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IJCHM
28,8
1598
Received 14 April 2015
Revised 29 June 2015
21 October 2015
Accepted 11 November 2015
International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality
Management
Vol. 28 No. 8, 2016
pp. 1598-1621
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0959-6119
DOI 10.1108/IJCHM-04-2015-0188
The evolution of business ethics
research in the realm of tourism
and hospitality
A bibliometric analysis
Mehmet Ali Köseoglu
Business School, Yildirim Beyazit University, Ankara,
Turkey and College of Business Administration,
American University of the Middle East, Dasman, Kuwait
Yasin Sehitoglu
Department of Business Administration, Yildiz Technical University,
Istanbul, Turkey
Gary Ross
College of Business, Minot State University, Minot,
North Dakota, USA, and
John A. Parnell
School of Business Administration, University of North Carolina at
Pembroke, Pembroke, North Carolina, USA
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to illustrate how business ethics research is progressing in the tourism and
hospitality (T/H) industries and suggest a research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach – This study applies bibliometric analysis to articles related to
business ethics topics in the T/H fields published between 1995 and 2014 in six, nine and five leading
hospitality-, tourism- and business ethics-oriented journals, respectively.
Findings – This study provides a broad view on business ethics research in the T/H fields based
on leading authors, institutions, themes and methods used over the past two decades.
Research limitations/implications – This study assesses the progress of business ethics research
in the hospitality and tourism fields. Only articles published in select, prominent Social Sciences
Citation Index journals were analyzed.
Practical implications – This analysis focuses on published articles related to business ethics in
the T/H fields. As such, it facilitates researchers, academic scholars and professionals
in contributing to the field more effectively and advancing scientific progress in the literature. It
aids practitioners by evaluating the extent to which scholars have investigated key issues in the
field.
Originality/value – This study is the first to utilize bibliometric analysis to assess business ethics
research focusing on T/H activities published in leading tourism, hospitality and business ethics
journals.
Keywords Tourism, Hospitality, Business ethics, Codes, Bibliometric analysis, Journals
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction Business
This paper delineates the progress of business ethics research related to tourism and ethics
hospitality (T/H) so that scholars can develop effective research programs and
practitioners can understand how research in this area has emerged. The intellectual
research
structure of business ethics in T/H utilizes bibliometric analysis to assess articles
addressing business ethics published in prominent T/H journals, as well as articles
related to T/H published in leading business ethics journals included in the Social 1599
Sciences Citations Index (SSCI).
To be successful, professionals, managers and practitioners at all levels in all kinds of
organizations and industries must decide – explicitly or implicitly – whether their
actions are ethical. Moreover, to understand the opportunities and threats, they must use
business ethics principles that explain how, when, why and to whom their applications
are ethical (Fisher and Bonn, 2007; Goodpaster, 1991). Hosmer (1994, p. 20) explains that:
[…] ethical principles are not subjective measures that vary with cultural, social, and economic
conditions; they are objective statements that transcend countries, religions, and times. They
are the basic rules or first principles that have been proposed to ensure a “good society”.
This is equally true in T/H organizations (Wijesinghe, 2014; Yeh, 2012), but complicated
by myriad perspectives on the topic (Wang, 2014).
There are three widely accepted approaches to assessing the ethical nature of
business decisions. First, the utility approach focuses on how much the society benefits
from the consequences of the decisions or behaviors. Second, the justice approach
examines whether costs and benefits are fairly distributed across individuals and
groups. Finally, the rights approach emphasizes the welfare of the individual (Brown
et al., 2014). Organizations develop ethical codes based on these ethical perspectives to
guide decision-making. Although the effectiveness of ethical codes is not always unclear
(Kaptein and Schwarts, 2007), executives should create and base them on their own
values to provide moral clarity, to inform employees about company expectations, and
to demonstrate to those in the organization’s internal and external environments how
ethics is integrated into the decision-making process (Montaya and Richard, 1994). This
significance places business ethics at the epicenter of many processes or procedures in
both the natural and social sciences disciplines. In this respect, issues related to business
ethics have appeared unevenly in a variety of business-related journals, conference
proceedings and books, and in a concentrated manner in ethics-related journals or other
publications.
To follow trends and to create an agenda for new practices or research topics,
scholars, professionals, managers and editors should understand the progress or level of
interest in the discipline. Although there are several articles in the concentrated
literature that delineates the development of business ethics research (Talukdar, 2011;
Chan et al., 2010; Tseng et al., 2010), only a few papers published in outlets outside of the
business ethics domain demonstrate the progress of research in the discipline. These
articles focus on the evolution of business ethics research in academic journals (Ma,
2009; Loe et al., 2000; O’Fallon and Butterfield, 2005; Lehnert et al., 2014; Robertson,
2008; Uysal, 2010). Nonetheless, scholarly work assessing the progress of business
ethics research in the manufacturing and service industries – particularly in the T/H,
health care and banking sectors – is limited. Hence, to further this genre of studies, the
composite T/H industry was selected for analysis because it significantly influences
IJCHM economic indicators of countries and exhibits a fiercely competitive environment for
28,8 managers, professionals, academicians and journal editors.
There are a number of bibliometric analyses and review articles in the T/H literature
investigating themes represented, methods used (Baloglu and Assante, 1999;
Crawford-Welch and McCleary, 1992; Palmer et al., 2005; Xiao and Smith, 2006),
contributing disciplines (Howey et al., 1999), contributing institutions (Jogaratnam et al.,
1600 2005a; 2005b) and the most influential scholars (Park et al., 2011; Schmidgall et al., 2007;
Zhao and Ritchie, 2007) in the field. There are several published works that identify how
the T/H literature advanced in geographical areas, including New Zealand and
Australia (Benckendorff, 2009), China (Tsang and Hsu, 2011; Xie, 2003), Turkey (Evren
and Kozak, 2014), North America (Meyer-Arendt and Justice, 2002) and the UK (Page,
2003). Additionally, several studies have investigated the evolution of psychological
research in the tourism industry (Barrios et al., 2008) and the evolution of strategic
management research in the hospitality industry (Harrington and Ottenbacher, 2011).
However, as previously mentioned, the T/H literature lacks work assessing the progress
of business ethics research related to T/H practice. Consequently, this paper seeks to
examine the intellectual structure of business ethics research related to T/H practices
published in both T/H and business ethics literature domains. With this in mind, the
main purposes of this study are to:
• Determine how the growth of research related to business ethics in T/H industry
and determine changed over time and journal categories.
• Identify the leading authors and the degree of multiple authorships in articles by
journal categories and years.
• Determine which institutions have provided the most contributions based on their
locations in either developed or developing countries.
• Identify how subjects evolved over time in the articles based on tourism or
hospitality streams.
• Identify how methodologies of articles changed during sub-periods.
• Suggest a research agenda for researchers and implications for practitioners.

