K Thirumaran
@jcu.edu.au
Academic Head, JCU Singapore Business School
James Cook University Singapore
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Cultural & Heritage Tourism
Luxury Tourism
Scopus Publications
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
Scholar i10-index
Scopus Publications
Emiel L. Eijdenberg, K. Thirumaran, and Zohre Mohammadi
Elsevier BV
Magdalena Petronella (Nellie) Swart, Vanessa S. Bernauer, and K Thirumaran
Routledge
Thirumaran K, Emiel L. Eijdenberg, and Caroline Wong
Emerald
PurposeThis study aims to advance the scholarship of yachting in the context of wellness by exploring the following research question: in what ways is wellness created and experienced by luxury yachting?Design/methodology/approachSince the extant journal literature from 2012–2023 in peer-reviewed journals is limited on the topic that links luxury yachting and wellness, the authors drew on other sources such as books and chapters in edited volumes. A third layer of material was drawn from the grey literature such as mass media and business websites. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) method, the authors examined 18 publications relating to the intersectionality of yachting and wellness.FindingsManufacturing and charter companies in the yachting industry are focused on creating and emphasizing features onboard that create a self-caring and wellness experience. The yacht design, spatial influences and the leisure time spent at destinations on anchor can also add value to wellness. This study enables us to understand the kinds of signals received by manufacturers and the media from yachting clients. These signals relate to the types of wellness needs and activities, as well as how crews and chefs create the best hospitality experiences for their clients.Originality/valueGiven the scarce and niche nature of research on yachting and wellness, this paper explores future research areas in wellness through luxury yachting which include hospitality aspects of creating and co-creating wellness experience on board the yacht and viewing yachting as a lifestyle necessity product for all levels of wealth and well-being.
Vanessa S. Bernauer, Abhishek Bhati, and K. Thirumaran
Emerald
Kamelia Chaichi, Alexander Trupp, Mageswari Ranjanthran, and K. Thirumaran
Emerald
PurposeEmployee well-being in a casino work environment is crucial for the quality of work-life and employees' performance. This study examines the dimensions of well-being at a casino in Malaysia to gain deeper insights into employee challenges and motivational factors to arrive at practical mitigation efforts.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopted a qualitative approach involving 14 semi-structured interviews with casino employees in Malaysia. Interviews lasted 30 min to 2 h at a time when Covid-19 was raging in 2021. Responses were analysed via a data-driven approach and coded using NVivo software to delineate the contents into analytical categories of well-being dimensions.FindingsThe findings suggest that employees at the casino face challenges in achieving work-life balance. Employee's well-being suffers from insufficient break time, irregular working hours affecting family time, managing customer temper tantrums and lack of emotional support systems and remunerations altered by the pandemic. Women employees were particularly vulnerable.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings suggest a need to create better working conditions and address well-being with counselling support for stress management, a balanced approach by employers to the “customer is always right” mantra, creating promising career pathways and supervisors to have better oversight of workaholics. The research focused only on one casino and there was limited access to management departments for an organizational perspective.Originality/valueThis study adds to the body of knowledge on employee well-being in the context of a casino. It suggests hospitality and tourism organizations review their human resource practices that would ease the stresses at the workplace and create support systems to promote employee well-being. Crucially, in a pandemic crisis, well-being dimensions must be accommodating and integrative to employee sentiments, sensitivity and self-actualization.
