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Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management
ISSN: 1936-8623 (Print) 1936-8631 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/whmm20
A comprehensive review of mobile technology use
in hospitality and tourism
Rob Law, Irene Cheng Chu Chan & Liang Wang
To cite this article: Rob Law, Irene Cheng Chu Chan & Liang Wang (2018) A comprehensive
review of mobile technology use in hospitality and tourism, Journal of Hospitality Marketing &
Management, 27:6, 626-648, DOI: 10.1080/19368623.2018.1423251
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2018.1423251
Accepted author version posted online: 03
Jan 2018.
Published online: 25 Jan 2018.
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A comprehensive review of mobile technology use in
hospitality and tourism
Rob Law
a
, Irene Cheng Chu Chan
a
and Liang Wang
b
a
School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China;
b
Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, School of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou City, China
ABSTRACT
Mobile technology has become a necessity for tourists, both in their
daily lives and during their travels. Considering the growing signifi-
cance of mobile technologies, this study collected and analyzed 92
related articles published in hospitality and tourism journals to exam-
ine the state-of-the-art research in this field. The comprehensive
review shows that most studies focus on the context of tourism
experience and the hotel industry. These studies tend to adopt
quantitative research methods and use theories from the field of
information system as theoretical foundation. A few research themes
are identified from the perspectives of both the suppliers and con-
sumers. An overall disproportionate focus has been given by
researchers, with more studies concentrating on consumers than on
suppliers. In accordance with the findings of the literature review, a
research agenda is proposed to guide future research on mobile
technology use in the hospitality and tourism industry.
无论是在日常生活中还是在旅行中，流動科技已经成为旅游者的必
需品。考虑到移动技术日益重要的意义，本研究收集并分析了92篇
有关旅游和旅游杂志的相关文章，以探讨这一领域的最新研究成
果。综合评论表明，大多数研究都集中在旅游体验和酒店业的背景
下。这些研究倾向于采用定量研究方法，以信息系统领域的理论为
理论基础。从供应商和消费者的角度确定了一些研究主题。研究人
员给出了一个总体上不成比例的焦点，更多的研究集中在消费者而
不是供应商身上。根据文献综述的结果，本文提出了一项研究议
程，以引导今后在旅游和旅游业中使用移动技术的研究。
KEYWORDS
Mobile technology;
literature review; mobile
device; m-tourism;
smartphones; smart tourism
Background
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have substantially affected the
hospitality and tourism industry since their emergence in the early 90s (Buhalis & Law,
2008). The impacts of ICTs have mainly resulted from websites, social media, and mobile
technologies, which are important channels allowing industry practitioners to reach their
customers (Leung, Law, van Hoof, & Buhalis, 2013; Sotiriadis, 2017). Combining the
virtues of mobility and ICTs, mobile technologies, such as smartphones, tablets, and
mobile applications (apps), have become the primary devices for users to access the
Internet and have thus become an indispensable part of consumers’daily lives (Wang,
CONTACT Rob Law rob.law@polyu.edu.hk School of Hotel and Tourism Management, The Hong Kong Polytechnic
University, Hong Kong SAR, China.
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT
2018, VOL. 27, NO. 6, 626–648
https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2018.1423251
© 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Park, & Fesenmaier, 2012). According to the forecast of Statista (2017), the number of
smartphone users will exceed 2.8 billion worldwide by 2020, a number representing more
than one-third of the global population. An average adult spends over four hours per day
using his or her smartphone, along with the related apps for social networking and
communications. This finding represents a massive cultural shift in technology usage
(Hacker Noon, 2017). Furthermore, this mobile “superstorm”has dramatically changed
tourist behaviors and business processes in the field of hospitality and tourism, thus
ascribing a revolutionized meaning to the latter (Wang, Park, & Fesenmaier, 2016a).
The instantaneous feature of mobile technologies empowers tourists to access and share
information without spatial and temporal limits (Wang, Xiang, & Fesenmaier, 2014).
Consumers’widespread adoption of mobile technologies for travel-related purposes has
resulted in the development of relevant mobile information services, such as mobile
electronic tourist guides (METG) or app-based mobile tour guides (AMTG), and mobile
payment using near-field communication (NFC) technologies. Practitioners also leverage
the advantage of global positioning systems (GPS) to carry out location-based marketing
(Beldona, Lin, & Yoo, 2012; Mak, Nickerson, & Sim, 2015; Yoon, Kim, & Connolly, 2017).
The rapid advancement of mobile technologies and their applications has defined the
scope of the relevant literature and the subsequent need for further scrutiny. Two review
studies have been conducted by Kim and Law (2015) as well as Liang, Schuckert, Law, and
Masiero (2017). Kim and Law (2015) reviewed 104 smartphone-related articles published
from 2000 to 2013. However, the scope of their study is limited to mobile marketing in the
fields of hospitality and tourism. Their study offers an in-depth review of mobile market-
ing and relevant practices from the perspectives of both marketers and consumers.
However, the narrow focus does not provide a comprehensive picture of mobile technol-
ogy research pertinent to hospitality and tourism. The more recent study by Liang and his
colleagues (2017) reviewed 92 mobile technology articles published between 2002 and
2015. They categorized the studies into three main topical clusters, including industry and
business applications, technological innovation, and consumers and demand. They also
adopted the “paradigm funnel”to present a methodological review of existing mobile
technology studies in hospitality and tourism. Despite the valuable contributions of
previous review studies, several gaps are observed in the extant literature. First, existing
review studies tend to include studies published both within and beyond hospitality and
tourism journals, and the discussion from the mixed sources creates difficulties for
scholars to understand and evaluate the state-of-the-art knowledge specific to the field
of hospitality and tourism. Second, the characteristics of mobile technology research in
terms of the industry applications and theoretical underpinning are not fully known.
Third, the existing review studies adopted a deductive approach that allocated reviewed
articles into pre-determined themes, which somehow limits the variety of topical clusters
identified. In relation to this, an inductive approach will be useful in drawing further
insights. Fourth, the relevant papers that have been published in recent years (2016 and
2017), during which mobile technologies have rapidly advanced, need to be reviewed.
