Twenty-five years of SMEs in tourism and hospitality research: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

Purpose: Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have been grabbing the attention of tourism and hospitality academicians. However, the fragmented and scattered research makes it difficult for upcoming researchers to identify the major thematic areas. Thus, this study maps the evolution of SME research in tourism and hospitality. Methods: The study adopts a bibliometric protocol to carry out the desired analysis. The literature is retrieved from the Scopus database using the desired search string and analysis is conducted on 385 documents. The study uses VOSviewer, the Science of Science tool, Gephi, and Inkscape to carry out the bibliometric and network analysis. Results: The results from network analysis helps in the identification of five major thematic areas such as strengthening SMEs' performance, transformational leadership, building SME resilience, entrepreneurship and sustainability, and building competitiveness in SMEs. The dynamic co-citation analysis helps in identifying the evolution of these themes. The content analysis of the literature provides future research direction and the need for methodological advancement in SMEs' performance and growth. Implications: The study offers implications for future researchers by summarising the literature, identifying the gaps and suggesting future directions of the research. The study limits itself to data retrieval from a single database.