Hospitality Marketing Research Recent Trends and Future Directions

International Journal of Hospitality Management 31 (2012) 477488
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
International Journal of Hospitality Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijhosman
Hospitality marketing research: Recent trends and future directions

Nathaniel D. Line a, , Rodney C. Runyan b,1
a
The University of Tennessee Knoxville (USA), Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management, 220a Jessie Harris Building, 1215 West Cumberland, Knoxville, TN 37996-1911, United
States
b
The University of Tennessee Knoxville (USA), Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management, 245 Jessie Harris Building, 1215 West Cumberland, Knoxville, TN 37996-1911, United
States
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Keywords:
Hospitality marketing
Literature review
Synthesis
Content analysis
Research directions
a b s t r a c t
This article reviews the hospitality marketing research published in four top hospitality journals from
2008 to 2010 for the purposes of identifying signicant trends and gaps in the literature. A total of
274 articles are reviewed and classied based on research topic, industry focus, and analysis technique
as well as on a number of other methodological criteria. Signicant topical and methodological trends
are discussed. Important topical trends are synthesized and specic directions for future research are
proposed. We conclude with the presentation and discussion of an organizational framework for future
hospitality marketing research.
2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
1. Introduction
Periodically, it is necessary for scholars to review their eld in
terms of an overall progression of the literature. Since 1992, three
published studies have analyzed the hospitality marketing literature in an effort to capture temporal trends in subject/focus and
methodology. Crawford-Welch and McCleary (1992) were the rst
to undertake such a task, reviewing articles from 1983 to 1989.
Bowen and Sparks (1998) updated this study, reviewing hospitality
journals from 1990 to 1997. Most recently, Oh et al. (2004) reviewed
the literature for the period of 20022003. Thus, since 1992, the
trend within the hospitality literature has been to review and
synthesize relevant articles approximately once every six years.
Because the most recent review appeared in 2004, we suggest an
update. More importantly we assert that, due to time needed to
conduct research and navigate the journal review process, the synthesis conducted by Oh and colleagues was likely based on research
conducted during the last millennium. That is, manuscripts published in 20022003 were likely based on research designed and
executed prior to the year 2000. Since that time, we have seen dramatic changes in world markets (e.g., the growth of e-commerce,
attacks of September 11, 2001, and increased globalization). Thus,
in addition to an updated review of the literature, there is also need
for an assessment of how hospitality scholars have adapted to the
extensive market changes impacting the eld.
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 865 974 6243/363 7895; fax: +1 865 974 5236.
E-mail addresses: nline@utk.edu (N.D. Line), rrunyan@utk.edu (R.C. Runyan).
1
Tel.: +1 865 974 4594; fax: +1 865 974 5236.
0278-4319/$ see front matter 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2011.07.006
This study reviews the research published in selected hospitality

journals from the years 20082010. We limit the articles selected to
those with a focus on hospitality marketing. As did Oh et al. (2004),
we dene the scope of hospitality marketing as inclusive of any
research relating to marketings function and/or its environment.
Marketing research articles are also included. Articles meeting one
or more of these criteria are categorized according to research focus
and target industry. Additionally, six methodological dimensions
are identied and categorized.
The purpose of this research is twofold. First, we review the literature and compare our results to the ndings of Oh et al. (2004)
to bring the literature current. Relevant similarities and distinctions among trends are discussed, and future research directions
are proposed. Second, we synthesize this research emphasizing the
most popular topics and trends. From these analyses, we present an
overall state of the literature and propose potential directions for
future research. It is our hope that readers of this article will better
understand the current state of hospitality marketing research and
begin to conceptualize studies that will advance the literature for
scholars and practitioners alike.
2. Methods
We rst identied the leading journals in the hospitality eld.
To this end, we selected the top four journals per McKercher et al.s
(2006) rankings; Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (CHQ), International
Journal of Hospitality Management (IJHM), Journal of Hospitality &
Tourism Research (JHTR), and International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM). According to McKercher et al.
(2006), only these four journals rated 50% or higher in terms
478
N.D. Line, R.C. Runyan / International Journal of Hospitality Management 31 (2012) 477488
of aggregate importance. Additionally, these journals are mostly

