Digital Transition, Innovation and Business Models in Airbnb: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The process of digital transition often involves disruptive innovations in the ways we work, processes and how we understand firms. These flexible processes and their ability to be innovative require mechanisms of collective knowledge and uniqueness. Similarly, the application of business models and the management of Airbnb is another field of study, which has not been explored in sufficient depth in the academic literature. However, the applications and possible derivatives of their impact need to be clarified. To this end, a bibliometric analysis is carried out through the VOSviewer and Bibliometrix software’s, grouping the aforementioned constructs and resulting in a total analysis of 4729 published works, 97 countries and 2872 authors. After this process, the reality that links the phenomena of digital transition, innovation, business models and Airbnb will be known and future lines of research are proposed to complete this conclusion.

1 Introduction

Firms create value and commercialize their products and ideas through their business models. As the foundation of any venture, business models are responsible for manifesting as a final product every idea initially proposed. It is essential for a company to know every of its element in order to have a wider perspective towards the digital transition and other type of innovation other than that of products or processes. As a consequence, markets are transformed or even new ones are born, thus demonstrating the value of business model innovation. In this way, incorporating a digital transition into business models is, in addition to an opportunity for growth, a necessity to maintain competitiveness and permanence in the tourism market. In contrast to the above, the Airbnb may have been more impregnated with the phenomena of innovation and digitalisation. Therefore, this study aims to respond to this debate by identifying research trends, topics, journals, influential authors and methodologies through a review of the literature using the methodology of bibliometric analysis. Along these lines, the answers to the questions raised will be defined in the different sections of the work.

2 Theoretical Framework

2.1 How to Turn the Digital Transition into Innovation?

While it is true that digitalization and its transition are concepts that are broadly applicable to any industry, their meaning may vary depending on the perspective of application and the objectives pursued. In this way, the tourism industry focuses on the use of technologies that allow them to transit, transform and improve the way in which generate value and exchange it with the market (Matarazzo et al., 2021). In addition, the application of technology and digitalization in this industry means not only new modifications in the labour structure and in the service sector, but it also enables opportunities in terms of management of the collection and analysis of information and data on tourism supply and demand (OECD, 2020).

Along with the digital transition, new opportunities have been generated leading to the other construct of analysis of this study, innovation. It can be said that one of the main objectives of innovation is the implementation of new production processes or the improvement of current ones, thus increasing the productivity and competitiveness of the company. Today, the tourism industry is increasingly characterized by its immense capacity for innovation. Thus, as part of the service sector, has inevitably been associated with the evolution of new technologies and organizational and structural innovations. It also faces new challenges that require new perspectives, such as the diffusion of information and communication technologies, with an effect on the creation, production and consumption of tourism products.

2.2 Business Model and Airbnb

With the rise of entrepreneurship, the determination of a business plan is considered the key and main element to propose innovation and business creation initiatives. In this way, a business model is understood as the foundations that allow companies to create, provide and capture value (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). Tourism activity, as dependent on environmental factors, requires an adaptation of business models. In this way, and considering the trends in the sector, it is essential to commit to a tourism development model that incorporates the principles of innovation, technology and sustainability into its business models (Segittur, 2021).

Over the last few decades, the tourism sector has experienced one of the biggest changes and challenges in terms of the business model related to the operation and marketing of non-hotel accommodation units, known as “holiday tourist housing”. Since then, this tourist phenomenon has revolutionized the sector, as it has been the choice of accommodation for millions of tourists every year. At the same time, and due to its social implication, it has been the subject of multiple analyses and studies that cover both its organization and regulation, as well as its advantages and disadvantages. It is important to note that in addition to the intrinsic characteristics of the Airbnb as a reason for its expansion, the development of the internet and social networks has played a fundamental role in its current positioning.

3 Methodology

This paper performed a bibliometric analysis to review and classify the studies published on Digital Transition, innovation, business models and Airbnb, in order to identify the main themes and sub-themes that emerged in the existing literature (Donthu et al., 2020). Bibliometrics involves the application of mathematical and statistical methods to analyze and evaluate the quantity and quality of publications within a given scientific field (Durieux & Genevan, 2010). Therefore, it is a very useful methodology to develop a global view of the main trends affecting a research area, journal or country (Hood & Wilson, 2001), and to help identify the main researchers in an area (Bjork et al., 2014).

Fig. 1

Source Authors’ own elaboration based on the analysis of the literature

Methodological stages of bibliometric analysis.

Vos-viewer and Bibliometric software were used to carry out the bibliometric analysis, as contain a broader set of techniques and provide analyses and graphs for the metrics of the sources (journals, documents and authors) and the structures (conceptual, intellectual and social) of knowledge (Moral-Muñoz et al., 2020). In this work, three stages were carried out, identified in the following illustration. (Fig. 1).

