Adoption of digital marketing in tourism SMEs: a review and research agenda
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present a review of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) literature on the adoption of technology for marketing with the objective the knowledge trajectory from SMEs to tourism SMEs (TSMEs) and presents a research agenda for the adoption of digital marketing among TSMEs.
Design/methodology/approach
The quantitative literature review method is adopted to analyze 50 articles published in high-ranking journals from 2011–2021. The selected papers were reviewed to quantitatively present the popular theoretical frameworks, constructs and research methods used for the adoption of digital marketing among SMEs and to present a future research agenda in the context of TSMEs.
Findings
The findings present a review of theoretical approaches, research design, methods, and models used by researchers, and identify new directions for future research in the context of the adoption of digital marketing among TSMEs. The paper presents a theoretical critique of the technology adoption theories and builds on diffusion of innovation theory, technology–organization–environment (TOE), and institutional theory to propose an expanded model to study digital marketing adoption among TSMEs.
Research limitations/implications
The article presents a significant advancement in the theoretical understanding of the adoption of digital marketing by offering the application of the TOE framework with moderating role of mimetic and normative pressures. Thus, the study contributes to the scarce research on institutional theory in the context of services (tourism) and offers an alternative and holistic perception to study digital marketing. The research model serves as an organizing tool for future researchers and practitioners to probe and further augment knowledge development in tourism and TSMEs.
Originality/value
Negligible published work on TSMEs makes this study valuable and the proposed model gives strategic information in the given context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the comments/suggestions received from the esteemed reviewers for improving the research paper. The authors also acknowledge the infrastructural support provided by the FORE School of Management, New Delhi, and Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida.
Citation
Sharma, A. and Sharma, S. (2024), "Adoption of digital marketing in tourism SMEs: a review and research agenda", Management Research Review, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-08-2021-0597
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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