The present study attempts to fill the identified gaps by presenting an extensive review
of the mobile technology literature published in hospitality and tourism journals from its
emergence up to 2017. The main objective is to understand the state-of-the-art of knowl-
edge by characterizing mobile technology research based on specific dimensions (e.g.,
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT 627
research context, theories adopted, etc.), and synthesizing the existing knowledge from the
perspectives of both suppliers and consumers using an inductive approach.
Findings of the current review should make both theoretical and practical contribu-
tions. From a theoretical perspective, this study takes stock of our existing knowledge on
mobile technology research in hospitality and tourism, which will guide future research.
From a practical perspective, the findings should be of interest for practitioners, who are
looking for suggestions on how to re-engineer their business practices in order to leverage
the potential of mobile technologies.
Methodology
Followingpreviousstudies(Kim&Law,2015; Liang et al., 2017), all mobile-technology related
articles focused on hospitality and tourism were identified and collected from four databases,
namely, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, Science Direct, and Scopus, from September to November
2017. The article selection process followed the procedure described here. First, in order to
identify the relevant articles in the four databases, the researchers used several keywords,
including “mobile technology,”“mobile device,”“mobile service,”“mobile application,”
“apps,”and “smartphone,”which appeared in the “titles, keywords, or abstracts”.Onlythe
articles published in hospitality and tourism journals were included for analysis. Within the list
of articles returned, two main conditions, which determined the final inclusion of each article,
needed to be met. First, only full-length papers in English were retrieved. Other publications,
such as book chapters, research notes, and conference papers, were excluded from the analysis.
Second, the direct relevance to the focus of this study was considered. To achieve this, the
authors first read the title, abstract, and keywords of each article. The short-listed articles were
read in detail to further filter out the irrelevant papers. For example, papers that investigated the
role of mobile technology on facilitating learning efficiency of tourism and hospitality students
were excluded in the final stage of article selection, in order to maintain strong coherence to the
research topic. To minimize possible bias in the article selection process, a consensus among all
authors needed to be achieved before an article was excluded. The above process resulted in the
identification of 92 relevant articles published between 2002 and 2017.
To satisfy the objective of this comprehensive review, the selected articles were classi-
fied into two main categories: supplier-focused (25 papers) and consumer-focused (67
papers). These papers were then read and content-analyzed based on the following sub-
topics: (1) different subject themes, (2) year, (3) journal publication, (4) methodological
nature of the research, (5) industry applications, and (6) theories and frameworks applied.
The results of the analysis are presented in the next section.
Characterizing mobile technology research in hospitality and tourism
Distribution of articles by year
Similar to the results of Liang et al.’s(2017)study, the first article of mobile technologies
in hospitality and tourism appeared in 2002. Only eight articles (9%) were written in the
first decade of mobile technology research (i.e., from 2002 to 2011), and majority (91%)
were published in recent years from 2012 to 2017. As illustrated in Figure 1, a clear
upward trend is observed over the entire period of mobile technology research from 2002
628 R. LAW ET AL.
to 2017, with a steady growth from 2002 to 2013, and a significant surge from five articles
in 2013 to 16 articles in 2014. These findings reflect the substantial growth of interest
among hospitality and tourism scholars in mobile technology research. Note that the
figure for year 2017 is a tentative number.
Distribution of articles by journal publications
Table 1 presents the distribution of mobile technology articles published in 24 different
hospitality and tourism journals. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology contrib-
uted the largest number (18 articles), followed by International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management (10 articles) and Tourism Management (9 articles). These three
journals represent 41% of all mobile technology research in hospitality and tourism.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
2002 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Count
Figure 1. Publications of mobile technologies by year.
Table 1. Distribution of articles by journal publications.
Journal publication Count %
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology 18 20%
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 10 11%
Tourism Management 9 10%
International Journal of Hospitality Management 6 7%
Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management 5 5%
Journal of Sustainable Tourism 5 5%
Journal of Travel Research 5 5%
International Journal of Tourism Research 4 4%
International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration 3 3%
Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research 3 3%
Annals of Tourism Research 3 3%
Tourism Management Perspectives 2 2%
Tourism and Hospitality Management 2 2%
Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing 2 2%
Journal of Information Technology and Tourism 2 2%
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research 2 2%
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 2 2%
Current Issues in Tourism 2 2%
Cornell Hospitality Quarterly 2 2%
Tourism and Management Studies 1 1%
Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism 1 1%
Journal of Convention and Event Tourism 1 1%
Journal of China Tourism Research 1 1%
Asia-Pacific Journal of Innovation in Hospitality and Tourism 1 1%
Total 92 100%
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT 629
International Journal of Hospitality Management produced six articles, whereas Journal of
Hospitality Marketing and Management, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, and Journal of
Travel Research each contributed five articles. These four journals contributed 22% of all
mobile technology research, and the remaining 37% were distributed among 16 other
journals.
Industry applications of mobile technology research
Referring to Table 2, tourism experience/trip in general (39%) and hotel industry (33%)
were the two most frequently examined industry settings in the mobile technology
literature, followed by other industries, such as restaurants (7%) and travel trade, encom-
passing both (online) travel agencies and tour operators (7%). Other major players in the
tourism industry, including airlines (3%), destination (2%), attractions (1%), and conven-
tion or events (1%), are under-researched and are thus under-represented in mobile
technology research.
Methodological nature of mobile technology research
As shown in Table 3, out of 92 reviewed articles, 68 articles (74%) used quantitative
methods, outnumbering qualitative approaches, which are only used in a total of 11
articles (12%). Seven papers are conceptual (8%), whereas six papers adopted mixed-
Table 2. Industry applications of mobile technology research.
Industry applications Count %
Travel experience/trip in general 37 39%
Hotel industry (hotels, accommodation, lodges) 32 33%
Restaurants 7 7%
Travel trade (Online/travel agencies and tour operators) 7 7%
Airlines 3 3%
Campgrounds 2 2%
Clubs 2 2%
Destination 2 2%
Tourism industry 2 2%
Attractions 1 1%
Convention/Event 1 1%
Total 96
a
100%
a
The total number of industries exceeds the number of articles reviewed (N = 92) as some
articles have investigated more than one service providers.
Table 3. Methodological nature of mobile technologies research.