consistent with the journals reviewed by Oh et al. (2004). The
only difference is our use of IJCHM instead of Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing. From these journals, we identied a
total of 496 articles published between January 2008 and May
2010. Of this total, 274 (55%) were deemed relevant to hospitality
marketing.
The next step was to identify the topical focus of each article. Before coding the articles, a coding scheme was developed
to ensure that (1) a comprehensive list of marketing topics was
selected and (2) our results could be meaningfully compared to
those of Oh et al. (2004). The coding scheme was largely based
on Oh et al.s (2004) instrument, although some categories were
further broken down to allow for a more ne-grained assessment. In general, these changes reect macro-shifts in the focus
of the hospitality marketing environment as suggested by journal content. Use of post hoc analyses for the purposes of category
generation are commonly reported in literature review endeavors (e.g., Oh et al., 2004; Runyan and Droge, 2008; Werner, 2002).
In approaching the coding schematic in this way, we were able
to dene the topical focus more narrowly for synthesizing purposes, while keeping intact the most recent metric for comparison
purposes.
In order to ensure a valid instrument, we sent a copy to an
expert in the eld of hospitality and tourism marketing for further
review. Based on the experts feedback and the post hoc identication of emergent trends, several changes were made to Oh et al.s
(2004) codebook. For example, whereas Oh et al. (2004) had only
one category for e-commerce topics, our codebook incorporates an
electronic marketing subcategory with four distinct topical foci:
corporate website design, e-distribution, technology adoption, and
social media/networking. A similar process was followed for the
PR/crisis management, demand/pricing/selling, and internal marketing categories (see Table 1).
Both authors were involved in each step of the process for selecting relevant articles (i.e., identication and inclusion/exclusion) as
well as in all decisions pertaining to category modications. Any
disagreement was discussed and ultimately agreed upon by both
authors. In the subsequent coding process, articles were coded into
the selected categories based on keywords and title/abstract content. In cases where this information was not sufcient for the
assignment of an article to one (and only one) category, the article
in question was discussed until agreement was reached as to its
appropriate classication.
After the topical review, we reviewed the context in which the
research was applied. Such an analysis is important, as marketing applications are not homogenous across industries. While some
marketing topics may be highly pursued within a certain industry,
the same topic may be under-researched in others. The industryfocus analysis is intended to document such instances as well as to
identify under-researched industries.
The methodological review includes an analysis of six components. We coded each article based on the type of research
(empirical or conceptual), study design, sampling frame, sample
size, response rate, and the main analysis used for each study.
Using Oh et al. (2004) as a framework, we added several categories to the study design and sample type analyses. For example,
we created separate categories for interview/focus group and case
study/content methodologies. Similarly, we expanded the sampling frame category to include several groups that were not used
by Oh et al. (2004) and added a not applicable code for the sample size and response rate categories. Finally, rather than omitting
studies that, by design, do not necessitate sampling, we created a
separate category to keep track of such occurrences. Additionally,
quota samples and non-random convenience samples were coded
separately.
Table 1
Hospitality marketing literature: topical focus analysis.
Marketing environment
Consumer perceptions
Perceived value
Perceived risk/safety
Satisfaction
Expectations
Service quality
Performance evaluation/service encounter
Employeecustomer relationships
Experiential value
Persuasion
Dissonance
Consumer characteristics
Decision making
Motivation
Information search
Novelty/variety seeking
Attitude
Marketing functions
Management, planning, and strategy
Market segmentation/positioning/targeting
Consumer relationship marketing/loyalty
General marketing strategies
Business relationship management
Physical distribution/franchising
Branding/brand extensions
Electronic marketing
Website
E-distribution/travel websites
Technology adoption
Social media/networking
Public relations
Crisis management
Green initiatives
CSR
Internal marketing
Empowerment/training
Employee relationships
Employee behavior/satisfaction
Hiring
Demand, pricing, and selling
Personal selling
Forecasting
Pricing/revenue management
Sales promotions
Advertising
Marketing research
Research methodology
Information technology
Theory/philosophy of science
101
77
11
2
24
4
12
9
9
6
0
0
24
12
6
0
1
5
170
54
11
10
10
5
7
11
19
6
6
7
0
20
3
8
9
47
7
2
35
3
30
1
5
18
2
4
3
1
2
0
36.9
28.1
4.0
0.7
8.8
1.5
4.4
3.3
3.3
2.2
0.0
0.0
8.8
4.4
2.2
0.0
0.4
1.8
62.0
19.7
4.0
3.6
3.6
1.8
2.6
4.0
6.9
2.2
2.2
2.6
0.0
7.3
1.1
2.9
3.3
17.2
2.6
0.7
12.8
1.1
10.9
0.4
1.8
6.6
0.7
1.5
1.1
0.4
0.7
0.0
3. Topical review
Oh et al. (2004) used the classication scheme employed by
the Journal of Marketing for its published studies. Using a similar three-tiered coding schema, we rst classied each study as
relevant to marketings environment, function, or research. These
categories were then organized into subcategories and, nally, by
topic. Table 1 shows the number of studies coded into each category, subcategory, and topic as well as the percentage of the total
that each component respectively occupies. Readers should note
that, for the purposes of appropriately comparing our results to previous ndings, percentages (and percent changes) are reported in
terms of the total number of hospitality marketing articles included
in the pertinent time period, not the total number of articles published within the selected timeframe.
Our ndings for the overall classication of articles published
between 2008 and 2010 are almost identical to the ndings of Oh
et al. (2004). Current topics relating to the marketing environment
and the marketing function comprised 36.9% and 62% of the total,
respectively. Marketing research topics accounted for only 1.1% of
the total. Oh et al. (2004) noted a similar pattern of 35.1%, 62.9%,

and 2%, respectively, suggesting that the overall composition of the
literature has remained unchanged in the time elapsed between the
two studies. We discuss the contents of each topic in the following
sections.
3.1. Marketing environment
Regarding the marketing environment, Oh et al. (2004) and
Bowen and Sparks (1998) allowed for one subcategory of the
marketing environment, consumer behavior. Our analysis separates this category into two dimensions, consumer perceptions
and consumer characteristics. Although the overall topical composition remains similar, we added categories for decision-making,
employee-customer relationships, and experiential value (as
necessitated by post hoc analysis). Comparing their results for consumer behavior literature to the ndings of Bowen and Sparks
(1998), Oh et al. (2004) found that such literature had experienced
vibrant growth (p. 428) in the period between their respective
analyses (+14.4%). Because consumer behavior research has only
increased 1.8% in the years since, our analysis indicates that this
growth has stabilized.
However, while the growth of consumer behavior research
appears to have leveled out, its topical composition has shifted
in several important ways. While customer satisfaction is still the
most widely pursued topic in the marketing environment literature
(8.8%), the percentage of articles dealing with satisfaction issues has
declined by 4.6%, the greatest decrease for any topic in the category.
Similarly, research on performance evaluations/service encounters
(3.3%) decreased by 2.9%. These decreases were offset by growth
in other categories that received comparatively less attention in
20022003. Most notably, perceived value and attitude/motivation
research each appears a total of 11 times. Neither of these topics was
represented in the previous review, indicating a growth in interest
in each. Research on decision making (4.4%) also increased by 2.3%.
Finally, we note that, similar to the previously reviewed period,
the study of novelty/variety seeking behavior, information search,
and persuasion (n = 1, n = 0, and n = 0, respectively) were underrepresented in our review. Given that these topics have not been
extensively studied over the last decade, future research should
assess the degree to which these areas are still relevant to hospitality marketers.
3.2. Marketing functions
Studies on the function of marketing were separated into
subcategories:
management/planning/strategy;
elecve
tronic marketing; public relations; internal marketing; and
demand/pricing/selling. Although this sub-categorization scheme
is more specically dened than that of Oh et al. (2004), the
component categories are still largely the same. While the amount
of research on marketing functions (62%) has remained virtually
unchanged since the previous analysis, the internal composition
of the category has shifted. Oh et al. (2004) determined that topics
making up management, planning, and strategy accounted for
35.3% of the sampled articles. Our analysis indicates that this
percentage has decreased by one half to 17.6%. This decrease
can primarily be attributed to decreases in the segmentation,
positioning, and targeting literature (11.1%) and CRM/loyalty
literature (6.7%). Thus, research seems to be shifting away from
the management/planning/strategy domain in favor of topics such
as PR (+5.2%), internal marketing (+14.1%), and pricing/revenue
management (+4.5%).
The most notable of these shifts is the increase in internal
marketing (IM) literature. Because this topic occupies a broad conceptual domain, a brief discussion of our conceptualization of IM is
479
Table 2
Hospitality marketing literature: target industry analysis.
Target industry
Tour/recreation services
Hotel/lodging
Cruise lines
Restaurant/foodservice
Private club
Festival/event
Spa
Resort/timeshare
Convention/conference
Hospital
Theme park
Casino
Airline
General/multiple industries
4
110
0
87
2
18
2
2
5
2
2
12
4
24
1.5
40.1
0.0
31.8
0.7
6.6
0.7
0.7
1.8
0.7
0.7
4.4
1.5
8.8
warranted. Depending on the research focus, IM-related literature