3.1 Data Collection

The database of this study corresponds to the Web platform of Science (Wos), the world’s leading academic multidisciplinary database for published articles and citations (Castillo-Vergara et al., 2018; Goyal & Kumar, 2021), in addition to its high compatibility with the Vosviewer and Bibliometrix. To identify the published studies on the concepts to be analyzed, the following was used Search Equation (EC):

EB = (“digital transition” AND “innovation”) y (“business model” AND “airbnb”)

The keyword search provided a large number of articles, obtaining a total of 4,729 and 123 results respectively. Several filters were used to narrow the search field, improve the operability of the analysis and focus the specific area of study. To this end, a time limit of 10 years was established and the search was limited to studies published in the categories “Business”, “Economics”, “Hospitality and Leisure” and “Management”. The last filter was applied to identify empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals and excluded proceedings, book chapters, review articles and editorial material, resulting in the identification of 399 articles on digitalization and innovation and 65 articles on business models and vacation homes.

3.2 Data Analysis

Once the data collection process is completed, the indicators are defined, such as the concurrence of keywords, the density of publications per year, the scientific production and collaborations between countries and the analysis of citations.

3.3 Data Visualization

This work complemented the bibliometric analysis with Vosviewer and Bibliometrix software to outline the existing knowledge on the domain of digitalization, innovation, business model and vacation home. These programs are increasingly used for this type of analysis, as they provide a graphical representation of bibliometric networks and, specifically, establish network maps that relate keywords, cited authors, or cited journals. In addition, they highlight the most common terms in the defined description of a bibliographic record, highlight the cluster groups of the concepts analyzed, and identify the citation intensity of the highlighted concepts (Lulewicz-Sas, 2017).

4 Analysis of Results

4.1 Keywords

Figure 2 presents the network of co-occurrence relationships between keywords in the titles, digitization and innovation, with the aim of subsequently classifying them by topic. For the analysis, it was indicated that the minimum frequency of occurrence of the terms was 20 times, resulting in a total of 31 words distributed among 3 clusters. The most repeated word per cluster is “digitization” (red cluster), “innovation” (green cluster), “dynamic capabilities” (blue cluster).

Continuing with the same analysis, Fig. 3 shows the relationships between keywords in the titles business model and Airbnb. For this analysis, the minimum frequency of occurrence was limited to 4 times, resulting in a total of 28 words distributed in 3 clusters. The most repeated words per cluster are “sharing economy” (red cluster), “business model” (green cluster) and “trust” (blue cluster).

Fig. 2

Source Authors’ own elaboration based on VOSViewer’s analysis

Network of co-occurrence of keywords in articles on digital transition and innovation.

Fig. 3

Source Authors’ own elaboration based on VOSViewer’s analysis

Network of co-occurrence of keywords in articles on business model and vacation home.

4.2 Scientific Production by Country and Collaborations Between Countries

After analysing the articles published according to their respective countries, a graph is established to indicates the geographical dispersion of the topic discussed, as well as the existing links in relation to research on the subject at an international level. In this way, the importance of a topic in different countries and at a global level is shown.

On the one hand, the binomial “digital transition” and “innovation” are terms that are widespread internationally, since there is at least one article in up to 64 different countries, showing that the 5 countries (USA, China, Germany, Spain and Italy) with the most articles published on this topic and their respective frequency (15.02;14,1;12,9;7,8 and 6.4%). In relation to the international collaborations of the documents studied. The countries with the most collaboration are Sweden and Finland, with a total of 10 articles, followed by the United States and China with 9 articles.

On the other hand, for the binomial “business model” and “Airbnb”, the number of articles is relatively low with respect to the analysis of the previous binomial, but they share the main countries producing articles. Furthermore, the network of collaborations between countries of the concepts analysed is significantly smaller than in terms of digitalisation and innovation. Thus, the countries with the highest number of collaborative works are the United States and China with a total of 4 articles, followed by the United Kingdom and China with 2 articles.

4.3 Analysis of the Most Cited Documents and Authors

The analysis of cited articles is one of the most widely used tools when it comes to establishing the importance of the various authors, journals and articles, since it enables to define the key publications in terms of a specific topic (Calvacante, 2021). In this sense, we establish a detailed analysis of which are the 5 most cited publications within the framework “digital transition” and “innovation”, establishing a minimum of 500 citations. Likewise, citations by authors are studied, analysing the number of times they have been cited through the development of a graph that shows the relationships between citations and authors.