Methodological nature Count %
Conceptual 7 8%
Secondary 7 8%
Mixed methods 6 7%
Hybrid 2 2%
Primary 4 4%
Qualitative 11 12%
Primary 9 10%
Secondary 2 2%
Quantitative 68 74%
Primary 65 71%
Secondary 3 3%
Total 92 100%
630 R. LAW ET AL.
method approaches (7%). Quantitative studies are mainly based on surveys, with a small
proportion of studies adopting experimental design and secondary data. Meanwhile,
articles using qualitative methods primarily collected data through in-depth or focus
group interviews. Mixed methods mostly combined interviews or content analysis of
websites with questionnaire surveys.
Theories and frameworks applied in mobile technologies research
Taking stock of the theories and frameworks that have been used in the existing literature
helps us understand the theoretical foundations of mobile technology research, which in
turn, serves as a critical point of departure to further advance knowledge. Table 4 shows
that 47 out of 92 articles (51%) used one theory to study mobile technologies, whereas 26
articles (28%) did not base their study on any theories or frameworks. Furthermore, 12
studies (13%) adopted two theories, and 7 articles (7%) integrated three to five theories in
one study.
As listed in Table 4, the technology acceptance model (TAM) is the most cited theory,
which has been applied or tested by 26 articles (27%) in total. TAM was first introduced
by Davis (1989) as a framework to explain an individual’s intention to accept or adopt
new information technologies and applications. Since its introduction, the theory has
been applied to predict the adoption of various types of mobile technologies, including
mobiledevices(e.g.,Kim,Kim,Kim,&Kim,2016), travel mobile applications (e.g., Im
&Hancer,2014), and mobile tour guides (Peres, Correia, & Moital, 2011). Seven articles
(7%) applied the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model
(Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003), which is a younger theoretical model in the
field of information system compared with TAM. Five articles (5%) used innovation
diffusion theory (IDT) (Rogers, 2003) and theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen,
1991). Although a total of 46 theories or frameworks have been applied in mobile
technology research, 35 have only been applied once, even though these theories, such
Table 4. Theories and frameworks.
Theories and frameworks Count %
Number of theories applied
1 theory 47 51%
No theory 26 28%
2 theories 12 13%
3 theories 4 4%
4 theories 2 2%
5 theories 1 1%
Total 92 100%
Theories/frameworks studied more than once
Technology acceptance model 26 27%
Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology model (UTAUT) 7 7%
Innovation diffusion theory 5 5%
Theory of planned behavior 5 5%
Social cognitive theory 4 4%
Theory of reasoned action 4 4%
Motivation theory 3 3%
Service-dominant logic paradigm 3 3%
Technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework 2 2%
Theory of perceived risk 2 2%
Uses and gratifications (U&G) theory 2 2%
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT 631
as the task-technology fit theory (Goodhue & Thompson, 1995) and technology-based
service adoption model (Heidenreich & Handrich, 2015) are rather relevant to mobile
technologies. Nevertheless, mobile research is largely grounded on theories from infor-
mationsystems(e.g.,TAM,UTAUT,IDT,andTPB),whichfocusonidentifyingusers’
adoption intention of the relevant technologies.
Thematic synthesis of mobile technology research
Mobile technologies are changing the way tourists experience a destination, consume
travel-related products, and share their travel experiences with others. Practitioners and
marketers respond by adjusting their strategies and plans to accommodate changing
consumer needs. Identifying the key themes that constitute mobile technology research
in hospitality and tourism allows us to understand the research focus of scholars and
identify the under-researched topics that demand further attention. Using content analy-
sis, the relevant literature was reviewed and first categorized into two major themes that
originated from the perspectives of both the suppliers and the consumers. Studies from
the suppliers’perspective focus on identifying the impact of mobile technologies on the
business practices and operations of hospitality and tourism firms, whereas those from the
consumers’perspective examine the effects of mobile technologies on consumers, includ-
ing their motivations, perceptions, and behaviors (Sotiriadis, 2017). Afterwards, an induc-
tive approach was adopted in this study to identify the recurring topics under the two
main streams of research.
Suppliers’perspective
Articles focused on the suppliers’perspective represent only 27% (25 papers) of all mobile
technology papers in hospitality and tourism, demonstrating a significant lack of scholarly
attention. As summarized in Table 5, publications from the suppliers’perspective fall into
three main categories: “effects of mobile technologies on business functions”(19 papers),
“evaluation and improvement of mobile technologies”(5 papers), and “influential factors
on successful mobile adoption”(1 paper). The following sub-section discusses the repre-
sentative studies of each category.
Effects of mobile technologies on businesses functions
This category of mobile technology research includes 19 articles that focused on exploring
the effects of mobile technology adoption on business functions and practices. While some
studies examined the possible applications of innovative mobile technologies, such as
NFC, to the tourism industry in general (Egger, 2013; Katsura & Sheldon, 2008; Pesonen
& Horster, 2012), others focused on either one of the following functional aspects, ranging
from strategic development, human resource management, and performance manage-
ment, to marketing and distribution.
Strategic development. Mobile technologies allow managers to stay connected with their
existing and potential customers, thus expediting the entire service delivery process, and as
such, mobile technologies are considered an important source of competitive advantage
(Bertan, Bayram, Ozturk, & Benzergil, 2016). A hotel’s strategic decision to adopt a mobile
632 R. LAW ET AL.
reservation system is affected by the system’s degree of compatibility with the existing
values and needs of the hotel, the hotel’s technological resources, and whether the hotel
believes that most customers are using mobile reservation systems (Wang, Li, Li, & Zhang,
2016c).
Human resource management. Mobile technologies affect the management of human
resources at hospitality and tourism firms in a number of ways. Kim and Kizildag (2011)
investigated the potential of adopting mobile devices to conduct employee training at
various customer-service departments of a hotel, such as housekeeping, room services, and
restaurants. They suggested that mobile learning (m-learning) may overcome the limita-
tions of traditional training methods and increase the effectiveness of employee training.
Drawing on the insights from hotel managers, Kim, Connolly, and Blum (2014) explored
the opportunity to deploy mobile technologies to improve staffproductivity and colla-
boration. They concluded that the engineering department is perceived as the most
appropriate functional area to adopt mobile technologies to enhance efficiency and cost
control, because mobile technologies can transmit instantaneous requests from other
departments and assist in a wide range of multi-tasking abilities. Jeong, Lee, and
Nagesvaran (2016) partially confirmed this suggestion by identifying hotel employees’
perceptions of using mobile technologies at work. Mainly, they found that employees
believe that the use of mobile technologies increase their self-efficacy and job performance,
which then leads to their higher job satisfaction and commitment to the organization.
