Managing customer knowledge through the use of big data analytics in tourism research

A citation network analysis methodology is developed to drive the content analysis and explore the content of 109 selected papers on the use of big data in tourism and identify research gaps and consequent research questions that represent an agenda for both researchers and practitioners.

Abstract

The use of big data is growing in relevance and importance in tourism management research. Companies operating in this industry are exploiting big data analytics and developing systems to manage customer knowledge and provide the best service in the right place at the right time. This paper aims to provide a systematic literature review to present issues associated with the use of big data in tourism and identify future research directions on the topic. To achieve this aim, this paper develops a citation network analysis methodology to drive the content analysis and explore the content of 109 selected papers. The findings of this review highlight that although there is an increasing number of contributions on the topic, there are yet some issues that require to be further developed. In particular, the paper identifies research gaps and consequent research questions that represent an agenda for both researchers and practitioners.