Scientific progress on strategic management in hospitality and tourism: a state-of-the-art

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to offer a critical review of studies of scientific progress of strategic management (SM) research in the hospitality and tourism field (H&T). Design/methodology/approach: This study was conducted through a critical literature review based on three dimensions: intellectual, conceptual and social structures of SM research. Findings: The boundaries of SM under the three dimensions (intellectual, conceptual and social structure) are addressed. Based on these three components, SM in hospitality and tourism realm shows a discursive structure. There are few studies assessing the evolution of SM research in the H&T industry. However, all of these studies are review papers that explored the boundaries of SM research in H&T by using limited keywords to find SM papers, and generally considered papers which are published in a few leading H&T journals. Research limitations/implications: This study focused on only H&T journals to elaborate the boundaries of SM in H&T. The findings of this study can help researchers (re)design research agendas to contribute to both mainstream and H&T industry SM literature and to enhance the essential elements of theory development in SM research related to H&T industry. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies assessing the development of SM research related to hospitality and tourism by considering the boundaries of SM in three issues: intellectual, conceptual and social structure.