Choice overload: a systematic literature review of hospitality and tourism

Choice overload or overchoice was initially introduced by the futurist Alvin Toffler in his book Future Shock (1970), where he predicted (then) that consumers who yearn for choice will ultimately be burdened by it. Choice overload can be defined as the condition where the mind is expended by the number of options presented to the point where it is detrimental cognitively and affectively. This systematic literature review discussed the concept of CO in the hospitality and tourism field. Three main questions were developed to provide direction and guide the review which are: (1) What is the development of CO literature over the years?, (2) What were the research methods used in studying CO? and (3) How was CO investigated?. By utilizing PRISMA and adapting it to the protocol, the reviewer managed to retrieve 11 publications reporting 17 studies in total from Elsevier’s Scopus and Web of Science databases on CO in hospitality and tourism, all of which serve as the basis for the current systematic literature review. This was achieved by following eligibility conditions utilized which were that the records should: (1) include studies on CO, (2) have CO as a variable of interest in the study. This review managed to uncover the development of CO throughout the period between 2013-2019. Having compared the number of publications in hospitality and tourism in CO, it has shown that there is limited publication; therefore, it brings opportunity and chance for future research to be conducted in the said field.