A systematic literature review on eWOM in the hotel industry: Current trends and suggestions for future research

Abstract

This study is a systematic review of the literature on eWOM in hotels. Previous reviews of eWOM specific to the hotel and hospitality context have documented the state of research in the field but can be considered outdated with the literature almost doubling since 2011. Emergent themes in the literature therefore need to be considered for us to identify gaps in knowledge and provide researchers opportunities for future study. Using systematic searches of articles published between 2000 and 2015, 45 journal articles were selected for the review beginning in 2008. Our findings indicate 8 research themes: 1) Motivations for contributing eWOM, 2) Motivations for reading eWOM, 3) Platforms used to facilitate eWOM, 4) ‘Big data’ analytics of eWOM, 5) Impact of eWOM on consumer behaviour, 6) Impact on hotel performance, 7) Hotel responses to eWOM, 8) Consumer cultural differences. We culminate these findings to provide a thematic framework of eWOM research in the hotel and hospitality industry, mapping the research relationships that have been established. We then provide areas for future researchers to develop.