could be classied as either a management or marketing issue. Thus,
care was taken to include in our review only those studies that consider IM within a marketing context. Specically, we adopt Georges
(1990) denition of IM as a strategic weapon to help achieve high
quality service delivery and thereby achieve greater customer satisfaction (p. 63). Thus, all of the literature classied as IM-focused
was determined to have some bearing on customer satisfaction.
Following this denition, we identied 47 articles as having an
IM focus, an increase of 14.1% from 20022003. Of these 47 articles, a majority (n = 35) focused on employee behavior/satisfaction.
The remaining three classications, empowerment/training (n = 7),
employee relationships (n = 2), and hiring (n = 3), account for the
other 12 IM-focused articles. In their review, Bowen and Sparks
(1998) note a lack of empirically based studies that address internal marketing (p. 134) and called for an increase in their pursuit.
Because Oh et al. (2004) subsequently found only one occurrence
of IM research, our ndings suggest that it has taken some time
to heed this call. Presently, however, IM appears to be one of the
fastest growing topical areas in hospitality marketing research.
Other notable ndings include a 5.2% increase in PR literature
(fueled by the growing interest in green marketing initiatives) and
the topical shift among the demand, pricing and selling literature.
Of the ve topics in the latter category, all but one, pricing/revenue
management, were characterized by decreases. Pricing and revenue management literature, however, increased 4.5% due mainly
to increased interest in revenue management outside its traditional
application in the hotel industry. Finally, it is worth noting that marketing research was again pursued less vigorously. We mention this
nding here for two reasons: rst, it was one of three categories
used by Oh et al. (2004); second, research on methods and theory
are important to any scholarly eld. The distinct absence of such
articles is a noteworthy phenomenon, a point to which we return
in the conclusion.
3.3. Target industry review
Table 2 summarizes the results of the target industry analysis. We dene the target industry as the industry for which
the major implications of a study are intended. In addition to
the categories identied by Oh et al. (2004), we expanded our
analysis to include an additional six industries that were either
categorized more generally or were not specically targeted during the period 20022003: tour/recreation services, private clubs,
festivals/events, spas, resorts/timeshares, and hospitals. Perhaps
naturally, hotel/lodging (40.1%) and restaurant/foodservice (31.8%)
accounted for a majority of the industries targeted from 2008 to
2010. Research on festivals and other events (6.6%) were the third
most commonly targeted industry (although it should be noted that
480
Table 3
Selected results from cross-tabulation of topic and dominant industry.
Table 4
Hospitality marketing literature: methodological analysis.
Topic
Dominant industries
n/total
Perceived value
Service quality
Performance
evaluation/service
encounter
Satisfaction
Market segmentation/positioning
strategy
Pricing/revenue
management
Decision making
Green initiatives
Technology adoption
Employee
behavior/satisfaction
Empowerment/training
Foodservice
Foodservice
Foodservice
6/11
9/12
7/9
55
75
78
Foodservice/lodging
Foodservice/lodging
21/24
7/11
88
64
Foodservice/lodging
15/18
83
Foodservice/lodging/event
Lodging
Lodging
Lodging
8/12
5/8a
4/7a
23/35
67
63
57
66
Lodging
4/7a
57
None in restaurant/foodservice.
a majority of this literature (n = 16) came from a single 2010 issue of

IJHM). Other than these three industries, only casinos (4.4%) were
targeted nine times or more. The other nine industries combined
accounted for the remaining 8.3% of the total literature. Despite
the relatively low incidence of occurrence, however, the presence
of research targeting these industries in top hospitality journals
suggests their relevance to the eld. Research targeting relatively
less-understood industries represents a potential area for future
inquiry.
Next, we examined the cross-tabulations of research topic and
industry focus. While we concede that not all topics are relevant to
all industries, our analysis suggests that some topics are pursued
more extensively in some industries than in others. For example, we
found that 21 of the 24 published studies on customer satisfaction
and 11 of the 12 on service quality targeted the hotel or restaurant
industries. However, issues relating to satisfaction and service quality are not unique to these industries, but rather to all hospitality
industries, and thus should be explored more broadly. Additionally,
we found that issues relating to website marketing (n = 4), technology adoption (n = 4), and green initiatives (n = 5) mainly targeted
the hotel/lodging industry while ignoring potential applications in
the restaurant industry (n = 0 combined). Other disproportionate
topic/industry research trends are illustrated in Table 3. These ndings suggest that even among relatively well-studied topics and
industries, gaps in the literature still exist. Future research should
attempt to identify and ll these gaps to prevent theoretical connement.
4. Methodological review
Table 4 summarizes the results of the methodological analysis. In general, hospitality marketing research is overwhelmingly
empirical in nature. In total, 93.8% of the reviewed literature was
empirical, up from the 91% reported by Oh et al. (2004) and the
66% reported by Bowen and Sparks (1998). Thus, despite calls
in both studies for theory building via increases in conceptually
based research, empirical study remains dominant. Additionally,
although the incidence of longitudinal data collection was not
specically coded, our review indicated that longitudinal methods
are conspicuously absent in hospitality marketing research.
Concerning study design, the eld survey was most prevalent
(66.8%), increasing 2.9% since 20022003. Use of secondary data
and interview/focus group methodologies were employed 25 times
(9.1%) each. Use of secondary sources increased 5% over the previous period. The change in the incidence of interview/focus group
n
Type of study
Empirical
Conceptual
Study design
Primary eld survey
Interviews focus group
Secondary data
Experiment
Content analysis/literature review
case study/commentary
Delphi
Other
Sampling frame
Hotels/lodging
Guests
Employees
Managers/owners
Properties
257
17
93.8
6.2
183
25
25
8
11
11
0
11
66.8
9.1
9.1
2.9
4.0
4.0
0.0
4.0
21
32
15
24
7.7
11.7
5.5
8.8
Total hotel/lodging
Restaurant/foodservice
Guests
Employees
Managers/owners
Properties
93
33.9
32
18
1
11
11.7
6.6
0.4
4.0
Total restaurant/foodservice
Casinos
Guests
Employees
62
22.6
5
4
1.8
1.5
3.3
5
1
1.8
0.4
6
5
2
18
27
2
27
24
2.2
1.8
0.7
6.6
9.9
0.7
9.9
8.8
54
105
40
7
32
36
19.7
38.3
14.6
2.6
11.7
13.1
14
21
16
15
14
46
56
88
5.1
7.7
5.8
5.5
5.1
16.8
20.4
32.1
33
22
66
48
61
13
58
10
12.0
8.0
24.1
17.5
22.3
4.7
21.2
3.6
Total casinos
Airports
Guests
Employees
Total airports
Tour organizers/meeting planners
Club members
Event/show attendees
Students/university employees
Experts
General/cross-industries/others
N/A
Sample size
Smaller than 100
100350
351600
601850
Larger than 850
N/A
Response rate
Lower than 10%
1020%
2130%
3140%
4150%
Higher than 50%
Quota/convenience
N/A
Main analysis methods
Descriptive
Factor/cluster
Regression/logit-logistic regression
Analysis of (co)variance
SEM/path
Time series/simulation
Qualitative
Other
Horizontal lines indicate a summation of subcategory results.
methodology is unknown, as this category was not explicitly identied in previous research.
We next reviewed the sample type of each study. Our discussion of sample type should not be confused with the industry focus
analysis. We characterized a studys sample type based on the
population from which the sample was taken. Although there is