Performance management. Mobile technologies also significantly influence the services
offered by hospitality and tourism firms to their customers, which result in higher revenue
(Jung, Kim, & Farrish, 2014; Lee, Hwang, & Hyun, 2010). Using secondary data, Makki,
Singh, and Ozturk (2016) echoed this view by showing that hotels adopting mobile
technologies achieve higher occupancy rates and operating incomes. The adoption of
mobile technologies may even stimulate higher stock prices of airlines and hotels (Qin,
Tang, Jang, & Lehto, 2017).
Marketing and distribution. Mobile technologies may facilitate the delivery of products
and services (Car, Pilepić,&Šimunić,2014). The findings of Law, Leung, Lo, Leung, and
Fong (2015) showed that mobile technology is still growing as a technology-based travel
intermediary for both travel agencies and hotels in Hong Kong. Mainly, the adoption of
technologies is only limited to websites and social media platforms. Meanwhile, mobile
technologies have been shown to affect customer segmentation. Eriksson (2014) identified
and profiled five groups of customers based on the level of mobile travel services. Okazaki,
Campo, Andreu, and Romero (2015) also performed a segmentation of Spanish travelers
according to their mobile applications usage before, during, and after travel. Each segment
exhibit different patterns of mobile technology usage and are also motivated by different
benefits of mobile technologies.
The effect of mobile technologies has frequently been examined in the hotel context,
such as HR functions and services provided to consumers in hotels. Through a literature
review, Tan and Law (2016) suggested that mobile learning may be used as a visitor
management tool for a destination. Other than that, empirical studies on the potential
effect on other tourism-related business functions, such destination and visitor
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT 633
management and attraction management have been limited, thus representing significant
gaps for future research.
Evaluation and improvement of mobile technologies
The second research theme from the suppliers’perspective is related to the evaluation
and improvement of mobile technologies. This category contains five articles. Chen,
Murphy, and Knecht (2016)summarizedfive functional features of hotel mobile
applications, including hotel information, hotel functions, reservation information,
social media links, and additional features. They investigated consumers’perceived
importance and the performance of each category, wherein performance gaps can be
identified. In their evaluation, Wang, Xiang, Law, and Ki (2016b) found that hotel
mobile apps are lagging behind OTA apps in terms of hotel information provision and
booking services, to name a few. Rivera, Croes, and Zhong (2016) found that the most
important attributes for destination mobile application include information content
and coupons, whereas the location-aware feature is rated as the least important.
Nevertheless, personalization appears to be a paramount feature of mobile applications
that tourists expect but are not currently satisfied with (Dickinson et al., 2014).
Meehan, Lunney, Curran, and McCaughey (2016) developed an intelligent context-
aware recommender system to improve the accuracy of suggestions and mitigate the
problem of information overload.
Influential factors on successful mobile adoption
Aside from the aforementioned two categories, a non-recurring yet important theme from
the suppliers’perspective has been identified in the existing mobile technologies literature
in hospitality and tourism: the factors influencing successful mobile technology adoption.
This category contains only the study of Lin (2017). Using the hybrid multiple criteria
decision-making (MCDM) methods, Lin found that the critical success factors for mobile
technology implementation comprise top management support and consumer needs.
Consumers’perspective
Articles focused on the consumers’perspective represent 73% (67 papers) of all
mobile technology papers on hospitality and tourism. As shown in Table 6,these
papers fall into four categories: motivators/inhibitors of tourists to use/reuse mobile
Table 5. Research topics from suppliers’perspective.
Categories Citations
Effects of mobile technologies on
business functions
(N = 19)
Bertan et al. (2016); Boys, While, and Groover (2017); Buhalis and Licata (2002); Car
et al. (2014); Egger (2013); Eriksson (2014); Jeong et al. (2016); Jung et al. (2014);
Katsura and Sheldon (2008); Kim et al. (2014); Kim and Kizildag (2011); Law et al.
(2015); Lee et al. (2010); Makki et al. (2016); Pesonen and Horster (2012); Qin et al.
(2017); Okazaki et al. (2015); Tan and Law (2016); Wang et al. (2016c)
Evaluation and improvement of
mobile technologies
(N = 5)
Chen et al. (2016); Dickinson et al. (2014); Meehan et al. (2016); Rivera et al. (2016);
Wang et al. (2016b)
Influential factors on successful
mobile adoption
(N = 1)
Lin (2017)
634 R. LAW ET AL.
technologies for travel (41 papers), the impact of mobile technologies on consumer
travel patterns and behaviors (17 papers), perceptions toward using mobile technol-
ogies for travel (9 papers), and preference and usage behavior of mobile technologies
for travel (3 papers). Three studies covering more than one topic are categorized into
more than one category (Mang, Piper, & Brown, 2016; Murphy, Chen, & Cossutta,
2016; Wang et al., 2014). The following sub-section discusses the representative
studies of each category.
Motivators/inhibitors of tourists to use/reuse mobile technologies for travel
For the purpose of this study, “adoption”refers to consumers’use of both personal and
firm-initiated mobile technologies, such as mobile devices, apps and payment systems, for
travel-related purposes. The motives for consumers to adopt various mobile technologies
for travel-related purposes before, during, or after a trip have been extensively studied,
thus representing the most popular research topic in the mobile technology literature
pertinent to hospitality and tourism. Drawing on the results of these studies, five factors
affecting consumers’adoption of mobile technologies for travel are synthesized: (1)
utilitarian, (2) hedonic, (3) dispositional, (4) behavioral, and (5) environmental factors.
They are discussed as follows.
