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Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) research – a comparative bibliometric analysis and future research insight

Sandip Mukhopadhyay (Institute of Management Technology Ghaziabad, Ghaziabad, India)
Ritesh Pandey (Institute of Management Technology Ghaziabad, Ghaziabad, India)
Bikramjit Rishi (Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida, India)

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights

ISSN: 2514-9792

Article publication date: 10 January 2022

Issue publication date: 6 April 2023

2341

Abstract

Purpose

In recent times, the growing use of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) has attracted consumers, organizations and marketers alike. The objective of this study is to summarize and compare the current mass of eWOM research published in leading hospitality and tourism journals with research published in the other fields of both business and management.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses multiple bibliometric analysis methods, including citation, co-citation, keyword and co-word analysis. It compares various assessments of eWOM research published in 399 selected business publications and 398 selected hospitality/tourism publications (ABDC A and above and ABS 3 and above) between 2003 and 2021.

Findings

The co-citation analysis identified three thematic areas under each of the domains, i.e. in the hospitality/tourism field, the three themes included eWOM and behavior; eWOM and social media; and eWOM as a marketing tool. Similarly, under the business field (encompasses remaining business and management subdisciplines), the three themes are eWOM and sales, eWOM quality and attributes; and eWOM, information and consumer. Additionally, the word and co-word analysis mapped the comparative evolution of research in these two fields. The study advocates more research focusing on less researched platforms using diverse data, recommender systems adoption and application of eWOM in the business to business (B2B) context.

Research limitations/implications

This study summarizes the overall theoretical and conceptual structure of eWOM research in both business and hospitality/tourism fields; based upon which, several recommendations for future research are proposed.

Originality/value

By comparing the developments in the specialized hospitality/tourism sector with broader management literature using multiple, complementary techniques, this study brings out important insights for hospitality/tourism researchers.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers whose valuable advice helped improve the quality of this article. All errors are the responsibility of the authors.

Citation

Mukhopadhyay, S., Pandey, R. and Rishi, B. (2023), "Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) research – a comparative bibliometric analysis and future research insight", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 404-424. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTI-07-2021-0174

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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