some overlap with the industry focus coding in some categories, the
sample type analysis is differentiated by the specic attention paid
to the attributes of the respondents. For example, the sample taken
for a study targeting the hotel industry may not necessarily come
from a population of hotel customers. Data for these studies could
also come from frontline employees and managers. Additionally,
students are often used as a sampling frame for studies targeting a wide variety of industries. In these cases, it is erroneous to
assume that the target industry and the sample type coincide. Given
this distinction, we found that approximately one-third of samples
were taken from the hotel industry, and slightly less than one quarter were taken from the restaurant industry (specic subgroups
sampled within these industries can be seen in Table 4).
Of note in the above analysis is the nding that less than
10% of the reviewed articles collected data from multiple sources.
Cross-sectional data collection is potentially troubling given
that single-source data are commonly associated with measurement error attributable to common method biases (Podsakoff
et al., 2003). In order to enhance methodological rigor, as well
as generalizability, we suggest that hospitality scholars should
more frequently obtain data from multiple industry sources
when possible. For situations in which study conditions and/or
objectives prohibit data collection from multiple sources, other
bias-correcting methods such as temporally separating variable
measurements (Podsakoff et al., 2003) should be considered.
Concerning sample size, most studies utilized a sample size of
100350 observations. Sample sizes smaller than 100 were generally taken for studies using interview/focus group methodologies.
Samples larger than 850 typically came from previously established
consumption panels or from corporate database information. In
general, response rates were reported more frequently than in the
previous period. Only 19.5% of the studies reviewed from 2002 to
2003 reported response rates, compared to 46% from 2008 to 2010.
Despite this increase, however, we conclude, as did Oh et al. (2004)
that the general lack of reports on exact response rates in many
studies prohibits detecting signicant trends (p. 429).
Finally, we analyzed analysis methods for each study. We only
counted methods that were used to test hypotheses or present
the general arguments of the research. Thus, we did not code factor analyses used to validate constructs in a structural model, nor
did we code for methods used as manipulation checks. Additionally, because more than one analytical tool is often used in the
research found in top-tier journals, this was the only category in
which multiple counts of the same study were allowed. Our analysis shows that regression, specically multiple regression, was the
most frequently employed method of analysis, present in almost
one quarter of the reviewed literature. The next most frequently
used analysis method was structural equation modeling/path analysis (22.3%), an increase of 13.6% over the previous period. Use
of ANOVA/ANCOVA increased almost 5% while the use of descriptive and factor/cluster/discriminant methods decreased by 17.1%
and 8.5%, respectively. Such shifts are encouraging as they indicate
that hospitality scholars are employing more rigorous analytical
techniques in their analyses.
5. Synthesis of signicant topical trends

In this section, we discuss signicant trends emergent from the
topical analysis. Due to space limitations, it is not possible to discuss all 274 articles. We limit our synthesis to articles following
trends identied for the period of review. Within each topic, we
give preferential treatment to the most important ndings based on
the number of citations per GoogleScholars citation count. While
we recognize that this approach may bias our discussion in favor
481
of articles published earlier in the period of analysis (i.e., articles

published in 2008 are more likely to be cited than those published
in 2010), the reader should note that this approach was merely
intended to ensure that important research was not omitted from
review.
5.1. Consumer behavior
5.1.1. Emotion and satisfaction
Within the study of the marketing environment, issues pertaining to customer satisfaction were the most widely pursued. The
most noticeable trend in this category is the role of emotion as a
contributor to satisfaction, especially in the restaurant industry.
Examples include: the role of negative emotions in complaining/switching/negative WOM (Mattila and Ro, 2008); satisfaction
and revisit intention (Han et al., 2009); and pre-consumption mood
states (Weber and Sparks, 2009), as well as the identication of
positive and negative emotions tied to customer satisfaction as
mediated by service quality (Ladhari et al., 2008).
In addition to emotion, several other key drivers of satisfaction were identied including positive relationships between the
institutional factors of Stevens and Knutsons (1995) DINESERV
scale (Kim et al., 2009d) and restaurant atmospherics and service
(Namkung and Jang, 2008). Hyun (2009) supports these ndings
within the chain-restaurant industry, while Heide and Gronhaugs
(2009) research of key hotel atmospheric elements extend this
discussion to the hotel industry. Hanai et al. (2008), however,
demonstrated that, at least in the hotel industry, these relationships might be moderated by whether one is travelling alone or in
a group. Future studies should continue to identify moderators of
these relationships.
Additionally, four studies were conducted with specic emphasis on satisfaction within the domain of Chinese culture. These
include perceptions of hotel attributes (Gu and Ryan, 2008); the
concept of face and food appeal (Kim et al., 2009d; Namkung
and Jang, 2008); collectivism and complaint behavior (Cheng and
Lam, 2008); and American customers perceptions of U.S.-based
Chinese restaurants (Liu and Jang, 2009). The results of these studies indicate that, while satisfaction is still a widely surveyed topic
in the hospitality marketing literature, a unifying theory of satisfaction with denitive antecedents and outcomes remains elusive.
Oh et al. (2004) came to similar conclusions noting that the study
of satisfaction is complicated by the presence of numerous moderating variables. Our analysis suggests that, although some progress
has been made, research on satisfaction becomes more complex as
various cultural and industry-specic parameters are introduced.
5.1.2. Perceived value and satisfaction
A second stream of literature explored the role of perceived
value in the generation of satisfaction, especially in the restaurant/foodservice industry. Findings include a positive relationship
between perceived value and satisfaction (Ryu et al., 2008); environmental antecedents of perceived value (Han and Ryu, 2009);
and the inuence of poor service quality on perceived value (Chen
and Hu, 2009). A number of related studies related perceived value
to revisit intentions and/or loyalty. Notable ndings include the
mediating effect of customer satisfaction on perceived value and
re-patronage intentions (Ryu et al., 2008); the partial mediation
of satisfaction and customer loyalty (Han and Ryu, 2009); and the
mediating effect of hedonic versus utilitarian aspects of value (Ryu
et al., 2010).
While a majority of the research concerning perceived value was
conducted within a restaurant/foodservice setting, several studies
report similar ndings in other industries. In the hotel industry, Kim
et al. (2008) found that perceived value mediates the relationship
between perceived quality and revisit intention. Similarly, Yoon
482
et al. (2010) found a relationship between quality, value, and satisfaction among festival attendees (see also Kim et al., 2010b for
an extension to food-centered events). Our ndings suggest that,
although perceived value has been widely studied, applications
outside the restaurant industry have not kept pace and should thus
be further explored.
5.1.3. Service quality
Service quality literature appears to be less focused on debate
and application of the SERVQUAL model than in previous years. In
order to better understand the role that quality service plays in
the customer experience, researchers have turned to examinations
of employee interactions with customers and the delivery of what
is increasingly termed emotional labor. For example, instead of
measuring service quality via the SERVQUAL scale, Gazzoli et al.
(2010) used a hierarchical approach model, nding that employee
empowerment and job satisfaction lead to signicant increases in
customer perceptions of service quality. And although Nasution and
Mavondo (2008) found differences between service values among
managers and customers, Clark et al. (2009) found that empowering
leadership styles can facilitate the type of employee satisfaction that leads to service quality commitment among employees.
Extending these concepts further, Kim and Ok (2010) explicitly
focused on the customer orientation of service employees (COSE) in
order to better understand the customer-related outcome variables
associated with employee satisfaction. It should be noted, however, that Chi and Gursoy (2009) found that employee satisfaction
does not necessarily directly impact a rms nancial performance.
Rather, this relationship is mediated by customer satisfaction, a
further indication of the importance of employee-customer interaction.
2009; Gil et al., 2009). Concerning hotels, Victorino et al. (2009)

