Investigation of the Effect of Place Brand Complexity on its Recommendation to Others Case Study: Kerman City

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Business Management, Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran

2 M.A. Student of Entrepreneurship Management, Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran

Abstract

Extended Abstract
Introduction
Residents and tourists are the two main components in the tourism process, and if the residents are considered and feel satisfied with the place, they can act as ambassadors of the place. Since residents are considered as an important part of tourism businesses, in practice, the role of residents in the tourism process of our country has been ignored. A significant point is that active tourism officials use the identical simple strategy to identify residents and tourists. However, little attention has been paid in studies to how branding effects on the residents' identities, affiliation, and satisfaction. If the mental imagery of the place is simple and identical, it will lead to weaker identification and undesirable behavior of residents towards tourists. Therefore, the category of perceptions (identification, belonging and satisfaction) and consequently the behavior of residents (brand recommendation) in the literature of urban development and tourism in Iran is a category that has received less attention and the study of the impact of location perceptions and word-of-mouth advertising with the mediating role of identification factors (identification attractiveness, optimal proportion and optimal distinctions) of active residents of tourism field in relation to brand complexity is very "rare". Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the effect of brand complexity based on the mediating role of identification factors on the attitudes and behavior of active residents in the tourism field.
 
Methodology
The statistical population of the study was active residents of tourism in the five regions of Kerman. And 500 questionnaires were distributed that 412 questionnaires were returned. This research is applied and descriptive-survey one. The reliability of the questionnaire was also confirmed by using of Cronbach's alpha, which was 0.76. SPSS24 and AMOS 23 software programs were exerted to analyze the data.
 
Results and discussion
1. The complexity of the place brand has a significant impact on the attitudes of active residents in the field of tourism (due to the attractiveness of identification). The standardized regression coefficient of the residents (0.618) and the confidence interval of 0.682-0.682 were obtained. And the hypothesis was confirmed, and it can be said with 95% confidence that the complexity of the place brand has a positive effect on the satisfaction of the residents through the attractiveness of identification. It can be said with 95% confidence that the complexity of the place brand has a positive effect on the affiliation of residents through the attractiveness of identification according to the value of regression coefficient of residents (0.493) and its confidence interval (0.046-0.56). The hypothesis of the effect of the complexity of the place brand on the residents’ identification through the attractiveness of identification was rejected based on the standardized regression coefficient of the residents (0.777) and the confidence interval (0.038-0.188).
2. The complexity of the place brand has a significant impact on the attitudes of active residents in the field of tourism (due to the appropriateness of identity). The value of the standardized regression coefficient of the inhabitants (0.174) and the confidence interval 0.089-0.26 were obtained, which can be said that the complexity of the place brand has a positive effect on the satisfaction of the residents through the identity appropriateness. Also, the complexity of the place brand has a positive effect on the affiliation and identification of residents through the appropriateness of identity, considering the amount of standardized regression coefficient of residents and its confidence interval.
3. The complexity of the place brand has a significant impact on the attitudes of active residents in the field of tourism (due to optimal distinctions). The complexity of the place brand does not have a significant effect on the satisfaction and belonging of the residents through the optimal distinctions, considering the amount of standardized regression coefficient and its confidence interval. The value of the standardized regression coefficient of residents (0.129) and its confidence interval (0.262-0.238) were obtained, which indicate the confirmation of the hypothesis and it can be said with 95% confidence that the complexity of the place brand has a positive effect on residents' identification through optimal distinctions.
4. The attitude of active residents in the tourism field has a significant effect on brand recommendation. The standardized regression coefficient was 0.125 for the satisfaction path that the hypothesis was rejected and it can be said with 95% confidence that satisfaction does not have a significant effect on the brand recommendation of active residents in the field of tourism. In addition, due to the standardized regression coefficient, it can be said that belonging and identification have a notable effect on the brand recommendation of active residents in the tourism field.
 
Conclusion
The research results show that the complexity of the location brand affects identification (due to identity appropriateness and optimal distinctions). And perception of the brand complexity does not affect identification (due to the attractiveness of identification). Brand complexity has a positive effect on satisfaction (due to the attractiveness of identification and identity appropriateness) and does not have a notable effect due to optimal distinctions. In addition, the complexity of the place brand has a positive effect on the affiliation of active residents through identification attractiveness and identity appropriateness, and this effect is rejected by optimal distinctions. Finally, identification and affiliation of place have a positive and significant effect on brand recommendation and do not have a positive effect on the satisfaction of active residents in the tourism field.
 

