Professor Dennis Nickson was an invited speaker at the recent Academy of Management Annual Meeting. Originally due to be held in Canada the event was moved to a virtual event due to COVID-19 and was attended by over 7,000 members of the AOM from 88 countries.
Professor Nickson contributed to a workshop entitled Equity Issues in Hospitality and Tourism (H&T) – Exploring (in)Equalities. The session had four sub-topics: (1) H&T, and the impact of global capitalism and transnational service work, (2) H&T, and intersections of gender and/or body related inequalities (3) Luxury H&T, and experiences of inequalities, and (4) research methods and approaches to inequalities in H&T.
Professor Nickson spoke on the third subtopic considering issues such as how the extreme class-related differences between customers and workers might produce inequalities of class; and the potential for a number of paradoxes and challenges when often wealthy customers expected exceptional service and a high-quality experience, which is often offered by less well-off workers often with precarious work arrangements.