demonstrated the applicability of the technology readiness index as
a segmentation tool for hotel demand. Another two studies sought
to better clarify the denitions of specic hotel sectors, English boutique hotels (Lim and Endean, 2009) and Taiwanese love motels
(Alexander et al., 2010). Similar research was conducted in the
casino industry regarding the late life gambler market (Chhabra,
2009) and the development of the casino industry in Macao (Loi
and Kim, 2010).
5.2.2. Relationship marketing
Two kinds of relationship marketing research were prevalent,
business relationship marketing (BRM) and customer relationship
marketing (CRM). BRM was less extensively pursued than CRM,
perhaps because such issues are often addressed outside the hospitality literature. Additionally, BRM research lacked a unifying
theme. Within the CRM literature, specic attention was given to
measuring the success of loyalty programs in varying industries.
These studies addressed various topics including the factors characterizing successful loyalty programs across industries (McCall
and Voorhies, 2010); loyalty within the casino industry (Hendler
and LaTour, 2008); loyalty programs within the hotel industry (Hu
et al., 2010); and a comparison of loyalty programs in the airline
and hotel industries (DeKay et al., 2009). More general studies on
CRM were conducted in the hotel industry (Lo et al., 2010) and in
the restaurant industry (Asatryan and Oh, 2008), the latter with an
interesting application of psychological ownership theory.
5.1.4. Performance evaluation

A recurring theme in the performance evaluation literature is
the study of tipping behavior. The contention that tip sizes are correlated with service quality is still a topic of debate. Mayward and
Mupandawana (2009), for example, found that previous tipping
behavior was the dominant factor inuencing tipping rates. The
impact of service quality on tipping behavior was not identied in
this study. However, Lynn and Sturman (2010) found that tip sizes
are, in fact, reliably correlated with service ratings and that other
dispositional differences should be viewed as confounding. These
results conict to a certain degree with the results from an earlier study (Lynn, 2009) that dispositional tendencies actually can
inuence individual motives for tipping. Specically, Lynn (2009)
found that intrinsic motives are associated with larger tips, while
self-preservational motives are more closely linked to smaller tips.
Other studies on tipping found that server behavior can inuence
tip size. Lynn and McCall (2009) present a number of such behaviors that can be generalized to a variety of restaurants. Interestingly,
only one study examined tipping from the perception of the server:
in an extensive survey of restaurant servers, McCall and Lynn (2009)
studied server perceptions of customers tipping based on age, gender, and ethnicity.
5.2.3. Branding
A nal trend within the management, planning, and strategy literature is the incidence and nature of branding research. Although
branding was directly addressed, the subject was also indirectly
addressed within the franchising literature. In general, franchising research appears to be more unied than research explicitly
focused on branding. The franchising literature was primarily concerned with international diversication (e.g., Tang and Jang, 2010
on hotel franchising). Issues explicitly relating to domestic franchising, especially within the U.S. were largely ignored. A notable
exception is the work of Roh and Chois (2010) analysis of efciency
among multiple brands within the same franchise.
Research explicitly focusing on branding was loosely unied by
brand management topics. Specic applications, however, were
varied. Topics ranged from general internal brand management
(King, 2010) to the specic application of customer equity in the
convention industry (Severt and Palakurthi, 2008). Although various branding topics were explored, several unique studies provide
promising avenues for future research. For example, in a rare conceptual piece on hospitality-specic branding, Xu and Chan (2010)
unied the hotel branding literature, identifying several critical
issues that have yet to be investigated. Additionally, research on
co-branding (Guillet and Tasci, 2010) and rebranding (Hanson et al.,
2009) received only one publication each. Given the increasing
practice of both, especially in the hotel industry, these two areas
have signicant potential for future research.
5.2. Management, planning, and strategy
5.3. Electronic marketing
5.2.1. Segmentation, targeting, and positioning

Although the segmentation, targeting, and positioning literature was limited compared to the previous period, recent research
appears to be more diverse, spanning four industries. Three studies
each were conducted in the foodservice and hotel industries. In the
foodservice industry, Tan and Lo (2008) pursued a benet-based
approach, identifying four distinct segments of patrons for a specialty coffeehouse chain. The other two restaurant-focused articles
studied issues relating to the creation of wine lists (Berenguer et al.,
In their discussion of electronic marketing and e-commerce

research, Oh et al. (2004) noted that such research was in its inception phase, and that as time progresses, new marketing theories
must advance in accordance with new technological developments.
In some areas such as technology adoption in hotels, scholars
have kept pace. Four studies of the hotel industry addressed this
subject from several different perspectives. Noting an absence of
adoption literature in the hotel industry, Lim (2009) identied
factors that lead to general technology adoption as well as the
intensity of adoption. Other research was more specic in the type