Keywords

References

1) زنگی‌آبادی، علی (1370) مروری بر جغرافیا و برنامه‌ریزی شهری کرمان، چاپ اول، تهران: انتشارات سمت.
2) سجادزاده، حسن (1392) نقش دل‌بستگی به مکان در هویت‌بخشی به میدان‌های شهری (نمونه موردی: میدان‌های آرامگاه شهر همدان)، باغ نشر، دوره 10، شماره 25، صص. 78-69.
3) غفاری، محمد؛ کنجکاو منفرد، امیررضا؛ عسگرنژاد نوری، باقر (1398) واکاوی نقش تصویر ذهنی گردشگران از برند بر شهرت مقصد گردشگری مطالعه موردی: شهر یزد، فصلنامه گردشگری شهری، دوره 6، شماره 2، صص. 59-45.
4) محمدی، مصطفی و میرتقیان رودسری، سید محمد (1398) بررسی عوامل مؤثر بر وفاداری به مقصد گردشگری شهری مطالعه موردی: شهر رامسر، فصلنامه گردشگری شهری، دوره 6، شماره 1، صص. 167-149.
5) Abrams, D. (2009) Social identity on a national scale: Optimal distinctiveness and young people's self-expression through musical preference, Group Processes and intergroup Relations, Vol.12, No.3, pp.303-317.
6) Anholt, S. (2002) Foreword to Special Issue, Journal of Brand Management, Vol.9, No.4-5, pp.229-239.
7) Ashworth, G. & Voogd, H. (1990) Selling the City: Marketing approaches in public sector urban planning, London: Belhaven.
8) Baumeister, R. F. & Leary, M. R. (1995) The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation, Psychological Bulletin, Vol.117, No.3, pp. 497-529.
9) Bergami, M. & Bagozzi, R. P. (2000) Self-categorization, affective commitment and group self-esteem as distinct aspects of social identity in the organization, British Journal of Social Psychology, Vol.39, No.4, pp.555-577.
10) Bettman, J. & Frances, L. M. & Payne, J. W. (1998) Constructive consumer choice processes, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.25, No.3, pp.187-217.
11) Braun, E. (2012) Putting city branding into practice, Journal of Brand Management, Vol. 19, No.4, pp.257-267.
12) Brewer, M. B. (2003) Optimal distinctiveness, social identity, and the self. In M. R. Leary, & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity, pp.480-491.
13) Carroll, B. A. & Ahuvia, A. C. (2006) Some antecedents and outcomes of brand love, Marketing Letters. Vol.17, No.2, pp.79-89.
14) Cox, D. S. & Cox, A. D. (1988) What does familiarity breed? Complexity as a moderator of repetition effects in advertisement evaluation, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.15, No.1, pp. 111-116.
15) Fleury-Bahi, G. & Felonneau, M.-L. & Marchand, D. (2008) Processes of place identification and residential satisfaction, Environment and Behavior, Vol.40, No.5, pp.669-682.
16) Freire, J. R. (2009) Local People’ a critical dimension for place brands, Journal of Brand Management, Vol.16, pp.420-438.
17) Gertner, D. (2011) Unfolding and configuring two decades of research and publications on place marketing and place branding, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Vol.7, No.2, pp. 91-106.
18) Gross, M. J. & Brown, G. (2006) Tourism experiences in a lifestyle destination setting: The roles of involvement and place attachment, Journal of Business Research100-112, Vol.59, No.6, pp. 696-700.
19) Hanna, S. & Rowley, J. (2015) Towards a model of the place brand web, Tourism Management, Vol.48, pp.100-112.
20) Hogg, M. A. (2000) Subjective uncertainty reduction through self-categorization: A motivational theory of social identity processes, European Review of Social Psychology, Vol. 11, pp.223-255.
21) Hogg, M. A. & Abrams, D. (1988) Social identifications: A social psychology of intergroup relations and group processes, London: Routledge.
22) Insch, A. & Florek, M. (2010) Place satisfaction of city residents: Findings and implications for city branding. In G. Ashworth, & M. Kavaratzis (Eds.), Towards effective place brand management e Branding European cities and regions (pp. 191-204). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
23) Janiszewski, C. & Meyvis, T. (2001) Effects of brand logo complexity, repetition, and spacing on processing fluency and judgment, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.28, No.1, pp. 18-32.
24) Kerr, G. (2006) From destination brand to location brand. Journal of Brand Management. Vol.13, No.4-5, pp.276-283.
25) Keller, K. L. (2003) Brand synthesis: The multidimensionality of brand knowledge, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.29, No.4, pp.595-600.
26) Knez, I. (2005) Attachment and identity as related to a place and its perceived climate, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol.25, No.2, pp.207-218.
