Melissa Baker
Department Chair, Professor, & Jaime ’76 and Cindy Pereira Faculty Fellow
Education
Professional Experience
Academic Appointments
Teaching Awards
ICHRIE Teaching Excellence Award, 2023
UMass Distinguished Teaching Award, 2021
- First Professor in HTM to ever win award
- First Female in business school to win award
2020 Poets and Quants Favorite Business Professor, 2020
Isenberg Teaching Fellow, 2021- 2023
Flexible Learning Fellowship, 2021- 2023
Lilly Teaching Fellow, 2018- 2019
Research Awards
Top 2% Most Cited Scientists, Elsevier, 2025
Top 2% Most Cited Scientists, Elsevier, 2024
Best Poster Winner, ICHRIE Conference, 2023
- Kim, M. S., Baker, M. A. How to correct customer misbehavior: The impact of service scripts and other customers’ positive feedback on role breadth and self-efficacy.
Best Paper Winner, TOSOK International Tourism Conference, 2022
- Kim, M. S., Baker, M. A. A holistic overview of tourism destination employees: An integration perspective.
Best Paper Finalist, Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality & Tourism, 2022
- Kim, M. S., Baker, M. A., Ma, E. The positive impact of mobile applications on employee well-being: A job demand-resource perspective.
Best Paper Winner, EUROCHRIE Conference, 2021
- Baker, M. A., Kim, K. The detrimental mindset of the customer is always right: Impacts of customer incivility and firm support on employee mental health and vulnerability.
Best Paper Award Finalist, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 2020
- Kim, K., Baker, M. A. (2020). The customer isn’t always right: The implications of illegitimate complaints. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 61(2), 113- 127.
Outstanding Reviewer Award, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 2020
Best Paper Finalist, TTRA Conference, 2019
- Baker, M, A., Kim, K. K. Becoming cynical and depersonalized: The impact of customer incivility, frequency, and coworker support on employee job performance.
Research Interests
Teaching interests
Selected Publications
Cain, L., Wu, L., Legendre, T., Baker, M., King, C. (2025). Beyond human resources management: Why employment is the perennial hospitality issue. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Kim, M., Baker, M. A. (2024). Sustainable tourism employment: A comprehensive overview of tourist employees’ experience from a tourist-employee interaction perspective. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
Baker, M. A., Kim, K. (2024). The impacts of organizational support and customer incivility on employee vulnerability and job performance. The moderating role of employee mental health. International Journal of Hospitality Management.
Kim, M., Baker, M. A., Ma, E. (2023). From customer’s fingertips to employee’s well-being: The impact of mobile application ordering from a job demand-resource perspective. Tourism Management.
Wei, W., Baker, M. A., Onder, I. (2022). All without leaving home: Building a conceptual model of virtual tourism experiences. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Baker, M. A., Kim, K. (2021). Becoming cynical and depersonalized: The impact of customer incivility, frequency, and coworker support on employee job performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Kim, K., Baker, M. A. (2021). Luxury branding in the hospitality industry: The impact of employee’s luxury appearance and elitism attitude. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly.
Kim, K., Baker, M. A. (2020). Paying it forward: The influence of other customer recovery on future co-creation. Journal of Business Research.
Baker, M. A., Kim, K. (2020). Dealing with customer incivility: The effects of managerial support on employee psychological well-being and quality-of-life. International Journal of Hospitality Management.
Baker, M. A., Shin, J. T., Kim, Y. W. (2016). An exploration and investigation of edible insect consumption: The impacts of image and description on risk perceptions and purchase intent. Psychology & Marketing.