The organization of this paper is as follows: In Section 2, an overview of business ethics

and T/H research utilizing bibliometric analysis is outlined. In Section 3 methodology
and findings for the study are delineated. Finally, based on the analysis, a
comprehensive assessment of results, limitations and opportunities for future research
are presented in Sections 4 and 5.

2. Literature review
2.1 Business ethics research
Several studies have assessed the evolution of business ethics (Talukdar, 2011) in the
academic literature. These studies can be classified as general review studies or citation/
co-occurrence analysis studies. For example, Chan et al. (2010) assessed 4,200 articles
published in ten leading business ethics journals, including Business and Society,
Business Ethics: European Review, Business Ethics Quarterly, Business and Society
Review, Ethics and Information Technology, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice,
International Journal of Value Based Management, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal
of Markets and Morality and Teaching Business Ethics. They found that the
contribution rate of North American academics was 55.9 per cent, followed by European Business
academics (25.3 per cent) and Asia-Pacific academics (8.0 per cent). Contributions came ethics
from 67 different countries, including the Australia (31), Canada (41), Germany (35), The
Netherlands (16), Spain (45), Taiwan (23), Turkey (14), the UK (109) and the USA (567).
research
Of the top 100 institutions, 22 per cent were religious organizations, representing
various faiths, including Protestantism, Mormonism, Judaism and Roman Catholicism.
Five professors (Herman Tavani, Daryl Koehn, Antonio Argandoña, Geoff Moore and 1601
Thomas Hemphill) provided significant contributions from institutions located in the
USA during the 1999-2008 period.
Robertson (2008) investigated the evolution of business ethics in the strategic
management literature during 1996-2005 by reviewing articles published in the
Strategic Management Journal, locating articles by using the following keywords: codes
of ethics, corporate social responsibility (CSR), corruption, environmental issues
(natural environment), ethical decision-making, glass ceiling/gender equality, insider
trading, morality, reputation management and white-collar crime. He found 23 articles
and thematically classified them such as environmental management (seven articles),
ethics policy and planning (five articles), reputation management (four articles),
white-collar crime (three articles), corruption and international market analysis (two
articles) and assessment of business ethics research (two articles).
Other studies have been conducted via citation/co-occurrences analysis to illustrate
the evolution of business ethics. For instance, Ma (2009) obtained 643 articles using
keywords such as business ethics, corporate ethics, organizational citizenship, social
accountability, social performance or social responsibility in their titles or keywords
from SSCI-indexed journals between 1997 and 2006. He identified the following most
frequently cited journals among 21,952 references in the articles. The Journal of
Business Ethics had the most citations (3013), followed by the Academy of Management
Review (548 citations), Academy of Management Journal (289 citations), Business Ethics
Quarterly (253 citations), Journal of Marketing (231 citations), Strategic Management
Journal (167 citations), California Management Review (162 citations), Business and
Society (160 citations) and Harvard Business Review (140 citations). He identified a
significant paradigm shift from ethical decision-making and theoretical framework
topics to business performance and CSR between the first five years (1997-2001) and the
second five years (2002-2006).
Ma et al. (2012) examined articles published in two leading business ethics journals –
Journal of Business Ethics and Business Ethics Quarterly – between 2001 and 2008 via
citation and co-citation analysis. Their findings reinforced the work of Ma (2009) and
Tseng et al. (2010), but also noted that business ethics studies clustered around the
following four major research themes: morality and social contract theory, ethical
decision-making, CSR and stakeholder theory. Similarly, Tseng et al. (2010) identified
three major factors in the field of business ethics in articles published in leading ethics
journals – Ethics, Ethics & Behavior and Journal of Business Ethics – between 1997 and
2006: ethical and unethical decision-making, corporate governance and firm
performance and ethical principles and codes of conduct.

2.2 Overview of business ethics research in tourism and hospitality

A number of studies (Baloglu and Assante, 1999; Palmer et al., 2005; Xiao and Smith,
2006) have explored the evolution of the knowledge domain of the T/H realm. For
IJCHM instance, outlined themes studied and methods used in the T/H literature. While
28,8 Jogaratnam et al. (2005a, 2005b) presented prominent institutions within the same
discipline, McKercher (2008) addressed pertinent disciplines within the hospitality
industry. Others (McKercher, 2007; Schmidgall et al., 2007; Zhao and Ritchie, 2007)
identified the most prolific scholars in the field; in addition, a small number of studies
utilizing citation/co-citation analysis with regard to T/H have been published (Kim et al.,
1602 2005; Xiao and Smith, 2008; Benckendorff, 2009). Research in the industry has been
conducted in a variety of geographical settings, including China (Law et al., 2014; Tsang
and Hsu, 2011), New Zealand and Australia (Benckendorff, 2009), Nordic nations
(Mehmetoglu, 2004), Turkey (Evren and Kozak, 2014) and the UK (Page, 2003).
The evolution of general business and management disciplines, including finance
and accounting (Tsai et al., 2011; Park and Janq, 2014), human resource management
(Tracey, 2014), information and communication technologies (Law et al., 2014),
marketing (Morosan et al., 2014) and strategic management (Harrington and
Ottenbacher, 2011; Phillips and Moutinho, 2014; Harrington et al., 2014) has also been
researched in the T/H literature. This type of study conducted via bibliometric analysis
in the T/H management literature was classified by Koseoglu et al. (2014) into six
groups: Journals Assessment and Ranking Studies (Cheng et al., 2011), Article
Identification Studies (Park et al., 2011; Zhao and Ritchie, 2007), Content Analysis (Rivera
and Upchurch, 2008), Citation Analysis (Wardle and Buckley, 2014; Ye et al., 2012),
Country Research Analysis (Benckendorff, 2009; Tsang and Hsu, 2011) and Disciplinal
Relationship Analysis (Harrington and Ottenbacher, 2011; Barrios et al., 2008).
As aforementioned, several studies have assessed the knowledge domain of the T/H
literature via bibliometric analysis. Business ethics (Yoo et al., 2011), environmental
issues and legal issues (Park et al., 2011) were indicated as research topics rarely sought
in the T/H literature when compared to other business and management topics such as
human resource management, marketing, organizational behavior, etc. Moreover, the
present study addresses how business ethics research focusing on T/H activities is
evolving based on themes discussed, methods used, statistical techniques used, sample
selected and contributors as authors and institutions by utilizing bibliometric analysis.
The scope of the research includes papers published in leading journals and T/H topics
published in SSCI-indexed business ethics journals.

