20 years of workplace diversity research in hospitality and tourism: a bibliometric analysis

PurposeThis paper charts the development of diversity research in hospitality and tourism (H&T) as a field of study. The authors are interested in how diversity has been studied, where diversity scholarship has been published, who are the leading diversity scholars and whether the scholars work has been influential. In addition, the authors identified the institutions and countries that contribute significantly to diversity scholarship in H&T.Design/methodology/approachThe authors draw from the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection, Scopus and Australian Business Dean's Council (ABDC) Journal Quality List covering 109 journals to identify the relevant articles on workplace diversity in H&T. The authors conducted evaluative and relational bibliometric techniques to assess the prominence of diversity scholarship in the field.FindingsDiversity research in H&T did not gain traction until 2005. Using Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal as a benchmark, the authors found that diversity research in H&T closely tracked the diversity topics in general organization and management literature. However, H&T lagged in race and ethnic, as well as gender identity research. A majority of diversity research is published in leading (top-ranked) journals, signifying the value of diversity scholarship in H&T. Hospitality journals published the most articles, while tourism journals reported the highest impact. Scholars based in the USA, China and the United Kingdom (UK) contributed the most diversity articles, but one researcher, Osman M. Karatepe (Turkey), stood out as the most productive and influential diversity scholar in H&T.Practical implicationsThe insights from this study aid H&T scholars in identifying trends and opportunities in diversity research, assessing the productivity and impact of various journals and databases, locating collaborative opportunities (through co-citations and highly productive and influential institutions and scholars) and benchmarking the scholars’ own work.Originality/valueGiven an absence of prior review and diversity research has only gained ground in the H&T literature since 2005, this bibliometric study offers a fossil record and documents the trajectory of diversity scholarship in H&T, identifies the scholars who are active in this area of research and highlights institutions and countries where diversity research is conducted.