Mapping customer experience: a taxonomical study using bibliometric visualization Pranay Sindhu and Kumkum Bharti Department of Marketing, Indian Institute of Management Kashipur, Kashipur, India Abstract Purpose – This study aims to examine the trends and themes in the field of customer experience using a bibliometric analysis between 1957 and 2017. Design/methodology/approach – The paper analyses 1,767 papers selected from Web of Science (WoS) database using VOS Viewer software tool to create bibliometric networks. The results of the study were classified under the following bibliometric indicators: evaluation of the number of studies analyzed; most cited documents; most influential authors; and highly influential journals, institutions and countries with the highest productivity. Additionally, the paper also presents three co-citation studies analyzing most co-cited references, first authors and journals. Findings – Authors and institutes from the American and European countries dominate the contribution to the development of the field. The presence of Asian countries signifies the rising importance being given to the research field. The findings establish the argument that most of the ideas that follow today in the development of the field are mostly sourced from the works published in highly reputed journals. Co-citation analysis indicates the presence of multi-disciplinarity in the research field with journals representing different research areas such as management, strategy and psychology. Research limitations/implications – The papers analyzed in the study were retrieved only from the WoS. Furthermore, the precise number of clusters obtained during the analysis depends on the parameter set by the authors which is subjective. Researchers are encouraged to draw further insights by manipulating the parameter criteria. Practical implications – The findings in the study can be used to enrich the understanding of customer experience and future research on the topic. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first comprehensive papers offering a general overview of the leading trends in the field over a period of 60 years. Keywords Management, Quantitative research, User experience Paper type Literature review 1. Introduction Since the inception of the experience economy, a concept propounded by Holbrook and Hirschman in 1982, research in the field of customer experience (here onwards referred to as CX) has come a long way. The importance of CX is collectively recognized by the marketers and consultant groups such as McKinsey and Company, Gartner and Service Management Group among others. This study statistically assesses the published research on CX using bibliometric analysis and probe developments in the field past 60 years. To build an understanding of CX, the selected literature is categorized into scholars, institutions, journals and country-wise categories. Concepts such as experience economy and Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Mapping customer experience Received 14 November 2019 Revised 28 April 2020 Accepted 7 May 2020 VINE Journal of Information and Knowledge Management Systems © Emerald Publishing Limited 2059-5891 DOI 10.1108/VJIKMS-11-2019-0178 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2059-5891.htm