Past, present, and future scene of influencer marketing in hospitality and tourism management

Abstract

This paper reviews influencer marketing (IM)-research in the tourism and hospitality (H&T) field to provide a state-of-the-art of the past, present, and future of IM-research. It identifies research themes, theoretical underpinnings, and methodologies utilized in IM-research. Seventy-five studies are examined through co-citation, bibliographic coupling and content analysis based on the TCCM (theory/context/characteristics/methodology) framework. Co-citation analysis reveals that IM-research focused on travel blogs, vlogs, celebrity endorsement, influencer authenticity. An assessment of recent studies through bibliographic coupling indicates a partial shift toward the study of more contemporary issues. This field-discipline-focused hybrid-review contributes to literature and practice by presenting the past, present, and future of IM-research.