3. Methodology
3.1 Criteria for database and journals selection
“Certified knowledge” can be obtained from articles published in journals that strengthen
reliability via bibliometric analysis (Ramos-Rodrigues and Ruis-Navarro, 2004). The SSCI
database was used because of its strong reputation and academic significant. Articles
published in hospitality-, tourism- and ethics-oriented journals were analyzed.
Hospitality-oriented journals included Cornell Hospitality Quarterly (CHQ), International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM), International Journal of
Hospitality Management (IJHM), Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research (JHTR), Journal
of Hospitality Leisure Sport & Tourism Education (JHLSTE) and Scandinavian Journal of
Hospitality and Tourism (SJHT). Journals in the tourism category included Asia Pacific
Journal of Tourism Research (APJTR), Annals of Tourism Research (ATR), Current Issues
in Tourism (CIT), International Journal of Tourism Research (IJTR), Journal of Sustainable
Tourism (JST), Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change (JTCC), Journal of Travel &
Tourism Marketing (JTTM), Tourism Economics (TE), Tourism Geographies (TG), and Business
Tourism Management (TM). Ethics-oriented journals included Business Ethics: A European ethics
Review (BEER), Business Ethics Quarterly (BEQ), Ethics (ETH), Ethics & Behavior (EB) and
Journal of Business Ethics (JBE).
research

3.2 Data collection

Papers focused on business ethics in both hospitality- and tourism-oriented journals 1603
were identified by using keywords such as corruption, morality, reputation
management, CSR, glass ceiling/gender equality, ethical decision-making, white-collar
crime, insider trading, environmental issues (natural environment) and codes of ethics
(Robertson, 2008), as well as business ethics, corporate citizenship, corporate ethics,
CSR, social performance and social responsiveness (Ma, 2009). Papers focused on
hospitality and tourism in ethics-oriented journals were identified by using keywords
such as tourism, hospitality, hotel, tourist and visitor.
Two of the authors of this paper individually deemed an article to be focused on
business ethics in T/H if it directly or indirectly relates to business ethics in tourism
and/or hospitality activities, requiring a consensus of authors enhanced data validity
and reliability. A total of 362 articles were selected for the study.

3.3 Analysis
The analysis revealed the identification of each article, including the journal title,
publication year, author name, author type, author information, institution represented
and the content of each article, such as research discipline, theme and chosen methods.
The sample of articles selected for analysis included those published between 1995
and 2014 and was split into four consecutive five-year sub-periods (1995-1999,
2000-2004, 2005-2009 and 2010-2014) to examine and identify the evolution of the field in
the T/H realms.

4. Results and discussion

4.1 Identification of reviewed articles
This section assesses the frequency of articles according to years, journals, leading
authors and contributions by sub-institutional, institutional and countries.
4.1.1 Frequency of business ethics and tourism and hospitality articles appearing in
tourism and hospitality and ethics journals. As seen in Table I, tourism-oriented
journals had the highest percentage of the 362 articles related to business ethics
(60.3 per cent), followed by hospitality-oriented journals (29.8 per cent) and
ethics-oriented journals (9.9 per cent). While the number of the articles published in
journals significantly increased after 2007, tourism-oriented journals emerged as the
major group publishing these articles in the most recent three years. However,
tourism journals published more articles than hospitality journals. Park et al. (2011)
conducted a study of 2,834 T/H articles published between 2000 and 2009 and
identified that 1,752 (61.2 per cent) dealt with tourism and 1,082 (38.2 per cent)
addressed hospitality issues. In a study of business ethics papers appearing in
Strategic Management Journal between 1996 and 2005, Robertson (2008) reported an
increase from a low of 47 in 1996 to 65 in 2005, although the percentages of total
articles published in this journal increased only from 4.3 in 1996 to 4.6 in 2005,
reflecting an overall increase in the total number of articles published.
IJCHM Journalsa
28,8 HOJ TOJ EOJ Total
Years n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%)

1995 0 0.0 3 1.4 0 0 3 0.8

1996 1 0.9 2 0.9 3 8.3 6 1.7
1604 1997 0 0.0 3 1.4 0 0.0 3 0.8
1998 2 1.9 3 1.4 2 5.6 7 1.9
1999 2 1.9 5 2.3 2 5.6 9 2.5
2000 0 0.0 5 2.3 0 0.0 5 1.4
2001 2 1.9 5 2.3 1 2.8 8 2.2
2002 1 0.9 5 2.3 1 2.8 7 1.9
2003 1 0.9 5 2.3 1 2.8 7 1.9
2004 3 2.8 9 4.1 0 0.0 12 3.3
2005 3 2.8 7 3.2 1 2.8 11 3.0
2006 4 3.7 5 2.3 0 0.0 9 2.5
2007 5 4.6 9 4.1 2 5.6 16 4.4
2008 7 6.5 13 6.0 5 13.9 25 6.9
2009 9 8.3 9 4.1 3 8.3 21 5.8
2010 8 7.4 26 11.9 5 13.9 39 10.8
2011 7 6.5 23 10.6 1 2.8 31 8.6
2012 13 12.0 16 7.3 1 2.8 30 8.3
Table I. 2013 19 17.6 29 13.3 3 8.3 51 14.1
Business ethics 2014 21 19.4 36 16.5 5 13.9 62 17.1
articles related to Total 108 100 218 100 36 100 362 100
tourism and % 29.80 60.30 9.90 100.0
hospitality by year
and by journal Notes: a HOJ ⫽ Hospitality-oriented journals; TOJ ⫽ Tourism-oriented journals; EOJ ⫽ Ethics-oriented
categories journals

As seen in Figure 1, IJHM (60) produced the highest number of the articles (362).
Further, 17 journals had 43 or fewer papers, while three ethics-oriented journals
(BEQ, ETH and EB) had no articles focusing directly or indirectly on tourism and/or
hospitality topics.
4.1.2 Authorship and institutional contribution. A total of 614 contributing scholars
were represented in the business ethics papers published in leading T/H and
business journals between 1995 and 2014. The mean number of authors
per published paper was 1.69, while the mean number of articles per authors was
0.58. Author Seoli Lee appeared in 11 different manuscripts, followed by Xavier
Font (10), Wilco W. Chan (8), Bruce Prideaux (7), Bob Mckercher (6), Rob Law (6) and
Manisha Singal (5). Additionally, there were 5 authors with 4 papers, 23 authors
with 3 papers and 45 authors with 2 papers. Interestingly, 534 authors produced
only one paper in the group, accounting for 87 per cent of the total.
The number of authorships per article was classified into four groups: single author,
two authors, three authors and four or more authors. As seen in Figure 2, although single
authorship was common, collaboration is becoming more pervasive in T/H research
related to business ethics topics.
Institutional contributions were examined in two sets: institutional and country. The
Hong Kong Polytechnic University accounted for 65 appearances out of 614 universities,
 70 Business
TM- 30 ethics
60 TG- 18 research
TE- 17
SJHT- 13
50
JTTM- 8
1605
The Number of Arcles

