Kedge Business School

This study aims to systematically analyze scholarly research on virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and the metaverse in the tourism and hospitality sectors, offering insights into publication patterns, key contributors, thematic evolution, and potential research directions from 2016 to mid-2025. It maps how the literature evolved in response to technological maturation and changing tourism constraints. A systematic literature review and comprehensive bibliometric analysis were conducted using the Scopus database. The analysis encompassed bibliographic metrics, thematic clustering, and content analysis techniques to identify influential journals, authors, and evolving research themes. The results reveal a pronounced acceleration in research activity post-2020, reflecting heightened interest due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s push towards digital and immersive solutions. Core journals identified include Tourism Management, Current Issues in Tourism, and Journal of Travel Research. Influential contributors such as Timothy H. Jung, M. Claudia tom Dieck, and Dimitrios Buhalis significantly shaped the field. The thematic trajectory demonstrates a shift from initial exploration and application of VR and AR technologies toward comprehensive integration into metaverse ecosystems, with emerging themes such as digital twins, synthetic experiences, immersive storytelling, and growing emphasis on ethical and sustainability considerations. By synthesizing nearly a decade of research, this study provides valuable insights into immersive technologies’ evolution in tourism and hospitality, identifying critical areas for future investigation aligned with enterprise information management strategies.

How does immigrant ownership influence small firm survival in comparison with that of family ownership? While it is generally accepted that socioemotional wealth (SEW) preservation motivates family firms to avoid taking risks, this effect has not been considered in immigrant-owned firms. Many of the same affinity factors are likely to influence the survival of both ownership types, but we argue that immigrant-owned firms may experience them more strongly as they reside at the intersection of the liabilities of smallness and foreignness. Drawing on a large sample of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ecuador, we find that immigrant-owned firms have higher survival odds compared to family-owned firms. By demonstrating the combinative effects of SEW and social “out-group” identities of immigrant owners on small firm survival, our findings contribute to the SME, immigrant entrepreneurship, and family business literatures.

This article draws on a collaboration with the Birmingham Royal Ballet to propose a dancing pedagogy for productive unsettlement. Developed within a sociology of consumption module, we show how art can bridge the sociological and empathic imaginations, encouraging learners to ‘feel themselves away’ from their individual experience and better reflect on the wider social structures that shape it. Ballet, an art form marked by financial, cultural and bodily exclusion, served as a lens through which learners could engage with the experience of being ‘out of place’ in confronting their own vulnerabilities and privileges in relation to structural marketplace inequalities. This fostered a transformative shift we term ‘productive unsettling’, whereby rather than accepting and staying in their place, learners were encouraged to try other places, transform place for themselves and make space for others, finding joy in the process of creating social change.

Cultural competency is widely recognised as essential in modern higher education, given the increasing prevalence of culturally diverse student bodies. However, turning that recognition into educational practices that align with the social and cultural realities of each country is challenging. This article argues that prevailing approaches to cultural competency often ignore the ideological frameworks in which they are embedded. Drawing on the contrasting cases of Britain and France, where celebratory multiculturalism and assimilationist republicanism, respectively, shape educational norms, we reveal how cultural engagement is too often constrained by national traditions. We advocate for a reconceptualisation of cultural competency as a dynamic, context-sensitive pedagogical practice rather than a universalised skillset. Grounded in the scholarship of critical pedagogy and intercultural learning, and speaking to an international audience of educators, this work calls for tailored, reflexive approaches that interrogate underlying assumptions and work towards genuinely inclusive and transformative educational experiences across diverse global settings.

Abstract This paper investigates a stochastic Returnable Transport Items (RTI) distribution network design problem for an RTI service provider responsible for managing RTI flows under uncertain demand and returns. The objective is to determine the optimal number and location of intermediate facilities to accommodate RTI flows while making repositioning decisions across the network. A two-stage stochastic programming model is developed to minimise costs associated with network design, RTI storage, the choice of direct or indirect shipping, and the allocation of multiple transportation modes in both forward and reverse flow channels. To address this complex problem, a robust sample average approximation method is proposed, with its efficiency evaluated through statistical validation. Additionally, the stochastic model’s effectiveness is assessed by computing the expected value of perfect information and the value of stochastic solutions. Comprehensive numerical experiments, including 64 instances with varying cost and robustness coefficients, provide managerial insights. The results demonstrate that efficient RTI network design significantly impacts multi-period operational decisions and highlights the critical role of RTI depots in mitigating demand uncertainty. Furthermore, the robust stochastic optimisation approach employed delivers high-quality solutions with an optimality gap of less than 1% within reasonable computational times. This study highlights the importance of integrating robust decision-making in RTI network design, offering practical insights for managing uncertainty and optimising cost efficiency across complex RTI networks.

Purpose What is the purpose of service research? This call for more human-centric service research argues the ultimate goal of service research should be to benefit consumers and service providers but also humanity and the planet. To achieve this goal, a pluricentric understanding of service research is needed. However, the authors find that the opposite is happening within the service research domain. The rapid development of large language models (LLM), colloquially known as artificial intelligence (AI), has ushered in a surge in service research, and research overall, into AI and AI usage alongside wider research into service robots and technology. Design/methodology/approach The authors conceptualize the importance of human-centric services. In particular, the authors focus on services with humans as the central actors as well as services with humans as beneficiaries and further introduce 11 key areas for service research. Findings The authors recognize the relevance of this research but call for the importance of diversified service research for the academic service field to remain relevant. Although AI is an important and relevant topic, the field of service research benefits from diverse and broad service research of which AI is one important part, but not the only one. Seeing a rapidly increasing tendency of research into AI dominating service research at the expense of other research topics, the authors highlight the importance of human-centric service research. Originality/value To advance a human-centric research approach, the authors introduce and develop 11 research avenues for future service research and develop how each of the articles in this special issue contribute to that goal.