• The New Organizing Logic of Digital Innovation: An Agenda for Information Systems Research Yoo, Youngjin; Henfridsson, Ola; Lyytinen, Kalle Information Systems Research. 2010, citations 1194

• Digital Innovation Management: Reinventing innovation management research in a digital world Nambisan, Satish; Lyytinen, Kalle; Majchrzak, Ann; Song, Michael. With Quarterly. 2017, citations 937

• Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda. Verhoef, Peter; Broekhuizen, Thijs; Bart, Yakov; Bhattacgarya, Abhi; Dong, John; Fabian, Nicolai; Haenlein, Michael Journal of Business Research. 2021, citations 748

• The expected contribution of Industry 4.0 technologies for industrial performance Dalenogare, Lucas Santos; Benitez, Guilherme Brittes; Ayala, Nestor Fabian; Frank, Alejandro German International Journal of Production Economics. 2018, citations 747.

• The digital transformation of innovation and entrepeneurship: progress, challenges and key themes Nambisan, Satish; Wright, Mike; Feldman, Maryann. Research Policy. 2019, citations, 594.

In order to obtain a complete analysis of the citations, it is crucial to continue with the analysis of the second binomial, “business model” and “Airbnb”. To this end, 65 selected articles were selected, which identifies the 5 most cited documents worldwide on this subject, establishing a minimum of 100 citations.

• Airbnb: disruptive innovation and the rise of an informal tourism accommodation sector (2015). Guttentag, D. Current Issues in Tourism. 2015, citations 934.

• Understanding platform business models: A mixed methods study of marketplaces Deceiver, Karl; Laudien, Sven M. European Management Journal. 2018, citations 220.

• Platforms in the peer—to—peer sharing economy. Wirtz, Jochen; So, Kevin Kam Fung; Mody, Makarand Amrish; Liu,Stephanie Q.; Chun, HaeEun Helen Journal of Service Management. 2019, citations 176.

• What managers should know about the sharing economy Habibi, Mohammad Reza; Davidson, Alexander; Laroche, Michel Business Horizons. 2017, citations 142.

• Data—Driven Business Model Innovation Sorescu, A Journal of Product Innovation Management. 2017, Citations 128.

4.4 Institutions with the Highest Academic Production

Next, the different institutions to which the analysed documents are ascribed are analysed. The analysis of the different organizations from which the selected documents were published establishes an approximation of the specific location of the productions or how they relate to others through the authors of the different documents. That is, the longer the length, the more documents are published by this organization.

After studying the binomial of “digital transition and innovation”, a total of 576 organizations are detected that have at least one document and one citation per organization. Among Spanish universities, the University of Granada has the highest number of publications, with a total of 10 articles on the subject studied. However, some organizations as: Bucharest University Economy Studies; Lulea University; ST. Gallen University; Hanke Economics; Vaasa University; Copenhagen University. Etc, that have the most articles on these terms, with Alexandru Ioan Cuza University being the first with a total of 19 documents.

Continuing with the same analysis, in the case of the binomial “business model and Airbnb”, a total of 113 organisations have been detected that have at least one document and citation per organisation. Among the Spanish universities, the University of the Basque Country and the University of Malaga stand out, with a total of 4 articles on business model and holiday housing. In the same way as the previous binomial, others institutions with the highest production in this area are: Oklahoma University; South Carolina Univrsity; Central Florida University; Bston University or Cornell Univerties, etc. Within this topic, the institution with the highest academic production is the University of Oklahoma with a total of 6 documents.

5 Conclusions, Future Lines of Work and Limitations

This study contributes to the literature on digital transition, innovation, business models and Airbnb by conducting a bibliometric analysis of 464 publications in total, from 2013 to 2023. The bibliometric analysis carried out makes it necessary to adopt a digital integration approach in order to minimise the possible impacts on tourism. The relevance of the digital transition in innovation processes is evidenced throughout the work, given that the annual publication trends identified in this area increase rapidly every year. Digital platforms, along with other factors such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and the cloud, are having a significant impact on the value chain. It is therefore necessary to adapt in order to strengthen sovereignty in this area and to establish defined rules, as set out by the European Union in its programme “Europe's Digital Decade 2030”. This programme covers specific goals and purposes in areas such as skills, secure and sustainable digital infrastructures, digital transformation of companies and the digitalisation of public services.

However, it has been determined, in contrast to what was initially proposed, that the management of Airbnb lacks, according to articles published on the subject, a defined business model. Thus, it is concluded that an innovation process for the Airbnb phenomenon should start from the implementation of a structured and solid business model. That is why this paper propose a future line of research that encompasses the implementation of a business model in Airbnb supported by digitalization as a path to innovation.

In view of the limitations found in this work, it is emphasized that, although it is a bibliometric analysis around 4 terms already mentioned above, from the beginning the study of them as a whole was discarded due to the scarcity of documents that resulted in this search. And, consequently, a result would be obtained with a low number of entries, poor results and without much academic interest, so it was decided to establish an analysis by pairs of terms. Finally, another limitation is related to carrying out a bibliometric analysis following only one database, in this case WoS, so it is recommended in future research to carry out a more complete bibliometric review by establishing comparisons with other databases to complete the information.