JTCC- 2
40 JST- 30
JHTR- 10
JHLSTE- 1
30
JBE- 35
IJTR- 20
20 IJHM- 60
IJCHM- 16
CIT- 22 Figure 1.
10 The number of
CHQ- 8
business ethics
BEER-1
articles related to
0 ATR- 43 tourism and
APJTR- 28 hospitality by year
and by journals

50

45

40

35
The Numer of Arcles

30

25 1995-1999
2000-2004
20
2005-2009 Figure 2.
15
2010-2014 The authorship in
10 business ethics
5
articles related to
tourism and
0 hospitality by year
TOJ HOJ EOJ TOJ HOJ EOJ TOJ HOJ EOJ TOJ HOJ EOJ
and by journal
Single Author Two Authors Three Authors Four and/or more groups
Authors

followed by Leeds Metropolitan University (19), Griffith University (13), The University
of Queensland (13), Virginia Tech (11), Temple University (10), University of Cantabria
(10) and University of Surrey (10).
Authors from 39 nations were represented in the sample. The largest contribution
was provided by universities located in the USA (163), followed by institutions in China
IJCHM (119), the UK (118), Australia (75), Spain (53), Canada (38), New Zealand (23), Republic of
28,8 Korea (23), Taiwan (20), South Africa (12), Turkey (12) and Norway (10).

4.2 Content of reviewed articles

This section addresses article types, methods of articles, research themes, research
1606 samples, research methods, methodological procedures and statistical techniques used
in the articles.
4.2.1 Research themes. Table II demonstrates how the results of the classification
of themes changed by sub-period between 1995 and 2014, and Table III presents the
results of the classification of themes by journals groups. A total of 362 articles
published between 1995 and 2014 were examined in this study. The three most
popular themes in these articles were environmental (natural environment) issues
(173 articles, 47.8 per cent), CSR (84 articles, 23.2 per cent) and business ethics (30
articles, 8.3 per cent). Collectively, these three themes amounted for 79.3 per cent of
all the articles examined, with each of the remaining themes amounting to less than
5 per cent. Robertson (2008) identified environmental issues, ethical policies and
planning and reputation management as the most popular ethical themes. In an
analysis of T/H articles published in Turkey, Evren and Kozak (2013) identified
environmental management as low priority, with only3.2 per cent of articles
published between 2000 and 2010. However, their study focused on a number of
marketing, not ethical issues.

Years Total
1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2009 2010-2014 1995-2014
Themes n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%)

Corruption 1 3.6 1 2.6 2 2.4 12 5.7 16 4.4

Morality 2 7.1 1 2.6 3 3.7 11 5.2 17 4.7
Reputation
management – – – – – – 2 0.9 2 0.6
Corporate social
responsibility – – 1 2.6 14 17.1 69 32.4 84 23.2
Glass ceiling/gender
equality 3 10.7 1 2.6 3 3.7 6 2.8 13 3.6
Ethical
decision-making 2 7.1 1 2.6 1 1.2 0 – 4 1.1
White-collar crime – – – – – – – – – –
Insider trading – – – – – – – – – –
Environmental issues
(natural environment) 10 35.7 26 66.7 45 54.9 92 43.4 173 47.8
Codes of ethics 3 10.7 2 5.1 2 2.4 3 1.4 10 2.8
Business ethics 7 25.0 4 10.3 10 12.2 9 4.2 30 8.3
Corporate ethics – – – – – – 1 0.5 1 0.3
Table II. Social performance – – – – – – 2 0.9 2 0.6
Themes of business Corporate citizenship – – 1 2.6 – – – – 1 0.3
ethics articles by Social responsiveness – – 1 2.6 2 2.4 6 2.8 9 2.5
years Total 28 100 39 100 82 100 213 100 362 100
 Journals Total
Business
TOJ HOJ EOJ ethics
Category n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%) research
Corruption 13 6.0 2 1.9 1 2.8 16 4.4
Morality 15 6.9 – – 2 5.6 17 4.7
Reputation management – – 2 1.9 – – 2 0.6
Corporate social responsibility 37 17.0 42 38.9 5 13.9 84 23.2
1607
Glass ceiling/gender equality 4 1.8 8 7.5 1 2.8 13 3.6
Ethical decision-making – – 3 2.8 1 2.8 4 1.1
White-collar crime – – – – – – – –
Insider trading – – – – – – – –
Environmental issues (natural env.) 129 59.2 43 40.2 1 2.8 173 47.8
Codes of ethics 6 2.8 2 1.9 2 5.6 10 2.8
Business ethics 6 2.8 3 2.8 21 58.3 30 8.3
Corporate ethics – – – – 1 2.8 1 0.3
Social performance 2 0.9 – – – – 2 0.6 Table III.
Corporate citizenship 1 0.5 – – – – 1 0.3 Nature of business
Social responsiveness 5 2.3 3 2.8 1 2.8 9 2.5 ethics articles by
Total 218 100 108 100 36 100 362 100 journals

Among the three most popular themes, CSR was the only one that demonstrated a
steady growth pattern, increasing from 2.6 per cent of all articles examined in the
2000-2004 sub-period to 32.4 per cent in the 2010-2014 sub-period. The
environmental issues theme grew from 35.7 per cent in the 1995-1999 sub-period to
43.4 per cent in the 2010-2014 sub-period but there was a decline from a high of 66.7
per cent in the 2000-2004 sub-period. The business ethics theme declined from 25.0
per cent in the 1995-1999 sub-period to 4.2 per cent in the 2010-2014 sub-period. CSR
appears to be the only theme that is experiencing positive momentum. Topics
related to white-collar crime and insider trading were not addressed in any of the
articles reviewed.
Environmental issues represented the most popular theme (Table III). It was
addressed by tourism-oriented journals it in 59.2 per cent of the articles,
hospitality-oriented journals in 40.2 per cent of the articles and ethics-oriented journals
in 2.8 per cent of the articles. Tourism-oriented journals appear to focus the most on
environmental issues.
The second most popular theme was CSR. This theme was addressed more heavily in
hospitality-oriented journals (38.9 per cent) than in tourism-oriented journals (17.0 per
cent) and ethics-oriented journals (13.9 per cent). The third most popular theme of
business ethics was addressed far more heavily in ethics-oriented journals (58.3 per cent)
than in tourism-oriented journals (2.8 per cent) and hospitality-oriented journals (2.8 per
cent).
4.2.2 The nature of business ethics articles related to tourism and hospitality. The
nature of the papers was examined according to article types, methods, research
methods, methodological procedures, statistical techniques and research samples.
The nature of the articles included in this study is presented by type in Table IV.
The vast majority (97.8 per cent) were original articles with only 2.2 per cent being
research notes. In the first 10 years, there were no research notes; only one was
IJCHM Years Total
28,8 1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2009 2010-2014 1995-2014
Category n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%)

