Mapping the “intellectual structure” of research on human resources in the “tourism and hospitality management scientific domain”: Reviewing the field and shedding light on future directions

The purpose of this paper – based on the conviction that the human resource is by far the most strategic or distinctive resource available to firms competing in hospitality and tourism industries – is to objectively analyze the research on HR developed in the domain of tourism and hospitality management between 1997 and 2016. The aim is to “identify” and “represent” the “intellectual structure” of the field examined.

“Bibliometric” methods are utilized: document citation and co-citation analyses, as well as social network analysis (SNA).

The paper provides an interesting inventory of the theoretical foundations of knowledge developed around HR in the field under study by different theoretical frameworks and scientific disciplines, such as marketing or psychology. However, its main contribution is to identify an important gap in the literature in the specific area of management.

The present study has several limitations resulting from the utilization of “bibliometric” methods applied in the analyses performed. As for the implications, these are more than obvious.

The authors believe that research developed here provides – through a kind of “meta-analysis” – a valuable outlet from which future researchers could benefit, giving them easier access to the theoretical foundations on which HR research in the field in question is based. This work also suggests some paths for future development or research in the field within the context of hospitality and tourism industries.