Leading Hospitality Journals Research Articles

Developing a scale is not enough: on the importance of nomological validity

PurposeThe purpose of this paper, a critical reflection, is twofold. First, by comprehensively reviewing scale development procedures in hospitality research, a concerning lack of nomological validity testing is demonstrated. Second, the need for nomological validity testing is discussed and both conceptually and empirically reasoned.Design/methodology/approachThis research systematically reviews scale development studies in three leading hospitality journals, including Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and International Journal of Hospitality Management over ten years (2012–2021) to analyze the completeness of scale development procedures. Specifically, the authors evaluate whether the reviewed studies engage in testing the nomological and predictive validity of the newly developed measures.FindingsThe results indicate a concerning gap in the current practices in hospitality research. Specifically, only 33.3% of the examined studies assess nomological validity. These findings collectively underscore the need for improving the comprehensiveness of scale development processes in hospitality research.Research limitations/implicationsThe study offers important implications for hospitality researchers. The paper provides an extensive discussion on the importance and benefits of testing for nomological validity in scale development studies, contributing to the completeness and consistency of scale development procedures in the hospitality discipline.Originality/valueThis research critically assesses prevalent, and widely accepted, scale development procedures in hospitality research. This research empirically demonstrates the neglect of nomological validity issues in scale development practices in hospitality research. Scale development is an essential scientific practice used to create a research instrument in a field of study, improving our understanding of a specific phenomenon and contributing to knowledge creation. Considering the significance of scale development in advancing the field of hospitality research, the validation procedures involved in the scale development processes are of utmost importance and should be thoroughly applied.

Analyzing review studies of the recent development in hospitality

PurposeThis study aims to analyze review research in hospitality, identifying the structure and most recent developments in current hospitality review studies while providing exploratory insights for future research in this research area.Design/methodology/approachUsing bibliometric analysis, content analysis and a quantitative systematic literature review, this study provides a comprehensive review and critical analysis of 128 review studies published in leading hospitality journals (International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management and Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management).FindingsThis paper presents a comprehensive and in-depth discussion based on the title, journal source, author contribution, year of publication, sample size, selected period, database selection, methodology, data collection methods, themes, regional selection, keywords, abstracts and results of the hospitality review studies analyzed. The findings provide new insights to advance the theoretical and practical implications of review studies in hospitality.Research limitations/implicationsThis research provides critical insights for both hospitality review studies and academic and industry hospitality personnel.Originality/valueAs a pioneering study in research on review studies, the results of this paper focus not only on a systematic overview and assessment of recent hospitality review works but also on the future agenda of hospitality and review studies.

Tracing knowledge creation and dissemination of strategic management research in hospitality scholarship from 1960 to 2020

This paper aims to identify the knowledge creation and dissemination of strategic management (SM) in the hospitality literature using citation and co-citation analysis. A database of 10,782 SM-related articles and 306,701 reference appearances in seven leading hospitality journals over the period 1960–2020 was derived from the Scopus repository. Intellectual mapping of the 100 most-cited SM-related reference appearances was visualized using VOSviewer. The outcomes of this study show that hospitality-focused SM articles outweighed mainstream business-focused SM articles in the hospitality literature. Seven diverse SM research clusters were identified. SM research in the hospitality field is heavily focused on practical implications and relationship testing. Theory application and theory development are required to strengthen the current SM knowledge in the hospitality literature.