Article type
Original article 28 100 39 100 81 98.8 206 96.7 354 97.8
1608 Research note – – – – 1 1.2 7 3.3 8 2.2
Methods of the article
Empirical 16 57.1 23 59.0 57 69.5 169 79.3 265 73.2
Conceptual 10 35.7 15 38.5 24 29.3 42 19.7 91 25.1
Review 2 7.1 1 2.6 1 1.2 2 0.9 6 1.7
Research methods
Quantitative 14 50.0 16 41.0 43 52.4 124 58.2 197 54.4
Qualitative 12 42.9 18 46.2 32 39.1 71 33.3 133 36.8
Hybrid 2 7.1 5 12.8 7 8.5 18 8.5 32 8.8
Primary or secondary data
Primary-questionnaire 11 39.3 10 25.6 31 37.8 94 44.1 146 40.3
Primary-interview 1 3.6 4 10.3 6 7.3 16 7.5 27 7.5
Primary-case study 7 25.0 2 5.1 12 14.6 25 11.7 46 12.7
Primary-observation 2 7.1 4 10.3 2 2.4 3 1.4 11 3.0
Primary-hybrid (two or more
primary sources) 2 7.1 5 12.8 5 6.1 15 7.0 27 7.5
Secondary 5 17.9 12 30.8 21 25.6 48 22.5 86 23.8
Secondary-Primary (at least one
each) – – 2 5.1 5 6.1 12 5.6 19 5.2
Statistical techniques
Variance analysis [AN(C)OVA,
MANOVA] 3 8.1 5 10.9 10 7.9 28 7.4 46 7.8
Descriptive/content 5 13.5 4 8.7 14 11.0 54 14.3 77 13.1
t-test, ␹2, correlation, Mann-
Whitney U 7 18.9 5 10.9 29 22.8 87 23.1 128 21.8
Regression 3 8.1 3 6.5 12 9.4 34 9.0 52 8.9
Factor, cluster, discriminant 3 8.1 2 4.0.3 18 14.2 63 16.7 86 14.7
Structural equation model – – – – 1 0.8 6 1.6 7 1.2
Others 1 2.7 1 2.2 3 2.4 23 6.1 28 4.8
Samples
Airlines – – – – 2 2.4 5 2.3 7 1.9
Casino 1 3.6 – – 2 2.4 2 0.9 5 1.4
General hospitality industry 7 25.0 11 28.2 12 14.6 33 15.5 63 17.4
General tourism
destinations/org. 7 25.0 6 15.4 8 9.8 34 16.0 55 15.2
Hotels 7 25.0 10 25.6 29 35.4 69 32.4 115 31.8
Restaurants/food services – – – – 3 3.7 10 4.7 13 3.6
Table IV. Travelers, visitors 4 14.3 8 20.5 11 13.4 36 16.9 59 16.3
Nature of business Students – – – – 3 3.7 5 2.3 8 2.2
ethics articles by Others – – 2 5.1 7 8.5 8 3.8 17 4.7
years (continued)
 Years Total
Business
1995-1999 2000-2004 2005-2009 2010-2014 1995-2014 ethics
Category n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%) research
Samples as a country
Developed
countries 24 85.7 27 71.1 46 59.0 121 60.2 218 63.2
Developing
1609
countries 3 10.7 11 28.9 31 39.7 74 36.8 119 34.5
Mixed sample 1 3.6 – – 1 1.3 6 3.0 8 2.3 Table IV.

