Karthik Namasivayam
Director | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Karthik Namasivayam's research explores the intersection between service provider and consumer.
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Biography
Karthik Namasivayam was Professor and Chair of the Department of Hospitality Management at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs at the Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne, Switzerland, prior to joining RIT.
Karthik has worked in the hospitality industry for over 40 years. He has held various positions including as consultant, entrepreneur, faculty, academic administration, and hospitality management jobs across three continents – Europe, Asia, and North America. His experiences include economy and luxury full service hospitality operations.
He has taught in the US, Switzerland, India and China at the undergraduate and graduate levels and has delivered tailored Executive Education programs for national corporates. Karthik is widely published in leading hospitality and marketing journals and is well cited. His research explores the intersection between service provider and consumer. Consistent with the evolution of the hospitality industry, he researches the impact of various new technologies on consumer experience and consumer centric organizational design. He received the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education Bradford Wiley Best Published Paper award.
Karthik obtained his Master’s and PhD in Hospitality Administration from Cornell University. He has undergraduate degrees in Economics from Madras University and Hospitality Management from Institute of Catering Technology, Chennai, India. He speaks Tamil, Hindi, German, and a bit of French and Italian. He is a keen high altitude hiker, mountaineer, and an amateur photographer.
Industry Expertise (3)
Research
Education/Learning
Hospitality
Areas of Expertise (5)
Hospitality Leadership
Information Technology Systems
Innovation
Sustainability
Restaurant Management
Education (3)
Cornell University: Ph.D., Hospitality Administration 2001
Cornell University: M.M.H., Hotel Administration 1996
Madras University: B.A., Economics 1981
Links (3)
News (5)
The Z: Guiding Gen Z From the Classroom Into Meetings Industry Careers
Meetings Today online
2023-04-26
“The role of a student is about learning,” said Karthikeyan Namasivayam, director of Michigan State University’s School of Hospitality Business. “As students, our role is to educate ourselves, understand the industry that we want to be in, figuring out all the different dimensions of that particular industry, and this amounts to both curricular—within the classroom—and extracurricular education.”
Robots – the waiters of the future
European Times online
2023-04-19
Pandemic concerns about hygiene and the adoption of new technologies such as QR code menus set the stage for the entry of robots, said Karthik Namasivayam of Michigan State University’s College of Business.
Facing a shortage of staff, this restaurant turned to robots
CBC News online
2023-04-12
The service industry is finding it exceptionally hard to find staff right now, and professor in the School of Hospitality and Business at Michigan State University Karthik Namasivayam said it'll continue to be difficult for businesses.
Are robot waiters the future? Some restaurants think so
Associated Press online
2023-04-06
Pandemic-era concerns about hygiene and adoption of new technology like QR code menus also laid the ground for robots, said Karthik Namasivayam, director of The School of Hospitality Business at Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business.
How Industry Can Help Bolster Hospitality Programs… A Call to Action
HSMAI online
2022-08-19
“The hospitality industry has always had quite a battle to fight from the perspective of prospective students and prospective parents,” [Perceptions of] the industry unfortunately are constrained to the frontline jobs, because that’s the perspective most consumers have of hospitality. What we have failed to share with the public is that’s just the tip of the iceberg. We need to bring the conversation beyond that.”
Journal Articles (5)
Chronic Regulatory Focus and Work-Family Conflict among Chinese Workers
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health2020 Survey data from 226 service employees were used to test the hypothesized moderating role of chronic self-regulatory focus on the relationships between work–family conflict (WFC) and challenge/hindrance strain. A follow-up scenario-based experiment (N = 93 executives) confirmed the results of the hypothesized model. Results from the two studies together demonstrated the moderating role of self-regulatory processes: chronic promotion-focused individuals perceived WFC as a challenge-type strain, while chronic prevention-focused individuals viewed WFC as a hindrance-type strain. Individuals use self-regulation strategically: in work domains, they regulate themselves so that family does not interfere with work.
The influence of leader empowering behaviors and employee psychological empowerment on customer satisfaction
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management2014 This study aims to examine the role that psychological empowerment (PE) and employee satisfaction (ES) play in the relationship between leader empowering behaviors (LEB) and customer satisfaction (CS) and employees' organizational commitment (OC).
The role of contingent self-esteem and trust in consumer satisfaction: Examining perceived control and fairness as predictors
International Journal of Hospitality Management2013 The paper proposes contingent self-esteem (CSE) as an important mediator between service encounter attributes and consumers’ satisfaction. The main thesis is that consumers’ perceptions of control and fairness in the exchange influence their CSE and trust evaluations which in turn effect their satisfaction evaluations. The study expands and clarifies our understanding of the psychological processes that guide consumers’ satisfaction evaluations.
The relationship of chronic regulatory focus to work–family conflict and job satisfaction
International Journal of Hospitality Management2012 The results of a field study examining the moderating role of chronic self-regulatory focus on the relationships between work–family conflict (WFC) and job satisfaction are reported here. Data from 284 hotel employees were analyzed using hierarchical regression with follow-up simple slope analyses. Results show that self-regulatory processes moderate the relationships between WFC and job satisfaction.
Customer creation of service products: role of frustration in customer evaluations
Journal of Services Marketing2012 The paper models psychological processes in consumers' evaluation of an exchange and proposes frustration as a mediating mechanism explaining the relationship between consumers' perceptions of control, fairness, and satisfaction.
