Pathology of the Application of Exploratory Factor Analysis in Tourism and Hospitality Research

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. Candidate in Assessment and Measurement (Psychometric), Department of Psychometrics, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Allameh Tabatabae'i University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Ph.D. Candidate in Tourism, Department of Tourism Management, Faculty of Management & Accounting, Allameh Tabatabae'i University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Context and Purpose: Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) has become one of the most widely used multivariate statistical methods in applied research in many fields, including tourism and hospitality. The purpose of this study is to identify the assumptions of EFA application, common errors, and in general the pathology of using this method in tourism and hospitality studies.
Design/methodology/approach: Based on the objective, the research method was exploratory-descriptive. The sample size was 66 published articles from 7 tourism scientific publications. A review of articles was done through descriptive analysis (frequency and percentage) using SPSS26 and Excel software.
Findings: The evaluations showed that about 4% of the research published in tourism publications use EFA, and most of the researchers' expertise is geography. Among the 5 steps of performing EFA, in the order of more to less, the stages of factor retention, factor extraction, factor rotation, screening and data quality, and Interpretation-Labeling factors are not reported, ignored, or not performed.
Conclusion: Despite the ease of conducting EFA due to the availability of various software, the basic steps and assumptions of EFA are not regularly and accurately reported or ignored in tourism and hospitality research which can definitely undermine the guarantee of validity of tourism research findings and results.
Originality/value: in addition to the fact that the research was conducted for the first time in the field of tourism research, based on the findings and results, a toolbox titled "Monitoring List" was created in three phases of pre-analysis, analysis, and post-analysis to ensure the completion and reporting of the EFA stages. It was designed and suggested for researchers and evaluators of tourism and hospitality research.

Keywords

References

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Tourism and hospitality marketing research
Volume 1, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
Autumn and Winter
November 2023
Pages 7-38

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