecuadorian residents which provided quantification of the relatively tight culture of Ecuador.

    Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and irresponsibility (CSI) can influence employee voice behavior in online review platforms. This study utilizes online employee review (OER), builds upon ethical climate theory, and hypothesizes the independent and joint effects of CSR and CSI on two aspects of employee voice – OER volume and OER valence. Using novel OER data of US tourism and hospitality firms, we perform a panel data regression with industry and year fixed effects. The results indicate that firm CSR engagement increases both the volume and valence of OER, whereas CSI accelerates (attenuates) the positive CSR effect on OER volume (valence). These findings can help tourism and hospitality firms implement CSR strategies for enhancing employees’ word of mouth from both volume and valence perspectives.

    Bona Kim, Lingxu Zhou, Anyu Liu (2018)Culture and service quality: the case of Hong Kong, In: Liping A. Cai, Pooya Alaedini (eds.), Quality Services Experiences in Hospitality and Tourism9 Emerald Publishing Limited

    This article uses the dataset of tourist satisfaction index of Hong Kong to investigate the impact of culture difference on the gap between tourists’ expectations and their perceptions of actual service performance. When the demographic profile and travel experience are controlled, it is found that small culture difference (Hong Kong and China) has positive impact on Expectation-Performance Gap (EPG); whereas negative relationship with EPG is identified for large culture difference (Hong Kong and western countries). The practical implication for tourism managers in Hong Kong is that service providers should manage EPG in accordance with the aspects of the culture difference between the destination and the source markets.