Eco-innovation in hospitality research (1998-2018): a systematic review

Purpose Theoretical and empirical developments in academic literature have not been able to keep pace with the growing industry focus on eco-innovation and green hospitality practices. This paper aims to address this gap and provide an up-to-date review of research on eco-innovative practices in 13 leading hospitality journals over the past two decades, 1998-2018. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review that incorporates the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses flow diagram is used to guide the data selection for this paper. The paper analyzes 403 studies published in 13 established hospitality journals to identify homogeneous research themes. Findings A unified conceptual framework is proposed by identifying seven research domains under eco-innovative practices. Even though research attention on green practices has increased in recent years, the development of conceptual frameworks, appropriate measurement scales and theoretical support for eco-innovative practices is warranted. Research limitations/implications Although the paper attempts to include as many environmentally related studies as possible, by being restricted to papers published only in 13 leading hospitality journals, it may not have drawn on all relevant eco-innovation studies in hospitality research. Originality/value To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first systematic analysis of hospitality research on eco-innovative practices that reviews such a large number (403) of studies spanning the past two decades (1998-2018). The most recent review by Kim et al. (2017) covered 146 green research studies published between 2000 and 2014; whereas, out of 403 studies reviewed in this study, 231 (57per cent) have been published between 2014 and 2018. This trend is indicative of the fast-evolving nature of sustainability research and the need for an up-to-date systematic review of recent literature in the field.

The concept of sustainability in hotel industry: current dominant orientations and future issues

This paper aims at reviewing the main literature on sustainability in the hotel industry through the analysis of 142 papers published in eight leading hospitality journals from the year 2000 to the year 2017. This paper proposes an in-depth focus on three dimensions of sustainability (i.e.,economic, environmental, social), applying the hotel sustainable business model (Mihali et al., 2012) as a framework of analysis. Moreover, distributions across time period, research methodologies employed and study locations are investigated. The findings that emerge from the literature review identify dominant research orientations related to sustainability in the hotel context, enabling the recognition of research gaps in the literature. Concerning the future, the main challenge is the adoption of a more integrated approach that takes full account of the economic, environmental and social dimensions of the sustainable development. In addition, starting from the application of the hotel sustainable business model (Mihali et al., 2012), this study proposes an evolution of the framework of analysis in order to integrate in the model the latest sustainable challenges that the industry is facing.

Scale purification: state-of-the-art review and guidelines

PurposeThis paper aims to identify scale purification criteria for both uni- and multidimensional reflective scales and apply these criteria to an evaluation of the methodological status quo of the hospitality literature.Design/methodology/approachBased on a literature review, the authors develop a taxonomy of statistical and judgmental criteria across scale levels, from which best practices are derived. Recent publications in leading hospitality journals are then evaluated based on these scale purification steps.FindingsThe authors uncover a lack of transparency when reporting scale purification practices. Moreover, methodological steps are often entirely omitted or insufficiently followed, especially when it comes to judgmental scale purification practices.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors focus on reflective scales in the hospitality discipline. Methodological traditions in other fields might lead to different results if the chosen approach was to be repeated there.Practical implicationsThe authors provide a set of suggestions that will help researchers in hospitality and adjacent disciplines to greater consensus and consistency of application regarding the methodological steps when carrying out scale purification in reflective scales.Originality/valueApplication of scale purification in hospitality research has been scarce. The authors extend existing research and provide the most comprehensive study so far of present and best scale purification practices, using both statistical and judgmental criteria.

A reflection on survey research in hospitality

PurposeSurvey research has developed to become the default empirical approach to answering research questions in the field of hospitality (and many other fields of research within the social sciences). This paper aims to reflect on the use of survey research in hospitality and offers recommendations for improvement.Design/methodology/approachFirst, known dangers to validity associated with survey research are discussed. Next, a sample of studies recently published in leading hospitality journals is assessed in view of these known dangers. Finally, recommendations are offered for editors, reviewers, readers and authors to mitigate the risk of drawing invalid conclusions based on survey research.FindingsSurvey research is very common in hospitality research and is used to investigate a wide range of research questions and constructs under study. The nature of constructs studied, the answer scales used and the nature of the samples point to a substantial risk to the validity of conclusions drawn.Practical implicationsA number of risk mitigation measures are proposed that can help authors minimise the risks to validity arising from known dangers associated with survey research. These same risk mitigation measures can be used by editors and reviewers in the assessment of manuscripts and by readers to evaluate the validity of conclusions drawn in already published work.Originality/valueThe value of this study lies in reflecting from a distance on how the survey research is conducted in the social sciences in general and in hospitality research in specific. The paper reveals that some routine approaches particularly prone to undermining the validity of conclusions may have been adopted and offers a few suggestions how this risk can be mitigated.

