Professor Tom Baum

Work, Employment and Organisation

Personal statement

My academic interests address the social and strategic contexts of low skills employment, with particular focus on hospitality and tourism. This interest stems from over 30 years of experience in the strategic planning and development of vocational and professional education and training, as a research director within the public sector, as an educator in universities and as consultant to the private sector and to public sector, internationally funded projects across five continents. A key focus of my work addresses the role of public and private stakeholders in planning and HRD for the diverse employment environment of hospitality and tourism. Much of my strategic development work in this area has been located in developing country contexts in Asia and Africa. I also collaborate in research which addresses related areas of employment including migrant work and episodic, events volunteering.

I am currently a CI on two major international research projects. The first is the the One Ocean Hub (www.strath.ac.uk/research/strathclydecentreenvironmentallawgovernance/oneoceanhub/) which is a transdisciplinary study of the natural and human ecology of the ocean, focusing on improving the lives of communities in the Global South. The second is a Horizon2020 project focuses on new urban management models and mobilities in Europe and partnering 11 major universities. Prior to this, I led funded projects in partnership with universities in Kenya, South Africa, The Philippines and Uganda.

From 2014 until July 2019, I was the Head of Department in the Department of Work, Employment and Organisation and have previously spent 7 years heading up the former Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management and The Scottish Hotel School. I led the development of overseas partnership programmes in Hong Kong and Iran.  I have published extensively on themes relating to people and work within hospitality and tourism and am regularly invited to address international conferences worldwide. I have also supervised over 30 successful PhD students working in this and related areas of HRD in tourism and hospitality and have been an examiner for over 75 candidates.

I hold or have held visiting appointments to universities in Australia, Estonia, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Wales. My current Visiting Professorships are with Auckland University of Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Taylors University, Malaysia, the University of Johannesburg and the University of Wales.

I have been a panel member and chair for institutional and programme reviews in 12 countries.

Expertise

Has expertise in:

    • Strategic HRD planning in the public and corporate sectors
    • Skills assessments in tourism
    • Education and training for low skills work
    • Volunteer work and volunteer roles in events and tourism
    • Cultural influences on work and workplace behaviour
    • Changing work and employment in frontline services

Qualifications

I hold BA(Hons) and MA degrees in Education from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, an MPhil in Training and Development obtained while working with Nottingham Trent University and a PhD in Tourism Labour Market Studies from the University of Strathclyde. In 2017, I completed my DLitt degree from the University of Strathclyde, based on my published work in the field of tourism and employment over a 30 year period.

Publications

A review of research into tourism work and employment : launching the Annals of Tourism Research curated collection on tourism work and employment
Ladkin Adele, Mooney Shelagh, Solnet David, Baum Tom, Robinson Richard
Annals of Tourism Research Vol 100 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103554
Service quality of online food delivery mobile application : an examination of the spillover effects of mobile app satisfaction
Baum Tom, Lin Pearl, Au Wai Ching Wilson
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (2023)
'He is the customer, I will say yes' : notions of power, precarity and consent to sexual harassment by customers in the gay tourism industry
Hadjisolomou Anastasios, Nickson Dennis, Baum Tom
Gender, Work and Organisation, pp. 1-22 (2023)
https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12998
Rethinking tourism's definition, scope and future of sustainable work and employment : editorial for the Journal of Sustainable Tourism special issue on "locating workforce at the heart of sustainable tourism discourse"
Mooney Shelagh, Robinson Richard, Solnet David, Baum Tom
Journal of Sustainable Tourism Vol 30, pp. 2707-2725 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2022.2078338
Tourism work, media and COVID-19 : a changed narrative?
Solnet David, Robinson Richard NS, Baum Tom, Yan Hongmin
Annals of Tourism Research Vol 97 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103492
'It's not a big deal' : customer misbehaviour and social washing in hospitality
Booyens Irma, Hadjisolomou Anastasios, Nickson Dennis, Cunningham Tayler, Baum Tom
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol 34, pp. 4123-4141 (2022)
https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-10-2021-1310

More publications

Teaching

  • International HRM
  • Labour mobility and migration
  • Workforce diversity

Research interests

My research focuses on a range of workforce themes and issues in the context of low skills employment. My work places such work in its wider socio-cultural, economic and political contexts. I currently collaborate with colleagues in Australia, China, Hong Kong and New Zealand on projects relating to the first job experiences of teenagers; the future of tourism/ hospitality skills and work; the influence of culture on aspects of management theory; migrant labour in low skills work; gendered work in tourism; and volunteer work in tourism and events.

