Using systems thinking to improve tourism and hospitality research quality and relevance: a critical review and conceptual analysis

Moscardo, Gianna (2021) Using systems thinking to improve tourism and hospitality research quality and relevance: a critical review and conceptual analysis. Tourism & Hospitality, 2 (1). pp. 153-172.

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Abstract

This paper argues that that much published tourism and hospitality research has had little influence on tourism or hospitality practice especially with regard to the problems of sustainability because of a failure to use systems thinking to guide research questions and approaches. This critical review and conceptual paper demonstrates how a systems thinking approach could be used to improve both the relevance of, and theoretical development in, tourism and hospitality research in the area of sustainability. This paper reviewed recent published research into tourism's social impacts to demonstrate the power of taking a systems approach to map out the research problem area. It then critically reviewed the use of concepts from psychology in published research into guest engagement in sustainability programs in hospitality businesses to demonstrate the value of systems thinking for organising theoretical concepts. In both of the reviewed areas the overwhelming conclusion was that the majority of the research lacked both practical relevance and was based on inappropriate or deficient theoretical understanding.

Item ID: 67445
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2673-5768
Keywords: systems thinking; tourism social impacts; guest engagement; hospitality sustainability
Copyright Information: Copyright: © 2021 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative CommonsAttribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Date Deposited: 22 Jun 2021 01:01
FoR Codes: 35 COMMERCE, MANAGEMENT, TOURISM AND SERVICES > 3508 Tourism > 350803 Tourism management @ 100%
SEO Codes: 11 COMMERCIAL SERVICES AND TOURISM > 1101 Environmentally sustainable commercial services and tourism > 110199 Environmentally sustainable commercial services and tourism not elsewhere classified @ 100%
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