Line, Nathan and Runyan, Rodney and Swinney, Jane L. and Sneed, Christopher T. (2016) Community stakeholders and the perception of tourism downtowns:an assessment of brand identity. Tourism Analysis, 21 (2-3). pp. 159-172. ISSN 1083-5423
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
The purpose of this article is to examine the brand identity of tourism-dependent downtowns as perceived by stakeholders in the community. From the theoretical perspective of the resource-based view of the firm, perceptions of local residents and downtown business owners are considered in terms of how each group perceives the downtown’s brand. Specifically, this research seeks to identify and better understand differences in how these two groups attribute elements of the downtown’s brand identity to overall downtown performance. Hypotheses are developed and tested using data collected from residents and downtown business owners in four tourism-dependent communities in the Midwestern US. The results suggest that whereas business owners attribute downtown success to both brand image and positioning, brand image alone affects residents’ perceptions of downtown performance.