Making sense of tourist shopping research: A critical review

• Published in: Tourism management (1982) 2017-10, Vol.62, p.120-134
• Main Authors: Jin, Haipeng, Moscardo, Gianna, Murphy, Laurie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cross-cultural research; Tourist motivation; Tourist satisfaction; Tourist shopping
• ISSN: 0261-5177; 1879-3193
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tourman.2017.03.027

Shopping is a common activity for many tourists, but research into this phenomenon is piecemeal and fragmented. This paper provides a critical review of tourist shopping research with the aims of identifying progress, presenting a descriptive framework, and suggesting new areas and approaches for research. The paper identifies main themes in tourist shopping research based on a “4W2H” framework that examines who (segmentation), what (product), why (motivation), where (setting and service), how (behaviour and experience) and how much (expenditure). Attention then shifts to a review of conceptual, theoretical and methodological issues. The findings show that the area is dominated by quantitative studies and a reliance on four generic concepts – customer satisfaction, motivation, culture and attitude. A lack of appropriate and specific theoretical foundations is a major problem for the area and the paper concludes with a discussion of key topics that merit further attention and that could address this problem. •Defines tourist shopping as an activity in which tourists purchase goods to take home during their travel.•Proposes a descriptive framework for classifying tourist shopping studies from 2000 to 2015.•Reviews main themes concepts and methods in tourist shopping research.•Identifies major gaps including issues with a lack of appropriate theoretical guidance.•Offers suggestions to improve theoretical frameworks for this aspect of tourism.