The landscape of customer engagement in hospitality and tourism : a systematic review

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to deliver a systematic review of customer engagement in hospitality and tourism by synthesising existing literature, thus presenting a state-of-art landscape of customer engagement research. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 173 peer-reviewed articles were collected from seven databases, spanning from 2007 to 2020. A systematic review was conducted by analysing, categorising, and synthesising existing studies to examine the evolution, conceptual nature, typology and measurement of the existing literature on customer engagement in hospitality and tourism. Findings – This study provides an overview of the temporal, spatial, sectoral and journal-wise distribution of customer engagement in hospitality and tourism. A comprehensive definition of customer engagement is proposed based on five fundamental propositions. Scrutiny of customer engagement studies in hospitality and tourism presents four sub-forms, including Online Customer Engagement, Tourist Engagement, Customer Brand Engagement and Customer Engagement Behaviour. Additionally, the research methods, dimensionality, and measurement scales of customer engagement are systematically reviewed. Originality/value – This study is the first systematic review of customer engagement research in the field of hospitality and tourism. The original definition leads to an improved understanding of customer engagement. This study is also the first to propose a clear typology of customer engagement to enhance consistency in usage.