of technology adoption that was measured. Specic technological
domains represented were website and e-mail adoption (Hashim
et al., 2010), biometric adoption (Murphy and Rottet, 2009), and
information system acceptance (Huh et al., 2009). Nisbet (2009)
analyzed technology adoption at the consumer level in a study on
new gaming machine payment technologies at casinos. Noticeably
absent were studies on technology adoption in other technologyheavy industries such as restaurants.
Research on various facets of Internet marketing made up a
majority of the rest of the e-marketing literature. Half of the studies for this category explored subject matter relevant to electronic
distribution from a variety of perspectives. Given the recent proliferation of the sale of travel products, especially hotel rooms,
via third party intermediaries, the attention paid to this issue is
perhaps not surprising. Taking a theory-building approach, Wen
(2009) reviewed the literature concerning the purchase intentions
of customers for online travel products, conceptualizing a muchneeded framework for the topic in general. Empirical study of
this topic was generally focused on consumer perceptions of edistribution practices and/or website specic practices. Morosan
and Jeong (2008) examined user perceptions of reservation web
sites, nding that consumers favor intermediary websites over
hotel-owned websites for reservation bookings, and Carvell and
Quan (2008) demonstrated the ineffectiveness of current rate guarantees. Future research should address the value of such metrics not
only to the rm, but also to the consumer.
Despite the increase in technology adoption and e-distribution
research, other e-marketing issues were relatively underresearched. Research on general website design appears be
declining in favor of better understanding specic website users
such as buyers/browsers (Rong et al., 2009) and the visually
impaired (Mills et al., 2008). Additional e-marketing research
included an analysis of the impact of online user reviews on hotel
room sales (Ye et al., 2009) and a study on the extent to which hotels
exploit search engine marketing (Murphy and Kielgast, 2008).
While such research marks progress, several important aspects
of e-marketing have been largely ignored. For example, despite the
explosion of social media and the emergent Web 2.0 phenomenon
in recent years, very little attention has been given to the marketing applications of these phenomena within the hospitality eld.
Additionally, a majority of the e-marketing literature targets the
hotel/lodging industry. Because research on technology is often
quite specic, especially with respect to industry application, it is
often difcult to generalize ndings across industries. We suggest
that future research expand discussions of e-marketing to include
other industries, especially the restaurant/foodservice industry.
5.4. Public relations

Public relations issues such as green marketing and corporate
social responsibility appear to have experienced growth, perhaps
owing to the recent shift in the overall business climate towards
more sustainable (Chabowski et al., 2010) and socially responsible (Wagner et al., 2009) behavior. As many of these issues are
still in the early stages of research development, most studies
were exploratory in nature. Research in this category was mainly
focused on issues related the development of green and/or socially
responsible goals and how the implementation of policy may affect
corporate goals. In general, results suggest that such practices can
be attributed to favorable rm-level outcomes across industries.
Increased CSR in general was found to have positive impacts on the
hotel industry (Kang et al., 2010; Lee and Park, 2009), the restaurant industry (Kang et al., 2010), the airline industry (Lee and Park,
2010), and the casino industry (Lee and Park, 2009).
483
Despite the increase in such research, opportunities for growth

exist. First, future research should address green/CSR-related issues
not only from industry implementation and performance perspectives but also from a customer perspective. Relatively little is known
regarding the effect of such practices on customer satisfaction,
brand image, etc. (see Lee and Heo, 2009). Second, while PR literature was more contextually diverse than other emerging topics
such as e-marketing, specic study of PR in restaurant/foodservice
industry has lagged behind. Finally, very little attention has been
paid to marketing issues related to strategy and crisis management policy shifts in response to the events of September 11, 2001.
Indeed, only two such studies appear: Vassilikopoulou et al. (2009)
on crisis management in the hotel industry, and Eisendrath et al.
(2008) on the effects of the attacks on the Las Vegas gaming industry.
5.5. Demand, pricing, and selling
The study of demand, pricing, and selling largely decreased
across the component categories. Personal selling, advertising,
sales promotion, and forecasting topics combined accounted for
4.4% of the total literature and 40% of the literature specic to
demand, pricing, and selling. By contrast, pricing and revenue
management, due to the growth of revenue management as an
academic pursuit (Anderson and Xie, 2009) accounted for 6.6%
of the total literature and 60% of the category. Traditionally, revenue management has been practiced in the hotel and airline
industries (Cross et al., 2009), though recently its application has
spread to restaurants (Thompson, 2009), spas (Kimes and Singh,
2008), and even theme parks (Heo and Lee, 2009). The extension
of revenue management to industries other than hotels and airlines is a positive trend in the literature. Key questions still exist,
however, such as whether its practice is even benecial in all industries (Thompson, 2009). Additionally, issues of fairness perception
regarding specic revenue management tactics should continue to
be explored, with particular attention paid to moderating factors
(e.g., Beldona and Kwansa, 2008).
Although only one study on revenue management explicitly targeted the hotel industry (Noone and Mattila, 2009), general pricing
research concerning hotels was more common. For example, noting
the skewed distribution of hotel prices, Hung et al. (2010) conducted a study on pricing determinants using quantile regression
analysis. Yang et al. (2009) modied the model of Kano et al. (1984)
in an analysis of strategic pricing policy, while Van der Rest and
Harris (2008) modied Nashs (1975) decision rule in a study on
imperfect pricing. More generally, Enz et al. (2009) conducted a 6year analysis of the hotel industry, investigating the dynamics of
price in relation to demand and revenue. As with revenue management, we suggest that pricing research not be limited to the
hotel industry. The unique pricing structures of spas, casinos, theme
parks, etc. present interesting avenues for future research.
5.6. Internal marketing
5.6.1. Job satisfaction
The study of internal marketing represented the largest increase
of any marketing subcategory, with growth largely due to the
proliferation of research on topics relating to employee behavior and satisfaction. Indeed, most of the research in this category
that did not specically operationalize job satisfaction focused on
the idea indirectly via considerations of stress, workfamily conict, motivations, performance, turnover, etc. The growth of this
research stream indicates an increased belief that internal issues
of employee satisfaction and quality of work life (e.g., Kandasamy
and Ancheri, 2009) have a direct impact on customer satisfaction
and retention.
484
A relatively large amount of attention was given to the roles

of stress and conict as antecedents of job satisfaction. This issue
was approached from several angles, providing a relatively thorough discussion of the topic. Kim et al.s (2009b) research on the
moderating role of gender and organizational levels in the stresssatisfaction relationship found that the effect of role stress on job
satisfaction is greater for female and supervisory employees than
for male and non-supervisory employees. General personality factors were also found to inuence the stressorstrain relationship
(Young and Corsun, 2009) while workfamily/familywork conict perceptions were found to subsequently increase turnover
intentions (Karatepe and Uludag, 2008). Chiang et al. (2010),
however, demonstrated that job-related demands need not be
inherently stressful, especially when the employee receives sufcient worklife balance support from his or her organization.
Studying the other side of this relationship, Karatepe and Bekteshi
(2008) similarly demonstrated the positive role of family social
support. Rounding out this research stream, Wong and Ko (2009)
used qualitative methods to outline the critical factors necessary
for the implementation of a successful worklife balance program.
Thus, over the course of our relatively short analytical period,
antecedents and outcomes of stress/conictsatisfaction relationships were studied empirically, and an organizational approach
to worklife balance was proposed. In the future, this stream of
research would benet from further exploration of moderating factors that affect the relationship between employee stress/strain
and performance. A better understanding of the role that personality and other work- or non-work related variables play in
mitigating the effects of stressors and strains on employee behavior/performance is a key area for future empirical research.
5.6.2. Organizational citizenship behavior