Utilitarian factors. These factors are related to consumers’evaluation of the quality of the
mobile technologies. Some studies refer to this dimension as “extrinsic motivators”(e.g.,
Kim et al., 2016). Consumers tend to adopt mobile technologies because they find these
technologies useful and convenient when accomplishing travel-related tasks, such as
information search (Kim, Ahn, & Chung, 2013; No & Kim, 2014), reservation and
payment for services (Fong, Lam, & Law, 2017; Morosan, 2014; Ozturk, Nusair,
Okumus, & Hua, 2016), ordering food (Okumus & Bilgihan, 2014), and moving around
a destination (Lu, Mao, Wang, & Hu, 2015). Ease of use affects consumers’perceived
usefulness of mobile technologies in performing tasks (Kwon, Bae, & Blum, 2013;O’Regan
& Chang, 2015). However, a mobile technology that is easy to use may not necessarily
prompt consumers to adopt mobile technologies for their travel (Kim et al., 2016; Oh,
Lehto, & Park, 2009; Okumus, Bilgihan, & Ozturk, 2016), as some consumers actually
adopt mobile technologies that demonstrate usefulness to achieve specific tasks, regardless
of the level of complexity involved in their usage (Morosan & DeFranco, 2016b). Aside
from perceived usefulness and ease of use, other utilitarian factors that determine con-
sumers’usage of mobile technologies include perceived personalization (Jung, Chung, &
Leue, 2015; Morosan & DeFranco, 2014b; Nyheim, Xu, Zhang, & Mattila, 2015), perceived
risk and security of the mobile technology (Fong et al., 2017; Ozturk et al., 2016), and
perceived behavioral control (Park & Huang, 2017).
Hedonic factors. These factors represent the “intrinsic motivations”within the consu-
mers (see Kim et al., 2016)affecting their adoption intention. Existing studies show that
consumers who enjoy using mobile technologies in their daily lives have a higher
tendency to adopt technology for travel purposes (de Oliveira Nunes & Mayer, 2014;
Okumus & Bilgihan, 2014). Consumers’travel preferences and the image of a specific
destination may also affect their adoption intention regardless of whether they consider
using mobile technologies compatible with their lifestyle (Lu et al., 2015; Ozturk,
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT 635
Bilgihan, Salehi-Esfahani, & Hua, 2017). Additionally, consumers may use mobile tech-
nologies for travel in order to be socially accepted (Fong et al., 2017; Lai, 2015; Okumus
& Bilgihan, 2014; Okumus et al., 2016). Other hedonic factors include consumers’
emotional attachment to the mobile technology during travel (O’Regan & Chang,
2015; Ozturk et al., 2017) and their need for social interactions with the service staff
(Sarmah, Kamboj, & Rahman, 2017).
Dispositional factors. These factors are related to consumers’own personal traits.
Consumers’self-confidence on their ability to use the mobile technologies (Okumus &
Bilgihan, 2014; Park & Huang, 2017), personal innovativeness (Meng, Kim, & Hwang,
2015; Morosan & DeFranco, 2016b; Okumus et al., 2016), trust in the service provider
(Morosan, 2014), privacy concern, and their involvement with the services (Morosan &
DeFranco, 2016b) predict their intention to adopt mobile technologies for travel. More
innovative consumers tend to see mobile technologies as more useful, fun, and enjoyable
(Ozturk et al., 2016); thus, they are more prepared to adopt these technologies when they
travel. Consumer demographic characteristics, such as age, also determine their adoption
(Morosan & DeFranco, 2014a). Although mobile technologies are more popular among
the younger generation, some studies have attempted to identify the motivating factors for
senior users (e.g., Kim, Bonn, & Lee, 2017).
Behavioral factors. Consumer behaviors also affect their intention to adopt mobile
technologies for travel. For instance, high spenders are more likely to adopt mobile
technologies than low spenders (Morosan & DeFranco, 2014a). However, scholars have
yet to come to a consensus on the prescribed “spill-over effects”from the daily usage of
mobile technologies to travel-related settings. Wang et al. (2014), for example, showed that
consumers using smartphones everyday are more likely to use smartphones for travel.
This is because smartphone usage, which creates a sense of attachment to their social lives,
has already become a habit for them. However, Meng et al. (2015) opposed this view and
showed that using a smartphone for daily routines may not imply usage for travel.
Nevertheless, consumers’experiences in technology usage and in traveling affect their
intention to use mobile technologies (Kim, Park, & Morrison, 2008). Frequent travelers
feel more positive toward using mobile devices and tend to believe that mobile technol-
ogies are useful, and thus have stronger adoption intention (Oh et al., 2009; Wang et al.,
2014). Furthermore, the use of mobile technologies is negatively affected by the use of
traditional media, such as personal computers (Okazaki & Hirose, 2009).
Environmental factors. Although not a main motivator, environmental factors like
service environment can facilitate technology adoption (Gupta & Dogra, 2017). The
service environment should encourage customers to use mobile technologies to consume
travel-related products by making bookings, socializing, and seeking help from the service
staff(Morosan & DeFranco, 2014b; Wang et al., 2014).
Among the identified motivational factors, scholars have attempted to identify the more
prominent factors determining the adoption of mobile technologies for travel, but they did
not come to an agreement. One group of scholars supported utilitarian motivations, such
as perceived usefulness and performance expectancy, as the most important predictors of
mobile technologies among the factors they have investigated (Fong et al., 2017; Kim,
636 R. LAW ET AL.
2016; Morosan & DeFranco, 2014b,2016c; No & Kim, 2014). Others opposed this view
and suggested that hedonic motivations are the strongest predictors (Morosan &
DeFranco, 2016a; Zhu & Morosan, 2014). Morosan and DeFranco (2016b), however,
demonstrated that consumers’involvement with the service is the major determinant of
adoption, followed by other utilitarian factors like privacy concerns and perceived perso-
nalization. Instead of identifying the more important factor, Im and Hancer (2014)
suggested that hedonic motivations and utilitarian motivations are interrelated in affecting
consumers’adoption of mobile travel applications.
Impact of mobile technologies on consumer travel patterns and behaviors
Another research theme from the consumers’perspective is the impact of mobile tech-
nologies on consumer travel patterns and behaviors. However, this topic has received less
scholarly attention, with only a total of 17 articles investigating this topic. As suggested in
these studies, the use of mobile technologies changes travel activities from the pre-trip
planning stage, to experiences and consumption on site, to post-trip sharing and even the
feedback stage. The instantaneous nature of mobile technologies integrates consumer
efforts in the pre- and post-trip stages together during the trip (Wang et al., 2014).
