Advances in hospitality research: from Rodney Dangerfield to Aretha Franklin

Purpose - This study aims to analyze the progression of research in the domain of Hospitality Management since its inception in the early part of the twentieth century. Design/methodology/approach - A combination of qualitative analyses of the published literature in the past 80 years plus a quantitative survey of 613 manuscripts published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management (IJHM) from 2000 to 2012. Findings - The findings demonstrate that hospitality management research has progressed in the past four years through four distinct phases, namely, Story Tellers (1930-1950), Profilers (1950-1970), Copy Cats (1970-2005) and Innovators (since 2000). The evolution in the literature reflects that people in hospitality management and academia are improving their connection between theory and practice. Research limitations/implications - The quantitative part of this study was limited to articles published in the IJHM, and as such, they may not be fully representative of research articles that were published in other journals both in English and/or additional languages. Originality/value - The results of this study can be used as evidence that the modern field of hospitality management has reached a maturity level that is equal in rigor and sophistication to other disciplines in the domains of business administration and the social sciences.