Review article
Paradigmatic Blue Economy Literature Review
Kristina Pilko
; University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Blue economy is defined by the processes of utilization, preservation, as well as economic activities
related to the oceans, seas, and coasts. It enables sustainable economic growth and development based
on “blue resources” of developed and developing countries. The biggest challenge of blue economy is to
understand and better manage the many aspects of resources found in the oceans, seas, and coasts. Blue
economy should also support and further develop other existing sustainable development initiatives.
Therefore, the focus of this study is on a new, insufficiently researched concept, more precisely the
concept of blue economy, which is extremely important for the preservation of our planet. The purpose
of this study is to present a paradigmatic detailed and systematic review of research on blue economy
to identify new trends and reduce gaps in the literature.
For this study, a systematic quantitative literature review was used, including a total of 26 studies on
blue economy. The articles included in the sample were obtained from global scientific online databases
such as Google Scholar, Emerald Insight, Scopus, and Web of Science.
After retrieval, the selected articles were analyzed according to paradigm type, year of publication,
geographical coverage, and type of research. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis, and
the values obtained from each analysis were presented in absolute or relative values. After analyzing
the articles according to the researched topics, a deep analysis of the content of factors contributing
to memorable experiences was conducted to identify and select types of tourism.
The results of this study indicate that studies on blue economy started to appear in the global literature
only from 2018. According to the conducted geographical analysis, it was found that there are currently
no studies on blue economy conducted in Croatia. Further analysis revealed that most authors in studies
on this topic used a quantitative research approach. The results of the paradigmatic analysis indicate
that most studies on blue economy are of (post)positivist ideology.
The findings of this study offer theoretical implications for improving the understanding of the concept
of blue economy, primarily by determining the works on this topic based on the paradigm type they
belong. Also, the contribution of this research is reflected in the fact that it represents a pioneering
effort in conducting a paradigmatic analysis of studies on blue economy.
Keywords
Blue economy, sustainability, social paradigms, systematic quantitative analysis
Hrčak ID:
318969
URI
Publication date:
8.7.2024.
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