Bridging the researcher-stakeholder gap in leisure and tourism: A framework for enhancing the impact of scoping reviews

Abstract

Scoping reviews are instrumental for synthesizing evidence and mapping research landscapes, but effective stakeholder engagement is also essential to ensure their relevance to both practice and policy. Despite its importance, stakeholder engagement in leisure and tourism scoping reviews has been limited. This methodological paper presents the Co-Creation Scoping Review Framework (CSRF) to enhance collaborative knowledge creation. By expanding the traditional five-stage scoping review process to seven stages, the CSRF places a strong emphasis on stakeholder engagement, effectively bridging the divide between researchers and stakeholders. This framework enhances the relevance of scoping reviews for both academic and practical applications, promoting more inclusive research methods, improving knowledge mobilization, and guiding future practice and research. The paper provides detailed guidance on implementing the CSRF, including a step-by-step approach and examples from recent leisure and tourism scoping reviews, demonstrating how the CSRF could have been applied to engage stakeholders and increase the relevance of findings.