Although consumer behavior (CB) is one of the most studied areas in tourism research, there are few systematic analyses or extensive reviews of it. In order to understand the research status of CB in tourism, and to trace its theoretical research evolution and development trends, we examined the CB literature published in 18 journals from 2000 to 2015, using a citation-based approach. These 18 journals, all related to hospitality, leisure, sport, and tourism, were selected from the Social Sciences Citation Index. We conducted a thorough analysis based on all the papers cited by the CB literature published in 18 journals between 2000 and 2015, and then constructed a citation-cocitation matrix. LEM software was then used to identify the most cited researchers and the most influential CB papers in tourism, to detect the main research fields and topics, to analyze the influence and evolutionary process of these research topics during different periods in the past 16 years, and to forecast future research trends. The findings are as follows: (1) Urry's study remains the most influential work on CB in tourism, followed by MacCannel's study and then Baloglu's study. In terms of the 40 most influential papers, Crompton appears the most frequently. Cohen is one of the pioneers in this field. Other scholars who have made important contributions include Echtner, Ritchie, Butler, and Wang. Some scholars are still active, such as Bigné, Gallarza, and Chen. (2) We identify five fields and twelve topics for CB in tourism. In the field of tourist characteristics, tourist segmentation is the main topic. In the field of influence factors, motivation, destination image, and tourism context are the three main topics. In the field of tourist decision making, information search, perceived risk, and behavioral intention are the three main topics. In the field of tourist experience, experience and experience design, experience quality, and satisfaction and loyalty are the three main topics. In the field of specific CB in tourism, environmental behavior and digital CB in tourism are the two main topics. (3) The topics with the greatest influence are destination image, experience and experience design, and motivation. The research topics with the highest growth rates are digital CB in tourism, environmental behavior, experience quality, and information search.(4) We construct the correlation and evolution graphical representation of CB topics in tourism on the basis of research perspectives and content. Research perspectives include self-perspective and other-perspective, and research content contains influence factors and the decision behavioral process. (5) In the future, research into CB in tourism will be focused on digital CB, experience and experience evaluation, decision making and behavioral intention, green consumption and sustainability, and tourist segmentation. The results outline the research panorama of CB in tourism to assist academics and practitioners by revealing what we know about CB in tourism and what we need to know in the future, but also to encourage the application of CB theory in tourism.
consumer behavior in tourismcitation-based approachresearch topicsresearch evolutionresearch trends
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
维普
