Self-Determination Theory in the Field of Tourism

Abstract

This research aims to reveal the current state of knowledge of the studies in which tourism and self-determination theory are used together and to provide clues for future studies. To achieve the aim of the research, the Web of Science was used as a database. In the WoS database, the search terms "self-determination theory", "tourism", and "tourist" were searched in the "topic" category. The data set of the research consists only of published articles. Thanks to the bibliometric method and software used in this study, the development of studies in which tourism and self-determination theory are used together has been analysed. Before the examination, seven parameters most frequently used in bibliometric analyses were determined. This article is the first study that analyses the articles using self-determination theory in tourism. Studies on tourism and self-determination theory are receiving more and more attention, and this article provides a significant opportunity to see the gap in the literature. In the research, 55 articles published between 2009-2022 were analysed, and as a result, prominent articles, authors, keywords, journals, institutions, and countries were revealed. It was observed that there was a jump in articles in this field between 2019-2021.