published between 2005 and 2009 and seven were published between 2010 and 2014.
Koseoglu et al. (2014), in an analysis of articles in T/H journals in Turkey between
1984 and 2013, reported that 88.9 per cent were research articles, while 11.1 per cent
were original articles.
4.2.3 Primary methods utilized in the research. The primary methods used in the
articles published were also identified. During the 20-year period from 1995 to 2014,
73.2 per cent of the articles represented empirical studies, with 25.1 per cent
representing conceptual studies and 1.7 per cent reviews. Empirical studies
increased from 57.1 per cent of articles in the1995-1999 sub-period to 79.3 per cent in
the 2010-2014 sub-period. Likewise, conceptual studies decreased from 35.7 to 19.7
per cent during that same period.
The relative numbers of empirical and conceptual papers in the field vary by
geography and other factors. In a content analysis of articles on T/H in Nordic countries,
Mehmetoglu (2004) reported that 60.0 per cent were empirical and 40.0 per cent
conceptual. Mohammed et al. (2015), in an analysis of articles in hospitality and tourism
journals, found similar results, reporting that 79.5 per cent were empirical and 20.5 per
cent were conceptual. In analyses of articles in T/H journals in Turkey, Koseoglu et al.
(2014) found that 96.3 per cent were empirical and 3.7 per cent conceptual, while Evren
and Kozak (2013) found that 60.6 per cent were empirical and 39.4 per cent conceptual.
Tsang and Hsu (2011), in a study of T/H articles in China, reported that 58 per cent were
empirical and 42 per cent conceptual. In a broader assessment of articles in five
hospitality management journals, Baloglu and Assante (1999) reported that the vast
majority (67.9 per cent) were conceptual, with 32.1 per cent empirical. While these
studies did not focus exclusively on ethical issues in the T/H sector, a clear pattern
favoring empirical papers is apparent.
4.2.4 The evolution of research methods utilized in the research. The majority (54.5
per cent) of articles published between 1995 and 2014 used a quantitative research
method as opposed to 36.8 per cent that used a qualitative research method.
Approximately 8.8 per cent used a hybrid research method. Quantitative research
methods appear to be growing in popularity, increasing from 50.0 per cent in 1995-1999
to 58.2 per cent in 2010-2014. During this period, qualitative research methods decreased
from 42.9 to 33.3 per cent.
Similarly, Mehmetoglu (2004) found that 59.0 per cent of studies were
quantitative, 29.0 per cent were qualitative and 12.0 per cent invoked a combination
approach. Mohammed et al. (2015) reported that 93.2 per cent of articles were
quantitative, 5.1 per cent qualitative and 1.7 per cent combination. Myung et al.
IJCHM (2012), in a study of environmentally related research in hospitality journals,
28,8 identified 73.2 per cent as quantitative and 26.8 per cent as qualitative. Koseoglu
et al. (2014) reported that 82.2 per cent of articles were quantitative, 12.6 per cent
qualitative and 5.2 per cent combination. Tsang and Hsu (2011) reported 58 per cent
of articles as quantitative and 42 per cent as qualitative. Hence, results vary, but
quantitative papers appear to be more common than qualitative ones.
1610 4.2.5 Data-gathering methods used in the research. During the 20-year period
investigated, 71.0 per cent of all articles examined dealt with the gathering of
primary data, as opposed to 29.0 per cent with secondary data. There appears to be
a trend in the past 15 years with the percentage of articles dealing with primary data
increasing from 64.1 per cent in 2000-2004 to 71.9 per cent in 2010-2014. However,
82.1 per cent of articles during the 1995-1999 years dealt with primary data, so this
15-year trend must be examined in light of an overall decrease from those earlier
years.
Mehmetoglu (2004) reported that primary data-gathering methods were used in 81.0
per cent of studies with secondary (document data) methods used in only 19.0 per cent.
Myung et al. (2012) reported a similar pattern with 87.9 per cent using primary
data-gathering methods and 12.1 per cent secondary methods. Koseoglu et al. (2014)
found that 67.9 per cent of the articles reviewed used primary data-gathering methods,
23.7 per cent secondary methods and 8.4 per cent combination. Law et al. (2013), in a
study of information technology in the hospitality industry, reported that 24.2 per cent
of studies employed the use of secondary data and 23.2 per cent primary data, while 14.7
per cent simulation and 37.9 per cent using other methods. Baloglu and Assante (1999)
reported that 19.1 per cent used secondary data with the rest utilizing primary
data-gathering methods. Tsang and Hsu (2011) reported that 64.2 per cent of studies
employed the use of secondary data with the rest focusing on primary data. In four of the
six studies cited above, the majority of papers reported using primary data-gathering
techniques. Secondary data were the most popular focus in only two of the studies.
Hence, there appears to have been a preference for the gathering and analyzing of
primary data.
4.2.6 Primary data-gathering methods utilized in the research. The most common
primary data method was the questionnaire (40.3 per cent), followed by the case
study (12.7 per cent), the interview (7.5 per cent), hybrid or multiple primary
methods (7.5 per cent) and observation (3.0 per cent). This is fairly consistent with
findings from several other studies. In four previously cited studies (Myung et al.,
2012; Koseoglu et al., 2014; Baloglu and Assante, 1999; Tsang and Hsu, 2011), the
most popular primary data-gathering method was the survey/questionnaire.
Interviews were the most popular in only one of the studies previously cited
(Mehmetoglu, 2004). However, interviews were the second most-popular method in
three studies (Myung et al., 2012; Koseoglu et al., 2014; Tsang and Hsu, 2011).
4.2.7 Statistical techniques used in the research. Several different statistical
techniques were represented in the articles examined in this study. The most
common category of statistical techniques included t-tests, chi-square, correlation
and Mann–Whitney U test (21.8 per cent). The second most common category
included factor, cluster and discriminant analysis. The third most common category
included descriptive and content analyses. Regression, the fourth most common
category, accounted for 8.9 per cent, following by variance analysis [AN(C)OVA,
MANOVA] at 7.8 per cent. The only clearly discernable trend in the past 20 years Business
has been an increase in the number of articles employing factor, cluster and ethics
discriminant analysis techniques, increasing from 8.1 per cent in 1995-1999 to 16.7 research
per cent in 2010-2014. This is somewhat different from the statistical techniques
used in other studies. In five of the previously cited studies (Mohammed et al., 2015;
Myung et al., 2012; Koseoglu et al., 2014; Baloglu and Assante, 1999; Tsang and Hsu,
2011), the two most popular statistical techniques used consisted of descriptive 1611
statistics, followed by factor/cluster analysis.
4.2.8 Common group sampling utilized in the research. The most common group
sampled in the articles examined during the 20-year period of this study was the hotel
industry, representing 31.8 per cent of all articles. The second most common was the
general hospitality industry (17.4 per cent), followed travelers/visitors (16.3 per cent)
and general tourism destinations/organizations (15.2 per cent). During the 20-year
period, there seems to have been a slight increase in the sampling of hotels and a
decrease in the sampling of the general hospitality industry. Mohammed et al.’s (2015)
assessment found that the hotel industry accounted for 60.3 per cent of the groups
sampled, while Law et al. (2014) and Baloglu and Assante’s (1999) groups attributed 66.3
and 32.5 per cent, respectively, to hospitality.
Samples that focused on developed countries comprised 63.2 per cent of all articles
published during the past 20 years. Samples that focused on developing countries are
34.5 per cent and mixed samples are 2.3 per cent. There was a greater focus on
developing countries, with 10.7 per cent of articles sampled from such countries in
1995-1999, increasing to 36.8 per cent in 2010-2014. Approximately 53.5 per cent of
articles examined in the study conducted by Mohammed et al. (2015) focused on
developed countries (identified as being in Europe, North America and
Australia/Oceania). Approximately 59.6 per cent in the study conducted by Myung et al.
(2012) focused on developed countries (identified as Europe, USA and Australia). In both
of these studies, however, it is not clear whether the geographic categories included only
developing or developed countries. It appears that the geographic focus of these two
studies was fairly consistent with that of the present study. Several other studies
reviewed were either focused on only one or two countries or did not identify a
geographic focus.
4.2.9 The assessment of the nature of articles by journal groups. Table V considers
articles examined by journal groups. The vast majority (97.8 per cent) of all articles
published in the 20 years assessed in this study consisted of original articles; only 2.2
per cent consisted of research notes. This approximate breakdown holds true for all
journal groups except for ethics-oriented journals, of which all of the articles were
original. Hospitality-oriented journals published a higher percentage of empirical
articles (86.1 per cent) than did the other two journal groups. Tourism-oriented journals
published the lowest percentage of empirical articles (67.4 per cent).
Likewise, hospitality-oriented journals published a higher percentage of articles
that used quantitative methods (68.5 per cent) than did the other two journal groups,
with tourism-oriented journals publishing the lowest percentage of such articles
(47.2 per cent). Hospitality-oriented journals published a higher percentage of
articles involving primary data-gathering techniques (74.0 per cent) than did the
IJCHM Journals Total
28,8 TOJ HOJ EOJ
Category n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%)