Toward understanding the topical structure of hospitality literature

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the intellectual structure of four leading hospitality journals over 40 years by applying mixed-method approach, using both machine learning and traditional statistical analyses.Design/methodology/approachs from all 4,139 articles published in four top hospitality journals were analyzed using the structured topic modeling and inferential statistics. Topic correlation and community detection were applied to identify strengths of correlations and sub-groups of topics. Trend visualization and regression analysis were used to quantify the effects of the metadata (i.e. year of publication and journal) on topic proportions.FindingsThe authors found 50 topics and eight subgroups in the hospitality journals. Different evolutionary patterns in topic popularity were demonstrated, thereby providing the insights for popular research topics over time. The significant differences in topical proportions were found across the four leading hospitality journals, suggesting different foci in research topics in each journal.Research limitations/implicationsCombining machine learning techniques with traditional statistics demonstrated potential for discovering valuable insights from big text data in hospitality and tourism research contexts. The findings of this study may serve as a guide to understand the trends in the research field as well as the progress of specific areas or subfields.Originality/valueIt is the first attempt to apply topic modeling to academic publications and explore the effects of article metadata with the hospitality literature.

Common method bias in hospitality research: A critical review of literature and an empirical study

Common method variance has received much attention in the behavioral sciences. Nonetheless, scant scholarly effort has been invested in handling common method variance in hospitality research. This study investigates the current status of controlling for common method variance in hospitality research and assists researchers in taking appropriate actions. Study 1 shows hospitality researchers’ endeavors to control for common method bias through a critical review of literature published in four leading hospitality journals in the ten years from 2006 to 2015: International Journal of Hospitality Management, Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, Cornell Hospitality Quarterly and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. In Study 2, empirical investigations examine the effectiveness of a procedural remedy (temporal separation) and a statistical control (an unmeasured method factor approach) with two independent samples. The results of Study 1 reveal that most survey-related publications in the four journals fail to address or acknowledge common method variance. Moreover, only a limited number of techniques is found to be used to control for method variance. The findings of Study 2 suggest that temporal separation with a time lag of one day leads to a weak control for method variance; however, the use of an unmeasured method factor significantly helps control for method variance in the model.

Environmental management research in hospitality

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review and synthesise 149 hospitality-related studies published in the past two decades pertaining to environmental management (EM). The review was divided into three main stages: 1993-1999, 2000-2009 and 2010-2014 and provided future research directions.Design/methodology/approachThe study sample consisted of articles published between 1993 and 2014 in four leading hospitality journals. The four journals chosen werethe International Journal of Hospitality Management,Cornell Hospitality Quarterly,International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. The title, abstract and the content, as needed, of all EM-related full-length articles from these four journals were content analysed. Editors’ notes, book reviews, industry news, conference papers and research notes were excluded from this paper.FindingsEM research in the hospitality industry during the first two stages focused on the development of environmental policies and practices, green consumerism, managers’ environmental attitudes, indoor air quality and smoke-free environments, sustainable development, environmental performance, environmental cost control and environmental management systems (EMSs). During the third stage from 2010 to 2014, topics about environmental benchmarking and indicators have surfaced. Notwithstanding this, EM in the environmental reporting, and green marketing have been pursued less enthusiastically.Research limitations/implicationsCompared with the mainstream management literature and considering the future development of EM, hospitality scholars are encouraged to extend their research to include green marketing, environmental technologies, environmental reporting, carbon footprint, employees’ green behaviour, the effects of EM on hospitality firms’ stakeholders and small- and medium-sized hospitality firms. In addition, more effort should be spent on developing hospitality-specific theories for EM.Originality/valueLittle has been done to determine the main research agendas in hospitality EM. A review of recent research on this topic provides an inventory of existing knowledge and points out areas requiring further knowledge exploration.