Pre-trip planning stage. Tourists may plan less before the trips as they know that
information is readily accessible with mobile devices as long as they have Internet access
(Wang et al., 2014). Thus, consumers rely more on tablets and smartphones than other
devices in the search process (Murphy et al., 2016).
During-trip experience stage. Mobile technologies empower tourists to efficiently adjust
their itinerary and plans in response to unexpected circumstances that occur during their
trips (Lamsfus, Wang, Alzua-Sorzabal, & Xiang, 2015; Wang et al., 2012; Wang, Xiang, &
Fesenmaier, 2016a). Tourists are also equipped to experience a destination in more
innovative ways and explore unusual attractions instead of the frequently accessed “her-
meneutic circle”(Wang et al., 2012). During the consumption of services, tourists become
more willing to engage in the value co-creation process with the service providers if they
frequently use the mobile technologies to access services or perform tasks (Morosan &
DeFranco, 2016a). Tourists are also likely to find such service experience more valuable, as
mobile technologies reduce the demand on consumers’time and effort for traveling to
information centers (Lyu & Hwang, 2015).
Consumers use mobile technologies mainly for communication, social media, enter-
tainment, and information acquisition (Wang et al., 2016a). Depending on the purpose of
usage, mobile technologies affect tourist experiences in diverse ways. On the one hand,
using mobile technologies for communication purposes makes tourists feel more secure,
as they are instantly connected with their family and friends back home (Wang et al.,
2016a). On the other hand, using mobile technologies for entertainment allows consumers
to enjoy more and be themselves during their trip. Sometimes, mobile devices are used for
work-related purposes during a trip. However, Kirillova and Wang (2016) asserted that
frequent communication via smartphone for work-related purposes is likely to compro-
mise the restorative functions of traveling, unless the communicator is perceived as caring
and emotional. Dickinson et al. (2017) showed that mobile technologies are effective in
enhancing social support among campsite tourists, who can easily ask for or offer travel
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT 637
assistance in various ways. The rise of mobile technologies has turned backpackers into
“flashpackers”who frequently adopt mobile devices and internet connections during
travel (Paris, 2012). Compared with backpackers, the so-called “flashpackers”are more
independent and enjoy the increased freedom and choices offered by mobile technologies.
Post-trip sharing stage. Instead of sharing their experiences or providing feedback to the
service providers upon return, tourists are more likely to share their experiences on-site, to
ensure that their social circle is updated in real time (Wang et al., 2014; Zhang, Omran, &
Cobanoglu, 2017). Additionally, storing and retrieving their memories have become more
convenient when consumers use mobile technologies in their travel.
Perceptions toward using mobile technologies for travel
Aside from the adoption and impact of mobile technologies, a few articles focus on
studying consumers’perceptions toward mobile technologies. Risk and benefit perceptions
are common topics under this category. Morosan and DeFranco (2015) investigated how
consumers’perceived risks and benefits affect their willingness to disclose their personal
information through hotel apps in order to receive more personalized services. In a
follow-up study, DeFranco and Morosan (2017) examined the calculative process between
risk and benefits in consumers when they connect their mobile devices to a hotel’s
network. Park and Tussyadiah (2017) aimed to understand the different dimensions
constituting risk perceptions in mobile travel booking. They showed that consumer
innovativeness and trust toward smartphones mitigate the perceived risk associated with
mobile travel booking. However, the request of information by the travel app tend to
increase perceived risk.
Two studies focused on consumers’perceptions toward marketers’effort through
mobile technologies. Erawan (2016) revealed that tourists consider advertisements deliv-
ered through mobile devices as sources of information. Tussyadiah and Wang (2016)
found that tourists perceive their mobile devices as a travel companion or guide, which
enhance their travel experiences. Although they tend to follow the push recommendations
in their smartphones during their trips, they also worry that their over-reliance on such
recommendations can affect their control over their own travel experiences.
Other studies that focus on consumers’perceptions toward mobile technologies seek to
understand consumers’social attribution to mobile devices (Tussyadiah, 2014), attitude
toward location-based services (LBS) (Mak et al., 2015) and travel mobile applications (Im
& Hancer, 2017), and perceived benefits of purchasing air travel ancillary services through
mobile devices (Morosan, 2015b).
Preference and usage behavior of mobile technologies for travel
This category of research occupies the smallest proportion in mobile technology studies
from the consumers’perspective, with only three studies investigating this topic. Murphy
et al. (2016) studied the usage behaviors of different technological devices, and found that
consumers tend to switch to their personal computers in the final booking process,
although they use mobile devices during the search process. Smartphone users are also
more likely to consult their family and friends for information but are less likely to use
OTA websites. Tussyadiah (2016) investigated the role of travelers’innovativeness traits
on the usage patterns of mobile technologies during travel. She found that more
638 R. LAW ET AL.
innovative travelers tend to use smartphones more frequently for on-site trip manage-
ment, reading online reviews, searching for promotional offers, receiving push recom-
mendations, and social networking. Dickinson, Hibbert, and Filimonau (2016) studied
tourists’desire to stay connected or disconnected using mobile technologies in camping
tourism. They found that tourists face a dilemma on the value of being connected and the
desire to stay away from mobile technologies.
Discussion and implications
This comprehensive review aimed to characterize and synthesize the existing literature on
mobile technology usage in the field of hospitality and tourism. As indicated by the
increasing number of articles in each year, mobile technology has become an important
research topic among scholars in this field. Most studies investigated the adoption and
effects of mobile technologies in the context of tourism experience and the hotel industry.
Future research can explore the above identified topics in other sectors of tourism,
including airlines, destinations, and attractions. A few sectors may be integrated in one
study to enhance the generalizability of the findings and our understanding of this rising
phenomenon.
In terms of the methodological nature, quantitative methods, such as questionnaire
survey, are the most commonly adopted methods. Scholars may thus develop and test
multi-level models, which incorporate views from both the individual (e.g., employee) and
the firm (e.g., destinations and hotels) levels. For example, employee perceptions toward
mobile technology usage for work-related purposes may be aggregated to a firm-level
Table 6. Research topics from consumers’perspective.