Article type
Original article 213 97.7 105 97.2 36 100 354 97.8
1612 Research note 5 2.3 3 2.8 0 0 8 2.2
Methods of the article
Empirical 147 67.4 93 86.1 25 69.4 265 73.2
Conceptual 67 30.7 14 13.0 10 27.8 91 25.1
Review 4 1.8 1 0.9 1 2.8 6 1.7
Research methods
Quantitative 103 47.2 74 68.5 20 55.6 197 54.4
Qualitative 94 43.1 25 23.1 14 38.9 133 36.7
Hybrid 21 9.6 9 8.3 2 5.6 32 8.8
Primary or secondary data
Primary-questionnaire 76 34.9 56 51.9 14 38.9 146 40.3
Primary-interview 17 7.8 7 6.5 3 8.3 27 7.5
Primary-case
study 36 16.5 6 5.6 4 11.1 46 12.7
Primary-observation 7 3.2 4 3.7 0 0.0 11 3.0
Primary-hybrid
(2 or more
primary sources) 17 7.8 7 6.5 3 8.3 27 7.5
Secondary 56 25.7 22 20.4 8 22.2 86 23.8
Secondary-
primary (at least
one each) 9 4.1 6 5.6 4 11.1 19 5.2
Statistical techniques
Variance
analysis
[AN(C)OVA,
MANOVA] 14 4.4 20 9.5 12 20.3 46 7.8
Descriptive/content 31 9.7 35 16.7 11 18.6 77 13.1
t-test, ␹2,
correlation,
Mann–Whitney
U 63 19.8 57 27.1 8 13.6 128 21.8
Regression 27 8.5 23 11.0 2 3.4 52 8.9
Factor, cluster,
discriminant 47 14.8 31 14.8 8 13.6 86 14.7
Table V. Structural
Nature of business equation model 1 0.3 5 2.4 1 1.7 7 1.2
ethics articles by Others 13 4.1 12 5.7 3 5.1 28 4.8
journals (continued)
 Journals Total
Business
TOJ HOJ EOJ ethics
Category n (%) n (%) n (%) n (%) research
Samples
Airlines 6 2.8 1 0.9 0 0.0 7 1.9
Casino 2 0.9 2 1.9 1 2.8 5 1.4
General
1613
hospitality
industry 51 23.4 4 3.7 8 22.2 63 17.4
General tourism
destinations/Org. 40 18.3 8 7.4 7 19.4 55 15.2
Hotels 42 19.3 67 62.0 6 16.7 115 31.8
Restaurants/
Food services 3 1.4 9 8.3 1 2.8 13 3.6
Travelers,
visitors 35 16.1 14 13.0 10 27.8 59 16.3
Students 6 2.8 0 0.0 2 5.6 8 2.2
Others 16 7.3 1 0.9 0 0.0 17 4.7
Samples as a country
Developed
countries 122 59.5 69 66.3 27 75.0 218 63.2
Developing
countries 79 38.5 31 29.8 9 25.0 119 34.5
Mixed sample 4 2.0 4 3.8 – – 8 2.3 Table V.

other two journal groups. Ethics-oriented journals published the lowest percentage
(66.7 per cent) of such articles. The questionnaire method was the most commonly
used primary data-gathering technique in all three journal groups.
In T/H articles, the most commonly used statistical techniques included t-tests,
chi-square analyses, correlation and Mann–Whitney U test, representing 19.8 per cent of
tourism-oriented journal articles and 27.1 per cent of hospitality-oriented journal
articles. In articles published in ethics-oriented journals, the most commonly used
technique was variance analysis [AN(C)OVA, MANOVA] at 20.3 per cent. The most
commonly sampled groups in tourism-, ethics- and hospitality-oriented journals were
the general hospitality industry (23.4 per cent), travelers/visitors (27.8 per cent) and
hotels (62.0 per cent), respectively. All three journal groups featured samples from
developed countries more than developing countries. However, articles in the
ethics-oriented journals focused more heavily on developed countries (75.0 per cent)
than did tourism-oriented journals (59.5 per cent) or hospitality-oriented journals (66.3
per cent).

5. Discussion and conclusions

5.1 Conclusions
This study used bibliometric analysis to explore how business ethics research in the T/H
industry has progressed over time based on themes and methods used. The review
included 362 papers pertaining to business ethics and published in six leading
IJCHM hospitality-oriented journals, nine leading tourism-oriented journals and five leading
28,8 business ethics-oriented journals included in the SSCI between 1995 and 2014.
The study presented herein presents a broad view of the trends of business ethics
research in the T/H industry published in top T/H journals and business ethics journals.
As such, it can help scholars refine existing and initiate new research agendas
(Donaldson and Dunfee, 1994).
1614 When a clear agenda is absent, research is often haphazard, failing to advance the
field and influence practice (Kahn, 1990). As MacBeth (2005, p. 962) put it, “[…] an ethics
platform […] is needed to interrogate the morality of the positions taken in policy,
planning, development, and management”.
This study also elucidates the gap between general business ethic research and
business ethics research specifically targeting the T/H industry. Scholars vetting
business ethics issues in the T/H industry contributed to the mainstream business ethics
literature based on the unique characteristics of the industry. From a scientific
perspective, T/H knowledge is generated incrementally through discovery. In this
respect, business ethics research can be improved because of the continuous and
complex development of the industry. These topics originate within the industry, and
are operationalized and investigated via rigorous methodological procedures as
depicted in hospitality marketing research (Morosan et al., 2014).