A second stream of internal marketing research focused on
issues of commitment and organizational citizenship behavior
(OCB). As with stress and conict, a number of nomological relationships were examined with at least the implicit assumption
that such constructs affect job satisfaction. OCB was generally considered within the context of organizational attributes, beginning
with Raubs (2008) demonstration of the negative impacts of a centralized organizational structure on OCB. Subsequently, Kim et al.
(2009c) and Kim et al. (2010a) both studied OCB within the context
of leader-member exchange (LMX) relationships and came to similar conclusions as did Raub (2008). Likewise, Kim et al. (2010a)
demonstrated the mediating role of envy in LMX relationships.
In addition to managerial relationships, Cho and Johanson (2008)
demonstrated the impact of employee/organizational commitment
on OCB. Other studies considered OCB and/or commitment in an
exogenous role. For example, Fisher et al. (2010) found that hotel
nancial performance levels differed based on organizational levels
of commitment, job satisfaction, and OCB.
Research conducted at the individual level emphasized
employee motivation and empowerment. Issues related to the
global economic downturn (Cheng-Hua et al., 2009) and service
delivery as a competitive advantage (Chiang and Jang, 2008; Wong
and Ko, 2009) raised several questions concerning the unique
nature of employment within the hospitality industry, particularly
hotels. Although many of these studies continue to be problembased in terms of connecting employment practices with outcome
variables such as satisfaction and productivity, Chiang and Jang
(2008) undertook a unique endeavor to build a theory of motivation
specic to hotel employees. Using an expectancy theory of motivation, they established a ve-component theory explaining the
process of motivating hotel employees. We suggest future research
address the issue of theory building for all areas of hospitality marketing, a topic to which we return in the conclusion.
Practice
Marketing
Environment
Theory
P ra c ti c e
P r a cti ce
Fig. 1. Structure of hospitality marketing research.
5.6.3. Emotional labor

Finally, we turn to the emerging eld of emotional labor. Compared to previously discussed topics, this area represents one of
the newest elds of inquiry within the hospitality literature (Kim,
2008). The impacts of emotional labor, typically dened as the
effort, planning, and control needed to express organizationally
desired emotion during interpersonal transactions (Morris and
Feldman, 1996), are particularly relevant to the hospitality industry where many individuals are paid to deliver service with a
smile (e.g., Karatepe and Aleshinloye, 2009; Kim, 2008). As such,
researchers are increasingly studying the effects of emotional labor
on employee engagement and burnout. Until recently, these two
constructs were perceived to be on opposite ends of a continuum. Recent research, however, suggests that the two may be
conceptually distinct (Kim et al., 2009a) and supports the contention that these constructs are unique entities with distinct
antecedents (e.g., DiPietro and Pizam, 2008 on employee alienation
and burnout; Karatepe and Olugbade, 2009 on job and personal
resources and engagement; Shani and Pizam, 2009 on work-related
depression and burnout). Future research should continue to probe
the nature of these constructs and their nomological relationships
with performance- and satisfaction-based constructs.
6. Conclusion
The emergent research trends reveal that a vast majority of
recent hospitality marketing research is geared towards either the
function of marketing or to its environment. Such ndings validate the schema proposed by Oh et al. (2004) that includes as its
three research foci marketing function, marketing environment,
and marketing research. Based on the observation that these foci
represent the three streams of hospitality marketing research at
the macro-level, we propose an organizing framework that links
each of these three foci to theory and practice. Fig. 1 represents the
structure of hospitality marketing research in a fractal-like illustration with theory proposed as an integrative component from
theory comes the empirical research that leads to practical application. In concluding our work, we discuss Fig. 1 in terms of (1) the
absence of marketing research and how this should be addressed
and (2) the nature of the relationships proposed within the framework and why these relationships should be considered as the eld
of hospitality marketing moves forward.
6.1. Marketing research
The dearth of domain-specic hospitality marketing theory is
both evidence and cause of an increasing disconnect between
marketing research and the overall framework of hospitality marketing research. We found, as did Oh et al. (2004), that marketing
research was grossly underrepresented (>2%) compared to the
other two foci. Because the topical makeup of this stream includes
methodological and theory/philosophy of science research, such
disconnect is troubling. Although we are not advocating that hospitality scholars attempt to drive the growth of new methodologies,
there are methodological issues that are germane to all epistemologies, two of which come readily to mind. First is the goal of
building a body of knowledge about a domain, and the second is
cross-cultural applications of key measurement scales used in that
domain.
6.1.1. Building knowledge
Categorizing and synthesizing extant research is the rst step
towards integrating related research endeavors and allowing bodies of research to be constructed (Runyan and Droge, 2008).
The next step in constructing a body of knowledge is a formal
meta-analysis, requiring a well-dened topic, numerous empirical studies, and common constructs across studies. Our study is an
example of such a categorization, as are the syntheses that preceded. In Table 1, we identify several such topics that may warrant
meta-analysis. In order for research to be included in a metaanalysis, however, scholars must report the appropriate statistical
information (i.e., p, d, r, f, and/or t-statistics) (Runyan and Droge,
2008). Unfortunately, it is not uncommon that this information is
excluded from nal publication drafts. Thus, as a corollary to our call
for meta-analytic research in hospitality marketing, we additionally suggest that scholars be diligent in their statistical reporting
and that reviewers and editors insist that such information be
included in published material.
6.1.2. Cross-cultural application
The methodological goal of most domains has recently moved
towards the examination of the cross-cultural validity of scales
commonly used within the domain. For example, entrepreneurial
orientation is a frequently utilized scale in the management literature. Recently, it has been used in cross-cultural settings to test
its predictive ability in non-Western settings (e.g., Marino et al.,
2002). Utilizing such scales cross-culturally is important, but ensuring that the scales are cross-culturally valid is an equally important
methodology issue, often ignored in research (Runyan et al., 2010).
The proper method of establishing cross-cultural validity is to test
for measurement invariance (Steenkamp and Baumgartner, 1998).
Unfortunately, such tests are rarely enacted. Indeed, although popular measurement scales of hospitality phenomena are employed
cross-culturally, invariance research is absent in top hospitality
journals. As such, we suggest that future studies address invariance as it relates to the cross-cultural employment of hospitality
marketing constructs.
6.2. Theory building
Marketing has long been accused of a failure to develop its
own unique body of theoretical knowledge. Based on such indictments, Hutchinson (1952) argued that marketing is not a science,
but rather a practice and that, by implication, marketing scholars are practitioners rather than true scientists. Similarly, Buzzell
(1963) suggested that marketing should not be considered a science
because it is not organized around a body of theories and principles. In the years since, scholars have refuted these claims arguing
that the question for marketing is not whether such theories and
principles currently exist but whether the conditions exist for their
development (e.g., Hunt, 1991). We agree that such conditions are
characteristic of marketing phenomena, and that it is the role of
485
scholars to develop and establish theories unique to the eld of

