This study presents a bibliometric review of creative tourism literature aimed at understanding the main research topics and approaches, theoretical foundations, and the most recent areas of investigation. Sixty-four articles on creative tourism were selected and analyzed using co-citation analysis, content analysis, and bibliographic coupling. Findings reveal that creative tourism is a well-defined field of studies with three main research topics; namely, Tourist Experience and Co-Creation, Creativity in Tourism, and Cultural Tourism and Events. Furthermore, several theoretical approaches can be applied to a different set of empirical contexts, among which co-creation and experience economy play a major role. An analysis of the most recent publications identifies five promising research trends and allows some conclusions about the opportunities for future research to be drawn.

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This research deals with small-scale festivals based on local cultural traditions in a European setting. These festivals have at present been poorly studied in literature, although they may play an important role in tourist attractiveness and local development. The context of the study is the Maiorchino Festival, a community-based festival which takes place annually in Novara di Sicilia, a small rural-mountain town in Sicily (Italy). The research aims to segment festival attendees, based on motivations, and to understand the differences between clusters with regard to socio-demographic and behavioural variables. Data were collected through a survey conducted on the participants of the 2019 edition of the Maiorchino Festival. The analysis allowed four motivational factors to be identified, namely Novelty, Local culture experience, Festival attractiveness, Socialization, and to detect four clusters, based on attendee motivations, namely Escapers, Socialization lovers, Loyalists, Passionate about local traditions. The specific features of each cluster are described, satisfaction and intention to return measured. Finally, the findings, theoretical contributions and managerial implications of the paper are discussed.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the topic of agency problems in service ecosystem for innovation. It specifically explores the corporate policies aimed at encouraging collaboration, so as to prevent opportunistic behaviors within the innovation hub, where service exchange is central for innovation creation. Design/methodology/approach The authors apply the agency theory framework to the hub as a service ecosystem in order to understand how it would be possible to address agency problems between the firm (principal) and the other actors of the hub (agents), involved in peer-to-peer interactions. The research explores the case study of a high-tech leading company, which is a pioneer in the use of the hub for supporting its innovation process. Data are collected through semi-structured interviews to some key informants of the Hub Program regarding structure and organization; participation; incentives and monitoring. Findings In service ecosystems, corporate policies are based on commitment, psycho-social incentives and social control may encourage collaboration among the actors, thus contributing to align their own interests to the hub’s innovation common goals. Research limitations/implications Given the exploratory nature of the research, the paper is based on a single case study. Thus, it is not possible to either generalize the results or evaluate any statistical correlation. Practical implications The paper provides a wider awareness about the benefits and risks related to service ecosystems for innovation, and advise both managers and practitioners about appropriate corporate policies to better address the agency problems. Originality/value This study enhances the literature on service ecosystems, highlighting the importance of corporate policies in preventing opportunistic behavior of actors in order to ensure the value co-creation process. It also extends the agency theory application to informal and not-hierarchical contexts. Besides, it suggests practitioners a way to reconcile the different interests of the firm and the other hub’s participants.

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