A Singapore native, Karen has close to ten years of professional experience in hospitality and tourism consulting. With a primary focus on the Asia Pacific region, her wealth of consulting experience spans the entire lifecycle of tourism and hospitality assets, including pre-development market and financial feasibility analysis, budget reviews as well as asset disposal and brokerage. In addition, she has extensive experience in strategic consulting projects, providing advice to clients on tourism destination master planning and portfolio restructuring. She has also advised several Nasdaq-listed hotel companies on their country-specific market entry strategies.   

Karen’s main research interest lie in understanding the role of negative emotions in tourism and hospitality. This began with her study of the vacation guilt phenomenon and its root causes among employees in the United States. This study, which is published in Journal of Travel Research, was one of three “Best Research Paper” finalists at the 2019 Tourism Travel and Research Association (TTRA) conference in Melbourne, Australia. In addition to investigating how negative emotions impact tourist behavior, she is also interested in quantifying the financial impacts of such emotions on hospitality and tourism businesses. Moreover, by leveraging her extensive professional experiences, she is extending her research on negative emotions into tourist behavior and tourism/hospitality development.   

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• Tan, K.P.S., Zou, S. & Li, X. (2023). Implications of customer engagement behavior on hotel profitability: An investigation beyond room revenue. Asian Journal of Business Research, 13(1), 41-66. https://doi.org/10.14707/ajbr.230141.
• Tan, K.P.S. and Li, X. (2023). When tourists are angry or fearful: (In)Effectiveness of emotion regulation in changing behavioral intention. Journal of Travel Research. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00472875231173126.
• Tan, K.P.S., Yang, Y., & Li, X. (2022). Catching a ride in the sharing economy: Tourists’ acceptance and use of ride-share services. Journal of Business Research, 151, 504-518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.05.069.  
• Tan, K.P.S., Li, X. & Lee, S (2022). Exploring the determinants of hotel operating performance stabilization in emerging markets: Deciphering the myth. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 46(4), 742-770. https://doi.org/10.1177/1096348021996440.    
• Tan, K.P.S., & Li, X. (2021). To guilt or to vacation? Constraining effects of guilt on vacation decisions. Journal of Travel Research, 60(8), 1692-1713. https://doi.org/10.1177/0047287520966392.  
• Zou, S., Tan, K.P.S., Liu, H., Li, X. & Chen, Y. (2021). Mobile versus PC: The device mode effects on tourism online survey response quality. Current Issues in Tourism, 24(10), 1345-1357. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2020.1797645.
• Liu, H., Li, X. & Tan, K.P.S. (2019). What determines destination loyalty? Revisiting the investment model in a destination context. Tourism Review International, 23(1-2), 21-36. https://doi.org/10.3727/154427219X15561098338312.  
• Yang, Y., Tan, K.P.S. & Li, X. (2019). Antecedents and consequences of home-sharing stays: Evidence from a nationwide household tourism survey. Tourism Management, 70, 15-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2018.06.004.  
• Li, X., Cohen, S. & Tan, K.P.S. (2018) Beyond the differences: Transcultural business research in a flattening world. Journal of Business Research, 91, 313-316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.02.038.   
• Litvin, S.W., Tan, K.P.S., Tay, J.P.F. and Aplin, K. (2004). Cross-Cultural Differences: An Influence on Tourism Ethics? Tourism: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 52(1), 39-50.

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• Outstanding Reviewer Award, awarded May 2023, Asian Journal of Business Research
• Presidential Fellow, awarded Aug 2019-May 2022, Temple University
• University Fellow, awarded Aug 2016-July 2019, Temple University  
• 2nd place, 11th Annual Ph.D. Student Research Competition (Dissertation Proposal Category), awarded Nov 2021, Fox School of Business, Temple University  
• Dean’s Outstanding Publication Award, awarded Nov 2021, Fox School of Business, Temple University  
• Harry A. Cochran Award for Excellence in Research by a Doctoral Student, awarded Nov 2020, Fox School of Business, Temple University

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