Airbnb research: an analysis in tourism and hospitality journals
International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
ISSN: 1750-6182
Article publication date: 11 February 2020
Issue publication date: 20 February 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine Airbnb research using bibliometric methods. Using research performance analysis, this study highlights and provides an updated overview of Airbnb research by revealing patterns in journals, papers and most influential authors and countries. Furthermore, it graphically illustrates how research themes have evolved by mapping a co-word analysis and points out potential trends for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodological design for this study involves three phases: the document source selection, the definition of the variables to be analyzed and the bibliometric analysis. A statistical multivariate analysis of all the documents’ characteristics was performed with R software. Furthermore, natural language processing techniques were used to analyze all the abstracts and keywords specified in the 129 selected documents.
Findings
Results show the genesis and evolution of publications on Airbnb research, scatter of journals and journals’ characteristics, author and productivity characteristics, geographical distribution of the research and content analysis using keywords.
Research limitations/implications
Despite Airbnb having a history of 10 years, research publications only started in 2015. Therefore, the bibliometric study includes papers from 2015 to 2019. One of the main limitations is that papers were selected in October of 2019, before the year was over. However, the latest academic publications (in press and earlycite) were included in the analysis.
Originality/value
This study analyzed bibliometric set of laws (Price’s, Lotka’s and Bradford’s) to better understand the patterns of the most relevant scientific production regarding Airbnb in tourism and hospitality journals. Using natural language processing techniques, this study analyzes all the abstracts and keywords specified in the selected documents. Results show the evolution of research topics in four periods: 2015-2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “Ten Years of Airbnb: state of the art, cutting-edge research and controversial issues”, guest edited by Serena Volo.
Citation
Andreu, L., Bigne, E., Amaro, S. and Palomo, J. (2020), "Airbnb research: an analysis in tourism and hospitality journals", International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 2-20. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCTHR-06-2019-0113
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited