Branding Creative Cities of Gastronomy: the role of brand experience and the influence of tourists' self-congruity and self-expansion

Abstract

PurposeThis study explores the brand management and marketing of Creative Cities of Gastronomy. A framework based on brand experience was constructed to investigate its relationship with tourists' brand attachment and brand identification. Two factors that enable tourists to have a stronger brand experience from the self-concept perspective – self-congruity and self-expansion – were also examined.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopted a quantitative research design and collected data from participants who had visited Creative Cities of Gastronomy. A total of 515 valid questionnaires were collected online and offline. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for data analysis and hypothesis testing.FindingsThe results showed that brand experience positively affects brand identification and attachment. The brand experience of tourists who considered themselves to be “foodies” was enhanced in the Creative Cities of Gastronomy through self-congruity. The results also confirmed that the relationship between self-congruity and brand experience is mediated by self-expansion.Originality/valueStudies on the Creative Cities of Gastronomy are limited. The few that have explored these cities are dominated by qualitative approaches. This study applied empirical data to examine the brand experience in Creative Cities of Gastronomy. The authors successfully verified that brand experience is effective for building positive relationships with brand attachment and identification. The study also confirmed that self-congruity and self-expansion are important antecedents of brand experience in Creative Cities of Gastronomy. This study enriches the literature by providing empirical evidence and insights into the marketing and branding of these cities.

A Review and Future Directions of Brand Experience Research in Tourism

“…The results indicate that there was a strong association between the sensory dimension and positive memory and that cognitive and affective dimensions partially mediate the relationship. Other theories applied by the reviewed literature include trust formation theory and social exchange theory (Torres-Moraga & Barra, 2023), self-expansion (Guo & Hsu, 2023), flow theory (Fu et al, 2020) and interactionist-based theory (Shang et al, 2020).…”

“…Other scholars such as Kim et al (2022), also examined the influence of destination brand and brand awareness on destination brand experience and found that both the destination brand and brand awareness are the predictors of destination branding. A study by Guo and Hsu (2023) in China utilized the self-congruity theory among others to determine the relationship between brand experience, selfcongruity, brand attachment, self-expansion and brand identification and found that self-congruity is an antecedent of brand experience. Interestingly, Rezaei et al (2017) in Iran, studied the influence of customer perceived relationship marketing, quality of service and brand experience on tourists' satisfaction and actual expenditure behavior.…”

“…Brand trust (Narimane & Lahcen, 2021), destination brand authenticity (Khan & Fatma, 2021), involvement and meaningfulness (Legendre et al, 2019), and customer mindfulness (Haobin et al, 2021) are also mediators of brand experience. Other identified mediators include heritage destination loyalty (Rahman et al, 2021), self-expansion (Guo & Hsu, 2023), flow experience and self-congruity (Fu et al, 2020), place attachment (Shang et al, 2020), brand attachment (Kang et al, 2017), brand relationship quality (Tang et al, 2023) and trustworthiness (Torres-Moraga & Barra (2023). The presence of various mediators of brand experience connote that brand experience influences brand-related and customer-related variables either directly or through other variables.…”