Frank Wonsok Jee

Biography

Dr. Jee joined Western Carolina University as an Assistant Professor for the College of Business in the Fall of 2020. Before joining WCU, he taught at St Joseph's University as a full-time instructor in Business while completing his dissertation and Ph.D. in Business Administration at Temple University.<br><br>As an entrepreneur, Frank recently served as Executive Vice President of Omnious Inc - a tech startup focusing on AI-powered API and SaaS e-commerce solutions (automated product tagging, visual search, big data trend analytics) in the B2B environment. Frank also has years of experience working in the public sector as a Project Manager and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) consultant for the KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) North America headquarters and worked as a marketing research analyst for Phocuswright Inc. during his time in New York City.<br><br>Originally from South Korea, Dr. Jee holds a comprehensive understanding of international and contemporary cross-cultural issues in management and higher education. He is a Certified Information Processing Craftsman (Human Resources Development Services of Korea) and Certified Securities Investment Advisor (Korea Financial Investment Association) and also serves as an external advisor for the Korea Management Association Consultants (KMAC).

Education

• Ph D, Temple University, Business Administration
• MS, New York University, Tourism Management
• BS, Korea University, Economics

Teaching Interests

Professor Jee's teaching portfolio broadly consists of core management courses such as managerial economics, business statistics, and financial management. He is well versed in technology-supported virtual learning environments- Having actively developed and taught over 15 courses on campus and remotely across three academic institutions in the past 5 years.<br><br><br>At WCU, Dr. Jee specializes in teaching courses based on his research expertise in sport ticket pricing and analytics; SM 314 Sport Analytics, SM 361 Sport Marketing, SM 460 Financial Aspects of Sport, SM 630 Economic & Financial Aspects of Sport.<br><br><br>Professor Jee is a firm believer in the value and co-creation process of experiential learning. He enjoys developing and utilizing his industry networks to connect students with guest lecturers, panel discussions, and site visit opportunities. He has successfully mentored students in leading sports and financial organizations including the NY Mets, BSE Global (Brooklyn Nets), Tickpick, American Express, Citi, JP Morgan Chase, PWC, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, etc.

Research Interests

Dr. Jee's research agenda emphasizes behavioral economics and the implementation of quasi-experimental research methods to investigate the judgment and decision-making process of consumers' online advance ticket booking and purchase behavior in the travel, hospitality, event, and sport industry.<br><br>His dissertation "Dealing with the Uncertainty in the Advance Ticket Sales Market" tests, elicits, and manifests 'predictably irrational' (Ariely, 2008) decisional biases (i.e., attention bias, overestimation bias, price anchoring, scarcity framing) in consumer behavior. Dr. Jee's work has been published in <i>Behavioral Sciences, Frontiers in Psychology, Journal of Sports Economics</i>, <i>Tourism Management </i>and has been presented at academic conferences, including the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM), the Sport Marketing Association (SMA), Graduate Education and Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism, and Tourism Sciences Society of South Korea.<br><br>Aside from academic research endeavors, Dr. Jee enjoys working and collaborating with many partners in the travel and sports industry sector. He has helped produce economic impact studies measuring the socioeconomic impacts of sporting events on local communities, reviewed feasibility reports for sport and entertainment development project proposals, and delivered technical reports examining recurring running event participants' behavioral patterns and post-event experiences.