Service quality research on China's hospitality and tourism industry

Purpose - The study aims to provide an inventory of the existing English and Chinese research on service quality in China's hospitality and tourism industry. The study aims to identify the reasons for the lack of research on service quality in China's hospitality and tourism industry and the ignorance of the Chinese language literature in the field. Design/methodology/approach - A synthesis review is conducted of 31 articles published in 11 leading Chinese and English academic journals from 1998 to 2013. Findings - Popular research themes are service quality management and evaluation in the hotel sector. The majority of the reviewed articles are empirical studies that adopt quantitative methods, and none of the English articles use qualitative methods. Recent studies tend to use sophisticated statistical techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Changes in disciplines, publication trends and statistical techniques are observed. The theoretical and practical contributions of the Chinese and English publications are compared, and recommendations are made for future research. Originality/value - This study is one of the first to review and compare the existing publications in the leading Chinese-and English-language journals. It provides a platform for scholars, especially non-Chinese literate researchers, to understand the research on service quality in the China hospitality and tourism industry.