K. Thirumaran, Redeem Faith Sabacan, Zahra Pourabedin, Hong Hanh Nguyen, Haejin Jang, Benedict Atkinson, and Jacob Wood
Springer Nature Switzerland
Redeem Faith Sabacan, Hong Hanh Nguyen, Emiel L. Eijdenberg, Haejin Jang, K. Thirumaran, and Jacob Wood
Springer Nature Switzerland
Jacob Wood, Haejin Jang, Zahra Pourabedin, Redeem Sabacan, Benedict Atkinson, Hong Hanh Nguyen, and K. Thirumaran
Springer Nature Switzerland
(Magdalena Petronella) Swart Nellie, Vanessa S. Bernauer, and Kailasam Thirumaran
Routledge
K. Thirumaran, Zohre Mohammadi, Simona Azzali, Emiel L. Eijdenberg, and Gerardine Donough-Tan
Informa UK Limited
Chang H. Kim, Adrian T.H. Kuah, and K. Thirumaran
Elsevier BV
K Thirumaran and Dam Xuan Minh
Emerald Publishing Limited
K Thirumaran, Gohar Feroz Khan, and Jacob Wood
Routledge
Jacob Wood, Taha Chaiechi, and K Thirumaran
Routledge
K. Thirumaran, Shailey Chawla, Roberto Dillon, and Jagdeep Kaur Sabharwal
Elsevier BV
Pengji Wang, Adrian T. H. Kuah, Qinye Lu, Caroline Wong, K. Thirumaran, Emmanuel Adegbite, and Wesley Kendall
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
K Thirumaran, Zohre Mohammadi, Zahra Pourabedin, Simona Azzali, and Karen Sim
Elsevier BV
K Thirumaran, Haejin Jang, Zahra Pourabedin, and Jacob Wood
MDPI AG
The luxury tourism industry immediately conjures up thoughts of exclusivity, with access to it confined to a small and elite group of travelers often located within their own social bubble. Our systematic literature review seeks to understand how tourism scholarship has addressed the issue of luxury travel based on social media pronouncements and the areas of concentration in which earlier studies have been conducted. Literature was sourced using the following key terms “luxury tourism”, “elite travel”, “social media”, and “sustainability” in various combinations using the OneSearch online platform, the Proquest Database, and Google Scholar. Only peer-reviewed journals were used for the critical analysis. Three main thematic areas were identified and reviewed: (1) the role of social media in luxury tourism; (2) the behavioral attributes of luxury travelers’ when using social media; and (3) the methodologies employed in the extant literature, given the limitations of accessing specific data for the luxury tourism market. The selected period for the journals and articles reviewed was the last ten years, from March 2010 to March 2020. NVivo version 12 was used to decipher the themes and focus areas as well as quantify the significance of social media to luxury tourism. Drawing from these literature review outcomes, the study explores future research areas and issues that require new theoretical and methodological frameworks to further our understanding of the intersection between social media and the luxury tourism business.
Emiel L. Eijdenberg, K Thirumaran, and Caroline Wong
Springer International Publishing
Dirk Klimkeit, Chun Meng Tang, and K. Thirumaran
Springer International Publishing
Chun Meng Tang, Dirk Klimkeit, and K. Thirumaran
Springer International Publishing
Sérafin Fiala and K. Thirumaran
Springer International Publishing
RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS
Publications
Books
K Thirumaran, Dirk Klimkeit and Tang Chun Meng. Eds. (2021). Service Excellence in Hospitality and Tourism Management: Insights from Asia. Springer Nature, Frankfurt, Germany.
Simona Azali and K Thirumaran. Eds. (2021). Tropical Constrained Environments and Sustainable Adaptations. Springer, Singapore.
Dirk, Klimkeit and K Thirumaran. Eds. (2018). Management of Shared Service Centers in Asia: Examples from Malaysia and Singapore. GRIN Verlag, Munich, Germany.
Foo Koong Hean and K Thirumaran, Eds. (2015). First Class Behaviours for First World Nation. JCU Singapore: Singapore. [ISBN 978-981—09-8281-2]
Goh, S., Sabharwal J.K. & Thirumaran K. (2021). A Paradigmatic Shift in a Hallmark event extending well-being to a non-host city: “One People One Nation, One In Allan Stewart Jepson and Trudie Walters (Eds.) Events and Well-Being. Routledge, New York, pp. 70- 88.
Fiala, Serafin and Thirumaran, K. (2021). Hospitality and Tourism Management: Adopting Lean Six Sigma, Achieving Service Excellence. In K Thirumaran, Dirk Klimkeit and Tang Chun Meng (Eds.) Service Excellence in Hospitality and Tourism Management: Insights from Asia. Springer Nature, Frankfurt, Germany, .
Klimkeit, Dirk, Tang Chun Meng, and Thirumaran, K. (2021). Service Excellence in Asian Tourism and Hospitality. In K Thirumaran, Dirk Klimkeit and Tang Chun Meng. (Eds.) Service Excellence in Hospitality and Tourism Management: Insights from Asia. Springer Nature, Frankfurt, Germany,