hospitality marketing.
In addition to general marketing theory, hospitality scholars also rely heavily on theories drawn from psychology and/or
economics. We argue that each of the three research foci identied above should stem not from only from tangential elds but
also from hospitality-specic marketing theories. By exploring the
unique characteristics of the hospitality industry, hospitality scholars may be able to uncover theoretical frameworks particular to this
domain. In order for hospitality marketing to be viewed in the cohesive manner presented in Fig. 1, hospitality scholars must ensure
that, as topical trends change and evolve over time, the subject
matter is grounded (when possible) in domain-specic theories
of phenomena under consideration. Because the hospitality industry is characterized by a number of unique attributes, we suggest
that, in addition to availing theories borrowed from marketing,
psychology, sociology, etc., hospitality marketing scholars begin to
develop domain-specic theories as well.
Because many areas of hospitality marketing research are still
problem-based in nature, it is in these areas that we most strongly
advocate increased theory-building endeavors. As an example, we
cite the literature from the marketing environment stream concerning tipping behavior: Tipping exists almost exclusively in the
hospitality domain. More importantly, it is both contextually and
culturally driven. Because the degree to which tipping is expected
varies depending on aspects of service delivery and culture, a number of questions emerge. For example, why do we tip someone who
brings our food to us while we are seated, but do not tip for the same
food delivered across a counter while we are standing? Tipping is
the norm in the U.S.A., but why is it not the same in other countries?
Are there tipping differences within regions of the U.S.A.? That
these problems are still poorly understood may suggest tipping is
a phenomenon in need of theoretical explanation.
The internal marketing literature would also benet from
an increased attention to domain-specic theory building. As
discussed, while empirical research on topics such as work engagement and job embeddedness has increased in recent years, much
of this research remains focused on the problem of turnover, rather
than its theoretical nature. Although such research is valuable,
we suggest future research should focus on the advancement of
a specic theory of hospitality employee embeddedness. Such an
approach would ensure that scholars do not emphasize the problem of turnover to the point that an explication of the theoretical
nature of hospitality employee retention becomes secondary.
In addition to necessitating domain-specic theory, the unique
conditions inherent in the hospitality industry present opportunities for hospitality scholars to contribute to theory development
in other disciplines. Using borrowed theory primarily to address
industry-specic problems has the potential to stie interdisciplinary progress. As such, we also call for an increase in research
that utilizes the distinctive circumstances inherent in the hospitality industry to contribute to theoretical advancement in those
broader disciplines from which theory is so often borrowed. We
suggest that hospitality research has the potential to make such
contributions in a number of areas such as branding, e-marketing,
service provision, and management to name only a few. An increase
in such contributions by hospitality scholars would enhance the
interdisciplinary relationship between hospitality marketing and
the broader disciplines to which it is related.
Finally, we identify a need for an increase in qualitative methodologies, especially for the purposes of construct development. We
suggest that the dearth of qualitative study in hospitality research,
combined with the previously noted lack of longitudinal data
collection, has impeded the task of hospitality-specic theory construction. Theory ows from sound constructs (Summers, 2001)
that serve as descriptors of observed phenomena, and qualitative
486
methodology is most often called for when building theory. Examples of industries that have under-utilized qualitative research are
cruise lines and private clubs. Both are settings ripe for ethnographic study. For example, because passengers on cruise lines are
a captive audience for a set but nite period of time, ethnographers could conceivably observe consumers in multiple settings
(bar, restaurant, gambling, exercising, etc.). To gain such access
to consumers in other settings would require multiple days, locations, and travel by the researcher. On a cruise line, the researcher
could observe behaviors in a single location, thus painting a more
in-depth picture for the purposes of construct development.
These are but four examples of important methodological and
theoretical issues/trends that are addressed extensively within
the marketing and management domains but have been slow to
develop in the sub-domain of hospitality-specic research. Indeed,
as discussed, much of the current hospitality marketing research is
indebted to marketing, psychology, and economics for its theoretical and methodological frameworks. However, when hospitality
researchers ignore domain-specic theoretical and methodological
issues, they cede the direction of the eld to scholars from outside
the discipline. The development of unique frameworks is essential
for the eld of hospitality marketing to move forward professionally.
6.3. Future research
Our research synthesizes hospitality marketing research from
the years 2008 to 2010 for the purposes of continuing the research
trend started by Crawford-Welch and McCleary (1992). Although a
number of issues have been addressed, several important issues
not within the scope of the present research warrant future
research attention. First, because our research focused specically
on hospitality marketing, space considerations limited our ability
to compare the incidence of hospitality marketing topics relative to other topics published in the selected journals. Thus, it is
left to future researchers to determine the extent to which topical emphasis has changed across previous syntheses. Moreover, a
worthwhile addition to our research would be to analyze articles
published in top-ranked services marketing journals that use the
hospitality industry as a research setting. In that way, rather than
taking an inward view, a broader perspective may be gained on
research trends that are currently not adequately considered in the
hospitality-specic literature.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Muzaffer Uysal for his help in
validating the research topic coding schematic.
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International Journal of Hospitality Management 31 (2012) 477488

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Hospitality Management

Hospitality marketing research: Recent trends and future directions

This study reviews the research published in selected hospitality

of aggregate importance. Additionally, these journals are mostly

the total. Oh et al. (2004) noted a similar pattern of 35.1%, 62.9%,

warranted. Depending on the research focus, IM-related literature

a majority of this literature (n = 16) came from a single 2010 issue of

Horizontal lines indicate a summation of subcategory results.

population from which the sample was taken. Although there is

5. Synthesis of signicant topical trends

of articles published earlier in the period of analysis (i.e., articles

2009; Gil et al., 2009). Concerning hotels, Victorino et al. (2009)

5.1.4. Performance evaluation

5.2. Management, planning, and strategy

5.3. Electronic marketing

5.2.1. Segmentation, targeting, and positioning

In their discussion of electronic marketing and e-commerce

intensity of adoption. Other research was more specic in the type

5.4. Public relations

Despite the increase in such research, opportunities for growth

A relatively large amount of attention was given to the roles

5.6.2. Organizational citizenship behavior

Fig. 1. Structure of hospitality marketing research.

5.6.3. Emotional labor

scholars to develop and establish theories unique to the eld of

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