5.2 Theoretical implications

Several theoretical implications of this study have been identified. First, in recent years,
there has been a significant increase in the number of business ethics articles related to
T/H management issues in tourism-, hospitality- and ethics-oriented journals. In the
papers published in these journals, there was a high level of collaboration among
researchers; however, there are no leading authors and universities (except Hong Kong
Polytechnic University) who led the field. This lack of leadership could be a significant
barrier to enhancing the quantity and quality of published work. On the other hand, this
could be a great opportunity to lead the field by focusing research questions on ethical
issues in T/H with scholars from other disciplines. When ethical issues, which typically
are interdisciplinary, are combined with other topics like strategy, finance and human
resources, they could be perceived as less important. Hence, the collaborative efforts of
T/H researchers and scholars from other disciplines help scholars and institutions gain
more breadth and depth in the field. Because of this lack of leadership and specialization
with ethical issues in the T/H industry, practitioners might face challenges when
attempting to address ethical dilemmas. Consequently, practitioners in the T/H industry
benefit from leading scholars and institutions with greater specialization in the ethical
issues of that industry.
Recent increases in research activity in developing nations notwithstanding, the
preponderance of scholarly, theory-based work occurs in developed nations. While
ethical concerns are prevalent across the globe, specific issues are more common in
under-researched developing economies where infrastructure issues create challenges
and legal frameworks are not always clear. T/H managers in developing nations can
benefit from additional scholarship that addresses issues common to their
organizations.
Themes studied in the articles related to business ethics in the T/H industry have
become more complex based on mainstream general business ethics topics. Although
these studies provide useful insights for the T/H industry, they do not generate helpful Business
theories for the industry. They have produced comprehensive, broad and deep ethics
knowledge for scholars and practitioners. Because of the multi-faceted structure of
ethics, there are a number of venues to add to the research agenda, including links
research
between ethics and strategy, ethical decision-making processes and performance and
codes of ethics and performance. Ethical issues in departments and with stakeholders
(e.g. human resources, accounting/finance, marketing, operations and suppliers) and the 1615
complex and dynamic structured organizations in the T/H industry represent potential
lines of inquiry as well.
Many of the papers highlighted herein used quantitative methods and primary data
provided by hotels. Qualitative, hybrid research approaches and advanced statistical
methods have become more common in recent years. Researchers use these approaches
to increase the quality of articles (Huang and Hsu, 2008; Baloglu and Assante, 1999) and
the credibility of the business ethics research in T/H practices (Crawford-Welch and
McCleary, 1992).

5.3 Practical implications

While the results presented in this paper provide guidance to scholars, there are also
clear implications for practice. It is important for managers to understand the scope and
quality of scholarship surrounding an issue before attempting to make an informed
decision. For example, many ethical concepts are influenced heavily by culture. While
research about what should and should not be done in certain situations is often
temporal and local, practitioners should be aware of the extent to which scholarship has
adequately investigated a particular problem with regard to the practitioner’s specific
context. Managers can utilize the evolution of business ethics issues studied on the
papers to develop or update their ethical codes. In this respect, it bridges the gap
between practice and theory. This paper can also point scholars to new research topics,
methods, samples and statistical techniques that build on previous work.
The results presented herein underscore and inform the need to include ethics as a
key component of T/H curricula in both academe and management training programs
and the development of sufficient scholarship to support its inclusion. While ethics has
been a longstanding concern in T/H areas (Upchurch, 1998), it has not been a priority in
many programs (Shani et al., 2013). Nonetheless, practitioners report concerns about
many contemporary issues such as sexual harassment, fraud, employee privacy and
theft of company property (Yeung, 2004). A number of issues specific to the industry are
also noteworthy, including issues related to the production, distribution and
consumption of food (Shani et al., 2013).

5.4 Limitations and future research

Several limitations of this study should be noted. First, it focused on business ethics
articles published in six, nine and five leading hospitality, tourism and business ethics
journals, respectively, contained in the SSCI between 1995 and 2014. A number of other
leading journals also focus on business ethics issues in the T/H industry that deserve
study. Second, it focused on articles; future studies should include books,
theses/dissertations and conference proceedings (Coughlan, 2001). To build upon the
findings of this study, scholars can also assess the content of these types of documents.
Third, in the search terms used in this study, deviance/deviant (e.g. employee theft,
IJCHM miscreant behavior, unwarranted absenteeism, etc). is not considered an ethical topic as
28,8 mentioned in Robertson’s (2008) study. Finally, this study utilized basic bibliometric
analysis; however, by using advanced and emerging bibliometric methods, including
co-occurrences analysis (e.g. co-word, co-authorship, co-citations, etc.; Leydesdorff,
2001; Vinkler, 2010), future studies can provide additional insights into the development
of the business ethics research in the T/H industry.
1616 Several opportunities for future research have been identified. The findings in
this study largely concur with those of Ma (2009) and Tseng et al. (2010) by
delineating a recent paradigm shift in the direction of general business ethics
dealing with CSR (Stevens, 1997). Walle (1995, p. 268) noted that: “[…] the field of
business has evolved generic theories of ethics and social responsibility”. However,
there were no papers focusing on white-collar crimes and insider trading. Hence,
there is an opportunity for researchers to address key questions related to
white-collar crime and insider trading:
Q1. What types of white-collar crimes are prevalent in T/H industry in developed
and developing countries?
Q2. What corporate cultures encourage or discourage insider trading?
Q3. What steps do corporations take to prevent their employees from engaging in
white-collar crime and insider trading?
Another research opportunity is associated with geography. Most published work
in the field emanates from scholars in developed countries (Chan et al., 2010), and
most papers framed the samples of studies from hotels located in developed
countries. Because ethical issues abound in both developing and underdeveloped
countries, scholars can emphasize research related to ethics in T/H industry.
However, practitioners from non-developed countries and non-T/H industries use
research oriented to these industries in developed countries to identify and solve
their own problems. Researchers should collaborate with these practitioners to
develop more specific strategies to investigate and identify key issues associated
with their unique ethical dilemmas.
Business ethics research in the T/H industry has been conducted primarily via
quantitative methods; however, these methods did not follow experimental approaches
used in general mainstream business ethics research by T/H scholars. Scholars should
consider using mixed methods as used in business ethics research published in Journal
of Business Ethics. In addition, the use of less common qualitative research methods to
conduct business ethics research in the T/H industry is another opportunity for scholars.
For example, the scenario method discussed in business ethics research (Stevens, 2001)
and the ethnographic research use of scenarios (Jack et al., 2012) can be used to develop
conceptual frameworks. Researchers investigating business ethics in the T/H industry
should consider expanding their research methodologies to incorporate these methods
(Fennell, 2013). Randall and Gibson (1990, p. 457) identified a troubling pattern, noting
that, “full methodological detail was provided in less than one half of the articles” they
reviewed. Hence, T/H scholars should pay more attention to these details to provide
better examples for junior scholars.
The use of mixed methods can enable scholars to assess more deeply the specific ethical
problems most common and concerning to managers in T/H organizations. While employee
theft and sexual harassment have been identified in surveys as key concerns in previous Business
decades (Yeung, 2004), training and development has increased in recent years, with issues ethics
related to sustainability garnering increases attention (Wijesinghe, 2014; Yeh, 2012). research
Combining the use of surveys, observations, in-depth case studies and other approaches can
assist scholars in delineating trends specific to T/H, ultimately providing prescriptions to
practitioners in the industry.
1617
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Corresponding author
Mehmet Ali Köseoglu can be contacted at: trmaliktr@yahoo.com

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