27) Lewicka, M. (2011) Place attachment: How far have we come in the last 40 years?, Journal of Environmental Psychology, Vol.31, No.3, pp.207-230.
28) Mullen, B., & Hu, L.-T. (1989) Perceptions of ingroup and outgroup variability: A meta-analytic integration, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Vol.10, No.3, pp.233-252.
29) Oyserman, D. & Coon, H. M. & Kemmelmeier, M. (2002) Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses, Psychological Bulletin, Vol.128, No.1, pp.3-72.
30) Park, S.-Y. & Petrick, J. F. (2006) Destinations' perspectives of branding, Annals of Tourism Research, Vol.33, No.1, pp.262-265.
32) Phillips, D. R. & Cheng, K. H. C. & Yeh, A. G. O. & Sui, O.-L. (2010) Person-environment (P-E) fit models and psychological well-being among older persons in Hong Kong, Environment and Behavior,Vol.42, No.2, pp.221-242.
33) Qu, H. & Kim, L. H. & Im, H. H. (2011) A model of destination branding: Integrating the concepts of the branding and destination image, Tourism Management, Vol.32, pp.465-476.
34) Rapoport, A. & Hawkes, R. (1970) The perception of urban complexity, Journal of the American Institute of Planners, Vol.36, No.2, pp.106-111.
35) Rafaeli-Mor, E. & Steinberg, J. (2002) Self-complexity and well-being: A review and research synthesis, Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol.6, No.1, pp.31-58.
37) Scammon, D. L. (1977) Information load and consumers, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.4, No.3, pp.148-155.
38) Sheldon, K. M. & Bettencourt, B. A. (2002) Psychological need-satisfaction and subjective well-being within social groups, British Journal of Social Psychology, Vol.41, pp. 25-38.
39) Stokburger-Sauer, N. & Ratneshwar, S. & Sen, S. (2012) Drivers of consumerbrand identification, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol.29, No.4, pp.406-418.
40) Swaminathan, V. (2003) The impact of recommendation agents on consumer evaluation and choice: The moderating role of category risk, product complexity, and consumer knowledge, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 13, No.1-2, pp.93-101.
41) Stedman, R. C. (2002) Towards a social psychology of place: Predicting behavior from place-based cognitions, attitude, and identity, Environment and Behavior, Vol.34, No.5, pp. 561-581.
42) Sirgy, M. J. & Grzeskowiak, S. & Su, C. (2005) Explaining housing preference and choice: The role of self-congruity and functional congruity, Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, Vol.20, pp.329-347.
43) Tajfel, H. & Turner, J. C. (1986) Social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In W. G. Austin, & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup behavior (Vol. 2, pp. 7-24). Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
44) Wang, S. & Xu, H. (2015) Influence of place-based senses of distinctiveness, continuity, self-esteem and self-efficacy on residents' attitude towards tourism, Tourism Management, Vol. 47, pp.241-250.
45) Zenker, S. (2011) How to catch a city? The concept and measurement of place brands, Journal of Place Management and Development, Vol. 4, No.1, pp.40-50.
46) Zenker, S. & Braun, E. & Petersen, S. (2017) Branding the destination versus the place: The effects of brand complexity and identification for residents and visitors, Jornals Tourism Management, Vol.58, pp.15-27.
47) Zenker, S. & Braun, E. (2010) Branding a city e, a conceptual approach for place branding and place brand management. In Proceedings of the 39th European Marketing Academy Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, available at www. placebrand.eu/publications/ Accessed 26.06.14.
48) Zenker, S. & Petersen, S. (2014) An integrative theoretical model for improving resident-city identification, Environment and Planning A, Vol.46, No.3, pp.715-729.
49) Zenker, S. & Rütter, N. (2014) Is satisfaction the key? The role of citizen satisfaction, place attachment and place brand attitude on positive citizenship behavior, Cities, Vol.38, No.3, pp. 11-17.
50) Zenker, S. & Gollan, T. & Van Quaquebeke, N. (2014) Using polynomial regression analysis and response surface methodology to make a stronger case for value congruence in place marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Vol.31, No.3, pp.184-202.
urban tourism
Volume 7, Issue 2
September 2020
Pages 97-112

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics