A review of the Toulon-Verona Conference Excellence in Services best papers 2008-2016

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and explore the primary characteristics of the best papers, which have been selected by the Toulon-Verona Conference (TVC) Excellence in Services scientific committee for the period 2008-2016. Design/methodology/approach The study includes a review of the best papers (n = 51) selected by the TVC’s scientific committee from 2008 to 2016 and obtained through the TVC’s archives. The primary highlights of each paper include number of authors, authorship profile (i.e. lead author affiliation, gender, and geographic location), co-authors’ geographic locations, classification of the papers, research topics, varieties of research methods used, number of electronic downloads (as of June 2017), number of citations, and subject keywords. Coding sheet developed to ensure standardization, consistency and to ensure the relevant data were collected for the content analysis. Mixed methods analysis (analyze quantitative data qualitative and and vice versa) was used to provide descriptive statistics. Findings In total, 51 best papers have been selected by the TVC scientific committee and reflected 145 authors. Lead authors were from a total of 50 HEIs worldwide and one consultant (private sector). Six papers were self-authored while the 45 were multi-authored. The majority of the papers written by Italian authors (58.8 percent); followed by France, Greece, and Sweden (5.9 percent each); Australia, Portugal, Spain, and UK (4 percent each); Austria, Norway, Slovenia, and Vietnam (1.9 percent each). In total, 37 papers were classified as a research paper, 10 case studies, and 4 theoretical. Practical implications The analysis for the first time define methodological trends for the TVC’s best papers and suggest possible future research topic and methodological approach for research in the management field. Originality/value The findings are unique for the TVC conference, for the TQM’s special issue, which provide practical implications for researchers and conference organizers and contribute to the literature of analyzing published papers.