국립부경대학교 | Hak-Seon Kim, Ph.D.
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BAR Lab

BAR Lab

BAR Lab

BUSINESS ANALYTICS RESEARCH LAB · EST. 2011

We turn noisy consumer data into decisions for hospitality and tourism.

BAR Lab studies how people choose, move and talk about restaurants, hotels and destinations, using reviews at scale, location data and eye-tracking. Founded at Kyungsung University in 2011 and now based at Pukyong National University, the lab has trained 54 graduate researchers from 12 countries and publishes regularly in SSCI journals.

15
YEARS
28
PHD GRADUATES
26
MS GRADUATES
30
ACTIVE MEMBERS
188
LAB PAPERS

WHAT WE DO, WITH EXAMPLES

01

Big Data & Text Mining

We scrape and model hundreds of thousands of reviews from Google, TripAdvisor, OTAs and delivery apps, then use LDA and structural topic models, sentiment and semantic networks to find what customers actually care about.

  • Gen Z choices at Thailand's Michelin-starred restaurants: survey + big data (IJTR, 2025)
  • Korean fine dining abroad: Michelin restaurant reviews (CSHR, 2026)
  • Food delivery robot services across multiple platforms (in review)
02

GeoAI & Spatial Analytics

We combine review text with geolocation to map where tourism value is created: destination clusters, park and waterfront use, and the spatial logic of restaurant and hotel satisfaction.

  • Geospatial and big data exploration of Busan as a destination (Electronic Markets, 2025)
  • Boutique hotel experiences in Seoul: textual + geo-spatial analysis (CSHR, 2026)
  • Chinese tourism performing arts, big data + spatial analysis (JHTT, 2026)
  • Urban parks in Busan with GeoAI (JPRA special issue, in preparation)
03

Eye-Tracking & Consumer Behavior

We built our own browser-based eye-tracking platform (wtbd.site) and run experiments on menus, booking interfaces and ads, paired with behavior models such as TPB, UTAUT2 and the health belief model.

  • Visual attention and satisfaction in OTA platforms: eye-tracking + big data (JHTT, 2026)
  • International students' food adaptation in Korea, modified health belief model (IJTR, 2026)
  • Pro-environmental behavior in food delivery apps (IJTR, 2026)

WHERE OUR GRADUATES GO

Twenty-eight doctoral graduates now teach, consult and run hospitality operations across Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Mongolia, China, Nepal and beyond. A distinctive pattern is the re-lab: alumni who return as faculty colleagues and co-authors.

  • Hyun-Jeong Ban (PhD) → faculty, Youngsan University; former director of the WTBD Research Center
  • Hailey Choi (MS 2018) → PhD, University of Mississippi → faculty, Texas Tech University
  • Dat Hung Ho (PhD) → faculty, Eastern International University, Vietnam
  • Amarjargal Dagvadorj (PhD) → faculty, Mongolia
  • Laleesha Chamberlain (PhD, Jamaica) and Yahaira Moreno Brito (PhD) → faculty positions after graduation
  • Sonam Sherpa (PhD candidate, Nepal) → President, Society of Nepalese Students in Korea; first-author in IJTR

How we work with students

  • Co-authorship from the first semester; most members publish before their proposal defense
  • Shared data pipelines, code and the lab's own research tools (review scrapers, eye-tracker, score tracker)
  • Weekly research pipeline on barlab.xyz: every project tracked from idea to submission
  • English-language supervision; Korean not required
  • Alumni network across 12 countries for jobs, data and collaboration

Join BAR Lab at PKNU

We welcome master's and doctoral applicants for the 2027 Spring intake and beyond, including applicants to the English Track of PKNU's Global Innovation College. A background in hospitality, tourism, business, data science or geography helps; curiosity about data and willingness to write matter more.

Send a short CV and one paragraph on what you would like to study to kim@pknu.ac.kr. See the News page for the current admission guide and deadlines.