The evolution of marketing research

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide a domain statement for hospitality marketing research. The objectives of the study are to analyze the evolution of hospitality marketing research over the past 25 years, determine how the research paradigms changed over time in hospitality marketing relative to mainstream marketing and provide scholars with suggestions for developing and managing a marketing research agenda. The findings of this study help not only scholars involved in marketing research but also hospitality scholars across all disciplines. Design/methodology/approach – A content analysis of > 1,700 marketing articles is provided, with articles published in three leading hospitality journals and one mainstream marketing journal over a 25-year period. Additionally, the authors consulted leading hospitality scholars to solicit their views and suggestions on hospitality marketing research. Findings – The results show the evolution of hospitality marketing over a 25-year period. This provides insights into how hospitality has unique aspects, which can lead to contributions in mainstream marketing. Originality/value – Due to its longitudinal nature and breadth (e.g., number of journals covered), this is the most comprehensive study of hospitality marketing research. The findings of the study provide direction for all hospitality scholars as well as those involved in hospitality marketing research.

Progress and development of information and communication technologies in hospitality

Purpose– In order to enhance operational efficiency, improve service quality and reduce costs, practitioners in the hospitality industry have widely adopted and implemented information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their businesses. Understanding what has been done and how ICTs have performed in the past and are performing in the present could assist practitioners and researchers in identifying research gaps and formulating future plans. This paper aims to address these issuesDesign/methodology/approach– This study analyzed 88 full-length ICT-related research articles that were published in the period 1999-2008 in eight leading hospitality journals. The research focuses on all selected articles were in suppliers ' perspectives, and each article was analyzed by content analysis.Findings– Seven dimensions were formed after content analysis including human resources and training, security, reservation, revenue management, marketing, guest services, as well as strategic and operational management. Published articles were comprehensively overviewed on ICT usage in suppliers ' perspectives. In this paper, suppliers refers to the providers of hospitality services.Research limitations/implications– The major limitation of this study is the inclusion of only eight leading journals. Nevertheless, findings should be of use to researchers and practitioners to understand various ICT applications in the hospitality industry.Originality/value– A major contribution of this paper is its comprehensive review of previous studies and their contributions to hospitality. Future research areas on ICT development and implementation in suppliers ' perspective are also offered.

The popularity of prestigious hospitality journals: a Google Scholar approach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show that prior studies on rating hospitality journals primarily used two major assessment categories. The first category gauges experts' perceptions of a journal's quality in terms of prestige. The second category counts objective measures that reflect journal quality in terms of popularity. The purpose of this study is to introduce a new counting method that uses Google Scholar (GS) to evaluate the citation counts of the leading hospitality journals.Design/methodology/approachThe study began with the top hospitality journals in a recent study that rated journals based on perceived quality by hospitality experts. Next the paper examined the popularity, defined as the citations in Google Scholar (GS), of these leading hospitality journals. The collection of 1960 to 2006 GS citation counts was conducted from February to August 2007.FindingsThe ranking of GS citation counts for the selected journals generally followed the perceived ratings. The International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly performed the best in average citations per year. The International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management and International Journal of Hospitality Management received the largest number of average citations per published article.Research limitations/implicationsThe major limitations of this study are the mere eight hospitality journals included in the study and GS's proprietary indexing algorithm. Another limitation is the dynamic aspect of GS, which generates unequal findings over time. Still, the research findings help hospitality researchers, educators, practitioners, and students to understand the popularity of the most prestigious hospitality journals.Originality/valueThis paper is a novel attempt that uses GS for ranking popularity of the most prestigious hospitality journals.

Significant developments and emerging issues in human resource management

A review of over 100 papers concerned with human resource management (HRM) in five leading hospitality journals during 2002 and 2003, finds that the research agenda mirrors what is seen in mainstream HR research and theory, focusing around general HRM, employee resourcing, employee development and employee relations. Given that some mainstream HR academics have ‘highjacked’ topics such as emotional labour, emotional intelligence and HRM in service work as new and innovative, hospitality researchers need to reclaim their territory, push forward the boundaries of theory making and propose theory that is hospitality specific, relevant and useful.