Hospitality and tourism management graduate receives best paper award
A paper co-authored by Jeongdoo Park, who received a master's degree in hospitality and tourism management last year, and hospitality and tourism management professor Ken McCleary, was selected as one of three best papers at the 15th Annual Graduate Student Research Conference In Hospitality and Tourism.
Their paper, “The influence of general managers’ environmental attitudes on environmental management in hotels,” was selected from nearly 300 papers presented by hospitality and tourism management graduate students and faculty from throughout the United States and abroad. The conference, held Jan. 7-9 in the metro Washington, D.C.-area, was jointly organized by Virginia Tech’s hospitality and tourism management department and Penn State’s School of Hospitality Management.
The paper was a result of Park’s master’s thesis, which McCleary supervised. “The area that Jeongdoo studied is important in the hotel industry, as hotels have a large negative impact on the environment,” McCleary said. “The results of the study emphasize the need for commitment from top managers and executives for there to be effective implementation of environmental programs,” he said. “The study found that the commitment of these executives to implementing such programs in their hotels is strongly related to their attitudes toward the environment.”
Park is now pursuing his doctorate at the University of Tennessee. hospitality and tourism management assistant professor Vincent Magnini and management associate professor Linda Tegarden also served on his thesis committee.
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