Contenido generado por los usuarios, su relación con la personalidad de marca y el valor de marca

Social Networks are nowadays a very important way for companies to make brand communication. Because studies about this topic in Mexico are scarce it is relevant to know how User Generated Content that consumers communicate through these social platforms is related with the perception they have about brands. A quantitative study was done as part of a doctoral thesis, which had as main objective to determine the relationship there is between these three variables: User Generated Content (UGC), Brand Personality (BP), and Consumer Based Brand Equity (CBBE). Using a sample of 211 smartphone users, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted from which a Structural Equation Model was developed, finding that BP has an impact on UGC and CBBE, but UGC are not related directly to CBBE in the Mexican context of the metropolitan area of Guadalajara.Las redes sociales digitales (RSD) son una gran herramienta de comunicación de marca para las organizaciones en la actualidad. Debido a que las investigaciones en México son escasas, es relevante conocer cómo los contenidos que los consumidores crean en estas plataformas se relacionan con las percepciones que ellos desarrollan acerca de las marcas. Se realizó una investigación cuantitativa que tuvo como objetivo determinar las relaciones entre tres variables perceptuales, las cuales son los contenidos generados por los usuarios (CGU), la personalidad de marca (PM) y el valor de marca con base en el consumidor (VMBC) referente al sector teléfonos móviles inteligentes (smartphones). Con una muestra de 211 usuarios de teléfonos celulares se hizo un análisis factorial confirmatorio, a partir del cual se elaboró un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales, con el que se encontró que la PM influye a los CGU y el VMBC, pero que los CGU no influyen directamente en el VMBC en el contexto mexicano de la Zona Metropolitana de Guadalajara

Brand personality in cultural tourism through social media

Purpose: This study aims to analyze the effect of the use of social media on the perception of brand personality and to identify its effect on customer brand engagement. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted an exploratory approach, adapting Aaker's Brand Personality Scale (1997) to the context of cultural tourism before carrying out a quantitative study resorting to a structural equation modeling (SEM) in order to obtain empirical evidence to identify these relationships. Findings: The findings reveal that the use of social media has a positive effect on the perception of brand personality and that brand personality, likewise, has a positive effect on customer brand engagement. Research implications: This study indicates that transmission of an attractive brand personality according to the desires of the public, combined with dissemination through social media, is a valid strategy to improve customer brand engagement. Originality/value: This study represents an advance in the specialized literature on the value that consumers place on information transmitted through social media. Specifically, it sheds light on how the transmission of brand personality through social media affects customer brand engagement.Spanish Ministry of Education and Vocational Training under Grant FPU 15/0726

Destination branding analytical study applied to Sultanate of Oman as a tourism destination

The aim of this study is to develop a model for tourism destination branding using Oman as a case study by examining the Omani context and its characteristics from the perspective of both potential tourists (the demand side) and the Omani tourism providers (the supply side) while taking into consideration the impact of cross-cultural communication. Although several studies have recognised the importance of both sides of the market for effective destination branding, there is still a gap in knowledge in terms of providing a holistic model which could satisfy the brand expectations of destination personnel and tourists. A mixed methods approach was applied to analysing the destination brand components of the Sultanate of Oman. The study adopted a quantitative questionnaire as a tool to identify the perceptions and attitudes of potential international tourists towards Oman. This was done because a large number of responses from potential tourists was required in order to identify differences in perceptions of potential tourists towards Oman’s destination image. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect supply-side data, to explore the attributes involved in the projected image of Oman in developing its brand. In this way, government officials (managers and senior staff), tour operators and tourist guides were consulted. The findings of these people show a positive relationship between word of mouth and brand image. Word of mouth and other sources such as social media represent the most significant information sources used by actual visitors. Education level influences the demand-side responses, particularly among those who have visited before. However, Oman also has a significant positive image in terms of safety and atmosphere, which should be incorporated into the brand. The Oman logo was also an issue because it has little meaning for non-Arab tourists; therefore, a clear understanding of the logo is a very important aspect of branding. The findings also showed that limited strategy, cooperation and coordination among Omani planners and marketers have had an impact on branding and gaps between the supply and demand sides were identified as a result of limited promotion of the country’s brand identity. The model presented as a result of this study includes both supply- and demand-sides. The supply-side includes coordination and cooperation between supply-side members; it also defines the brand identity attributes offered by providers and highlights the importance of understanding other aspects of destination branding such as brand naming, memorable logo elements and structure design, and highlighted the importance of brand position. On the other hand, the demand side includes brand image and awareness. It considers variable influences on the image brand such as tourists’ level of satisfaction, experience, word of mouth, and education. The study highlights the importance of communication marketing and identifies concerns such as customer feedback and noise; noise is distributed everywhere in the model, because it occurs in the brand message. The model will help Omani tourism marketers to develop their brand and understand the process of developing destination branding. Also, it can be applied to other destinations which need to develop their own tourism brand

Culture, People and Technology: The Driving Forces for Tourism Cities Proceedings of 8th ITSA Biennial Conference 2020

This is the proceedings of the 8th Biennial Conference of the International Tourism Studies Association, held in Jakarta and Singapore, 2nd December 202

Proceedings of 8th ITSA Biennial Conference 2020

Over the past few decades, hotel guests’ service expectations grew from services such as check-in and check-out (Cobanoglu, Corbaci, Moreo & Ekinci, 2003) to expecting hotels to, amongst others, provide services relating to tourist attractions (Adler & Gordon, 2013; Yeh, Leong, Blecher & Hu, 2005). Despite these developments, South Africa (SA) is amongst the countries confronted by the minimal utilisation of tourist attractions (National Department of Tourism, 2012) and the tourists’ lack of awareness of tourist attractions within major destinations, such as Cape Town (City of Cape Town, 2013) and Durban (eThekwini Municipality, 2014). By providing tourists with services relating to tourist attractions, hotels are likely to contribute towards addressing the minimal utilisation and lack of awareness of tourist attractions. Guest orientation (Lee, 2014), self-efficacy (Jaiswal & Dhar, 2015), motivation (Hon & Leung, 2011) and effort (Marić, Marinković, Marić & Dimitrovski, 2016) are constructs that impact on the service performance of hotel staff. However, studies have not been conducted to determine the impact of these constructs on the performance of hotel staff relating to tourist attractions. This paper forms part of a PhD study in progress which explores the constructs (Guest orientation, Self-efficacy, Motivation and Effort) that impact on hotel staff’s performance of services relating to tourist attractions. The PhD adopted a qual-QUANT research method to, in phase 1, qualitatively identify emerging themes from each construct, which will be quantitatively investigated in phase 2. This paper stems from phase 1 and aims to identify via qualitative research the key themes that emerge in each of the four constructs that are associated with hotel staff’s performance of services relating to tourist attractions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four certified hotel concierges belonging to Les Clefs d’ Or in SA. Thematic coding was used to identify the themes emerging from the qualitative data. Eight themes emerged from Guest orientation, five from Self-efficacy, seven from Motivation and ten from Effort