Categories Citations
Motivators/inhibitors of tourists to use/reuse
mobile technologies for travel
(N = 41
a
)
Aluri (2017); Beldona et al. (2012); de Oliveira Nunes and Mayer (2014);
Fong et al. (2017); Gupta and Dogra (2017); Im and Hancer (2014); Jung
et al. (2015); Kim (2016); Kim et al. (2013); Kim et al. (2008); Kwon et al.
(2013); Kim et al. (2016); Kim, Mejia, and Connolly (2017); Lai (2015); Lee
and Lee (2014); Lu et al. (2015); Mang et al. (2016); Meng et al. (2015);
Morosan (2014); Morosan (2015a); Morosan and DeFranco (2014a);
Morosan and DeFranco (2014b); Morosan and DeFranco (2016b); Morosan
and DeFranco (2016c); No and Kim (2014); Nyheim et al. (2015); Oh et al.
(2009); Okazaki and Hirose (2009); Okumus and Bilgihan (2014); Okumus
et al. (2016); O’Regan and Chang (2015); Ozturk et al. (2017); Ozturk et al.
(2016); Park and Huang (2017); Peres et al. (2011); Rivera, Gregory, and
Cobos (2015); Sarmah et al. (2017); Wang et al. (2014); Yoon et al. (2017);
Zhu and Morosan (2014)
Impact of mobile technologies on consumer
travel patterns and behaviors
(N = 17
a
)
Coussement and Teague (2013); Dickinson et al. (2013); Dickinson et al.
(2017); Kirillova and Wang (2016); Lamsfus et al. (2015); Lee, Chen, and Su
(2017); Lyu and Hwang (2015); Mang et al. (2016); Morosan and DeFranco
(2016a); Murphy et al. (2016); Paris (2012); Wang et al. (2012); Wang et al.
(2014); Wheaton et al. (2016); Yepes (2015); Wang et al. (2016a); Zhang
et al. (2017)
Perceptions toward using mobile technologies
for travel
(N = 9
a
)
DeFranco and Morosan (2017); Erawan (2016); Im and Hancer (2017); Mak
et al. (2015); Morosan (2015b); Morosan and DeFranco (2015); Park and
Tussyadiah (2017); Tussyadiah and Wang (2016); Tussyadiah (2014)
Preference and usage behavior of mobile
technologies for travel
(N = 3
a
)
Dickinson et al. (2016); Murphy et al. (2016); Tussyadiah (2016)
a
The total exceeds the number of articles categorized under consumers’perspective (N = 67) as three studies have more than
one research focus.
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT 639
perception, which influences the firm’s overall mobile technology strategies. Moreover,
more innovative data collection methods, such as the netnographic approach in the online
platforms and big data analysis, should be utilized to draw more insights on this topic
through different lenses. The analyses on the theories and frameworks adopted show that
mobile technology research has solid theoretical ground given that a large proportion of
studies are based on one or more theories or frameworks. As expected, such theories as
TAM, UTAUT, IDT, and TPB from the field of technology and information systems are
the most frequently cited and applied in the literature. Given the multi-disciplinary nature
of the hospitality and tourism field, theories and frameworks from other disciplines
investigating the social and psychological aspects of mobile technologies, such as social
exchange and social presence theories, should be more frequently explored. This should be
done in order to supplement the existing knowledge gained from information system
theories and further advance the research avenue.
Consistent with previous studies (Kim & Law, 2015), the number of articles from
consumers’perspective is much larger than that from suppliers’perspective, clearly
demonstrating an asymmetry in scholarly interest and attention. Research from suppliers’
viewpoint is heavily tilted towards illustrating the effects of mobile technologies on
business functions, including strategic development, human resource management, per-
formance management, and marketing and distributions. More research is need to under-
stand the strategic decisions of practitioners to adopt innovative mobile technologies. In
particular, the motivators and inhibitors are less understood. Theoretical models that have
been explored from the consumers’perspective, such as the TAM (e.g., Kim et al., 2008;
Wang et al., 2014) and the benefit-risk calculus model (Morosan, 2015b; Morosan &
DeFranco, 2015), can be applied to understand what factors motivate or constrain the
adoption of mobile technologies for business purposes. Additionally, theories related to
the strategic use of resources, such as resource-based view theory (Wernerfelt, 1984), may
be deployed to understand how mobile technology—as a valuable resource—may be
utilized and transformed into distinctive capabilities that can help create competitive
advantages. As mobile technology gains increasing popularity among hospitality and
tourism practitioners, future studies may investigate whether and how its prominent
role in enhancing the competitive position of a firm diminishes or increases.
Aside from being effective in enhancing employee trainings and productivity, the role
of mobile technologies on other functions related to HR management, such as internal
marketing and communication, employee engagement, and employee relationship man-
agement, should also be explored in future studies. Moreover, an objective measure of
employee productivity, such as the evaluation by customers or supervisors instead of
employees’subjective evaluation, should be developed to better understand the role of
mobile technologies on HR management. Practitioners are more concerned with whether
the exploitation and participation in mobile technologies can positively influence organi-
zational performance. The existing literature is not sufficient to answer this question,
partly because the causality effect is not well-demonstrated in existing studies despite an
overall positive association (Jung et al., 2014; Makki et al., 2016). Thus, future studies are
suggested to perform pre- and post-adoption comparison or longitudinal research to
confidently attribute the effect of performance improvement to mobile technology
usage. Moreover, a multi-factor performance indicator integrating various aspects, such
as customer satisfaction, relationship quality, and customer loyalty, should be developed to
640 R. LAW ET AL.
gain more comprehensive insights into how mobile technologies improve organizational
performance. Instead of mobile adoption as a broad company strategy, the effect of the
specific attributes of mobile technologies (e.g., personalization) on organization perfor-
mance can also be linked and investigated. Mobile technologies represent a powerful
marketing tool to reach current and potential customers, yet the existing literature is
limited to identifying the novel ways of segmenting customers according to their mobile
usage behaviors (Eriksson, 2014; Okazaki et al., 2015). Although segmentation is impor-
tant for practitioners and marketers to learn about the target segments that appreciate the
efforts of mobile technological implementation, the role of mobile technologies on other
marketing processes, especially the advertising and service delivery process, remains
under-explored. This finding is consistent with that of Kim and Law (2015). Specifically,
the existing literature is not capable of answering such questions as “What are the most
effective mobile advertising strategies?”and “How does mobile technology help deliver
services to tourists or hotel guests?”These questions represent paramount research
questions that can be researched individually or holistically to assist practitioners in
devising appropriate mobile marketing tactics. Hospitality and tourism marketers have
increasingly adopted innovative mobile marketing tools, such as location-based push
recommendations, to effectively reach their customers. However, diversified strategies of
using such push messages, ranging from content design, to time and frequency of
recommendation, are not well researched.
In addition, the role of mobile technologies on other business functions in the tourism
context, such as customer services, customer relationship management, and visitor man-
agement and control, have not been explored. To fill this gap, future studies may
investigate how mobile technologies complicate or simplify the process of service delivery.
Mobile technologies may also be used to conduct visitor management (Tan & Law, 2016),
but its effectiveness remains unknown.
Two other research themes related to suppliers’perspectives are the evaluation and
improvement of mobile technologies and the factors that influence successful mobile
technology adoption. Both topics warrant more research attention. Aside from constantly
updating customer needs and requirements, more advanced methods from computer
science and programming may be necessary to enhance the existing mobile payment
and recommender systems in the hospitality and tourism field. At the same time, future
research may also extend the work of Lin (2017) to further investigate the critical success
factors of successful mobile applications in various sectors in the tourism industry, or
acquire information from a different group of informants. While a number of studies have
investigated consumers’expectations on mobile technologies, expectations from suppliers
on what mobile technologies can offer for the organization are less understood.
Studies from consumers’perspectives largely focus on the motivators and/or inhibitors
of tourists to use and/or reuse mobile technologies for travel. Five factors affecting
consumers’adoption have been synthesized to represent the literature. These factors are
utilitarian, hedonic, dispositional, behavioral, and environmental factors. Motivational
studies are very popular among scholars. This is because innovative technologies con-
stantly emerge in the market, and researchers are interested in understanding what drives
the adoption of these new technologies. When these motivational studies are conducted,
researchers tend to focus on the utilitarian and hedonic characteristics of mobile technol-
ogies (i.e., usefulness, ease of use, enjoyable usage experience, and compatibility) as the
JOURNAL OF HOSPITALITY MARKETING & MANAGEMENT 641
primary determinants of the successful adoption of mobile technologies for travel.
Dispositional factors are also limited to consumers’demographic characteristics, privacy
concerns, and personal innovativeness. These studies provide insights into technology
adoption from a macro-level perspective. Future studies may consider investigating a
deeper level of consumer characteristics, such as self-image, novelty-seeking, personality,
and need for status, which can generate further interesting insights on personal differ-
ences. Moreover, most of these studies focus on identifying the motivators rather than
inhibitors. However, the reasons why tourists are reluctant to use mobile technologies for
travel are equally important. The inhibitors being identified from existing studies are
limited to perceived risk and privacy concerns (Fong et al., 2017; Ozturk et al., 2016,
2017). A more comprehensive study that involves focus group discussions or interviews,
followed by questionnaire surveys with specific travelers who are reluctant to use mobile
technologies in their trips, is an interesting area worthy of further exploration. The results
can be compared with the five factors identified in the current study, so that motivators
and inhibitors can be more accurately determined.
This comprehensive review shows that mobile technologies influence travel patterns
and tourists behavior before, during, and after a trip, by providing convenient and instant
access to information, social connections, support, and an interactive sharing platform.
Tourists are empowered to make impromptu decisions anytime and anywhere, so they can
plan less before their trips and easily adjust their itineraries during their trips. Although
tourists can experience a destination in more innovative ways (Wang et al., 2012), whether
they enjoy their trip more with the intervention of mobile technologies is unclear. Thus,
future studies should examine the changes in consumer emotional states created by the
use of mobile technologies. While Dickinson et al. (2017) showed that mobile technologies
enhance communication among campsite tourists, scholars may extend this view to
explore how the use of mobile technologies affects social interactions and communications
among travel companions. In fact, the direct and indirect roles of mobile technologies in
mediating “memorable travel experiences”have yet to be fully explored.
Finally, the perceptions toward using mobile technologies for travel, and tourists’prefer-
ence and usage behavior of mobile technologies for travel are two areas of research that have
been overlooked. Perceptions regarding mobile technologies mainly focus on identifying the
antecedents and consequences of perceived risks and benefits (DeFranco & Morosan, 2017;
Park & Tussyadiah, 2017), and the perceptions of mobile marketing efforts (Erawan, 2016;
Tussyadiah & Wang, 2016). Future studies should thus explore the antecedents and con-
sequences of the perceived personalization of mobile technologies, which is one of the most
important features of mobile technologies driving usage and expectations (Dickinson et al.,
2014). In addition, studies on other topics from the consumers’perspective, such as the
antecedents and consequences of perceptions and attitudes toward innovative mobile tech-
nologies (e.g., LBS and mobile payments, the effect of mobile technologies usage on destina-
tion image, and satisfaction to mobile information services) should be deployed.
Conclusions
This study is not without limitations. First, this study identified and reviewed articles
related to mobile technologies published only in hospitality and tourism academic jour-
nals. Articles published in non-hospitality and tourism journals, and other research
642 R. LAW ET AL.
outputs, such as conference proceedings, research notes, and reports, are excluded from
the review. Additionally, relevant studies not containing the keywords used for data
collection were left out. Thus, some valuable information might have been unintentionally
excluded.
Nevertheless, this study represents one of the first few attempts to review this important
research area from the perspectives of suppliers and consumers. By taking stock of all
mobile technology studies in hospitality and tourism, this study characterizes and synthe-
sizes our current knowledge on this topic, thus providing a useful roadmap to guide future
research. Moreover, this study offers practitioners, who are interested in adopting mobile
technologies, an overview of consumers’motives, usage behavior, and preferences on
using mobile technologies for travel-related purposes. This review can be replicated a
few years later to identify the change in research focus and methodological nature.
Moreover, quantitative methods may be used to compare the differences between articles
in hospitality and tourism journals.
Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank Ms. Yuzhu Liu, for her contribution to the initial idea of this
research.
Funding
The work presented in this paper was funded by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University [G-UABV;
G-YBNF] and also an internal grant at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
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