Professional activities

CAUTHE Annual Conference
Participant
8/2/2023
Kansai Gardai University
Visiting researcher
9/1/2023
Benchmarking of thesis standards (UG, PG)
Examiner
15/12/2022
Labor Movens: 3rd Virtual Seminar Critical Perspectives on work in Tourism
Participant
26/8/2022
Austrade Tourism Jobs Summit
Recipient
1/7/2022
Conference special stream: Reconnecting experiences of sexual harassment and workplace violence through intersectionality beyond borders
Organiser
21/6/2022

More professional activities

Projects

Confronting customer abuse and harassment during the Covid-19 crisis? Evidence from Scotland’s hospitality industry
Hadjisolomou, Tasos (Principal Investigator) Baum, Thomas (Co-investigator) Booyens, Irma (Co-investigator) Nickson, Dennis (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2022
An Innovative Floating Hybrid PV & Hydrokinetic Power Pontoon for Use on the River Nile in Egypt
Tezdogan, Tahsin (Principal Investigator) Demirel, Yigit Kemal (Co-investigator) Incecik, Atilla (Co-investigator) Akartunali, Kerem (Co-investigator) Strachan, Scott (Co-investigator) Baum, Thomas (Co-investigator) Gray-Stephens, Angus (Researcher) Terziev, Momchil (Research Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2021
Cities as mobility hubs: tackling social exclusion through ‘smart’ citizen engagement SMARTDEST
Baum, Thomas (Principal Investigator) Briken, Kendra (Co-investigator) Sambajee, Pratima (Co-investigator)
Cities as mobility hubs: tackling social exclusion through ‘smart’ citizen engagement(SMARTDEST) H2020-SC6-TRANSFORMATIONS-2018
01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2022
GCRF One Ocean Hub
Morgera, Elisa (Principal Investigator) Baum, Thomas (Co-investigator) Cathcart, Alison (Co-investigator) Clark, Bryan (Co-investigator) Da Lomba, Sylvie (Co-investigator) Heath, Mike (Co-investigator) Revie, Matthew (Co-investigator) Sindico, Francesco (Co-investigator) Switzer, Stephanie (Co-investigator) Vermeylen, Saskia (Co-investigator) Webster, Elaine (Co-investigator) Laverick, Jack (Researcher)
13-Jan-2019 - 12-Jan-2024
Catering for Scotland's future skills needs: Attracting, training and retaining young chefs
Anderson, Pauline (Principal Investigator) Baum, Thomas (Co-investigator) Bourkel, Tom (Co-investigator)
Research Project Commissioned by SDS (CWBL)

FUNDING
Skills Development Scotland Co Ltd: £14,170.00
03-Jan-2019 - 30-Jan-2019
Inclusive tourism in the city: how urban tourism can benefit marginalised and vulnerable communities
Baum, Thomas (Principal Investigator) Tomazos, Konstantinos (Co-investigator) Rogerson, Robert (Co-investigator) Vermeylen, Saskia (Co-investigator) Dimitrijevic, Branka (Co-investigator) Horgan, Donagh (Co-investigator)
Multi-disciplinary research-informing workshop, funded through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) in collaboration with the University of the Philippines Diliman to engage with tourism from a social and economic inclusion perspective in the context of the contemporary city. Involved engagement with this theme from multiple perspectives including gender, economic, employment, human rights, urban planning, architecture, law and anthropology.
01-Jan-2018 - 31-Jan-2018

More projects

Address

Work, Employment and Organisation
Duncan Wing

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