A bibliometric review on knowledge management in tourism and hospitality: past, present and future trends

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to review the plethora of studies on knowledge management (KM) in the hospitality and tourism. The purposes of this paper through a bibliometric analysis via the VOSviewer tool are to analyze the current research stream and to assess emerging trends in KM in the tourism and hospitality field. Design/methodology/approach A total of 1,732 publications with 65,150 cited references were retrieved from the Web of Science to uncover the structure and intellectual base of studies in tourism with a KM perspective. Three bibliometric analyses were performed using VOSviewer software (citation, co-citation and co-occurrence of keywords); this study aims to uncover the knowledge structure of the past, current and future trends based on the bibliographic database by assessing the most influential past publication; determining the structure of the co-cited publications; and evaluating emerging trends for future studies. Findings This study produced two ground-breaking research streams inductively evaluated from the three bibliometric analyses: KM and digital technology; and innovation in tourism. Furthermore, the pressing issue of sustainability in tourism from the perspective of KM would be a crucial aspect in the tourism field. These streams would provide fundamental knowledge-based and further enhance the assimilation of KM within the tourism sector. The outcome would facilitate future scholars to link important tourism topics to benefit the tourism industry facing a competitive and challenging business environment. Research limitations/implications This study contributes to the current theoretical understanding through thematic knowledge mapping of KM and the tourism and hospitality field. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to apply bibliometric analysis to the tourism and KM field by providing a basis for the most significant issue in tourism and the essence of emerging topics and trends.

Tourist ethnocentrism: A bibliometric analysis based on Web of Science (WoS)

“…Using the recommendations of Fauzi (2022) as a reference, the Web of Science (WoS) database has been used. This database is the most used in the realm of bibliometrics (Gonzalez‐Serrano et al, 2019), it has more than 14,000 journals, and it is the database with the greatest academic impact (Mongeon & Paul‐Hus, 2016).…”

“…A lower level causes some of the clusters to become irrelevant, while a higher cut‐off point results in important publications getting lost. With the aim of setting the optimal co‐occurrence links, various simulations were performed following the recommendations of Fauzi (2022).…”

A multi-method bibliometric review of value co-creation research

“…However, several researchers do recommend using a combination of bibliometric methods to compensate for the drawbacks of any single approach (Ding and Chen, 2014; Wang et al , 2018). Taking guidance from the existing practices of bibliometric review in Management research (Tan Luc et al , 2022; Fauzi, 2023), this study uses two bibliometric methods: co-citation analysis (CCA) and co-word analysis (CWA). In the process, it follows the standard guidelines of Small (1973), along with Small and Garfield (1985).…”

Realizing potential through absorptive capacity to create competitive advantage in hospitality organizations

“…The rivalry and globalization of business have led organizations to attend to knowledge-based capabilities and utilization. As a result, absorptive capacity has been deemed compulsory to adapt to trends and to seize competitive advantage within a shifting landscape (Binder, 2020; Jiménez-Barrionuevo et al , 2011; Fauzi, 2022; Roberts et al , 2012; Zou et al , 2018). Compared with learning-by-doing, absorptive capacity enables organizations to implement novel information by generating new knowledge (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990; Lane et al , 2006).…”

“…However, these seemingly stale enhancements may not ensure competitive advantage for organizations, especially under unstable or intense business conditions (Chien and Tsai, 2021). Absorptive capacity thus holds promise for hospitality organizations facing a fiercely competitive business environment as well as growing customer demands and market uncertainty (Binder, 2020; Fauzi, 2022; Kale et al , 2019; Wu, 2020). Research on absorptive capacity in hospitality can broaden implications on how this capacity affects organizations’ competitive advantage in light of diverse forms of business ownership, operations and management (Thomas and Wood, 2014).…”