Maree Thyne

Sense of Place The Importance for Destination Branding

Given that brand meanings are socially constructed and culturally dependent, we advocate that a destination branding strategy should begin by understanding what constitutes sense of place as experienced by local residents. The constructs of time, ancestry, landscape, and community were identified as determinants for the sense of place by inhabitants of the Chatham Islands of New Zealand. These constructs comprise meanings that influence the habitus and define sense of place. This article contributes to our understanding of place by providing a sense of place model to support scholarship in destination and place branding. Destination branding activity ought to be significantly influenced by an in-depth appreciation of the sense of place for those whose place it is. Our emergent model emphasizes the importance of understanding sense of place and positioning the people of the place at the centre of a branding strategy for the development of an effective destination brand.

Destination avoidance and inept destination sets.

This research investigates how different destination choice sets are defined, particularly with respect to the reasons for choosing not to visit a destination. The paper discusses the idea of limited sets which consumers may hold when making decisions to travel, and outlines the inept sets of destinations held by a sample of New Zealanders for both domestic and international travel. Inept sets of destinations are those consciously rejected by the respondent as a destination to visit. The dimensions which the current sample indicate as reasons for including destinations in their inept set are outlined; examples for domestic locations include perceived expense and crowding, and examples for international destinations include perceived expense, danger and cultural differences.

Perceived authenticity of the visitor experience in museums: Conceptualization and initial empirical findings

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the authenticity concept and its antecedents and consequences within the context of museums. Design/methodology/approach – A higher-order scale of authenticity is developed and then tested for reliability and validity using a sample of museum visitors. To investigate authenticity in a model with two antecedents and two outcomes, an additional data set was collected. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. Findings – The results show that perceived authenticity of the museum, the visitor and the materials in the museum are dimensions of perceived authenticity, resonating with Bal’s (1996) research in this area. Findings also confirm that consumer scepticism and expectations are antecedents to perceived authenticity of the visitor experience in museums, and that perceived authenticity in turn affects visitor satisfaction and perceived corporate hypocrisy. Practical implications – This research provides a framework for museums to manage visitors’ p...

Flying in the face of environmental concern: why green consumers continue to fly

Abstract Some unsustainable consumer behaviours have proved extremely hard to change or even challenge. Despite the fact that flying can be more damaging than any other activity that an individual can undertake, many otherwise green consumers still choose to fly, offering an opportunity to elicit narratives about the differences between their attitudes and behaviours. Qualitative interview data were gathered from self-selected green consumers and set within a cognitive dissonance analytical framework. Four strategies were uncovered: not changing travel behaviour (but offering justifications related to travel product, travel context or personal identity); reducing or restricting flights; changing other behaviours to compensate for flying; and stopping flying. This analysis furthers research on green consumer rationales for (un)sustainable behaviours and suggests several avenues for sustainable marketing management.

Hospitality, tourism, and lifestyle concepts: implications for quality management and customer satisfaction.

ABSTRACT This article provides an overview of the significance of the lifestyle concept for the management of service quality and customer satisfaction in the hospitality and tourism industry. It discusses aspects of its continuing evolution and outlines the contents of articles relevant to this volume, providing a brief summary of the articles collected. It concludes by identifying a number of opportunities for further research into hospitality and tourism lifestyle concepts.

Approaches to managing co-production for the co-creation of value in a museum setting: when authenticity matters

ABSTRACT This qualitatively-based empirical research explored the strategies used by two museums to manage their roles in co-production as well as how they manage, motivate and guide visitors through the process of co-production. We also gained insights into how visitors responded to these strategies. Our findings suggest that the two museums employ different strategies to co-produce the consumption experience and that their strategies were linked to the nature of authenticity that is apparent in the museums. Strategies included explicitly controlling the visitor experience through empowering visitors to design their own visitor experience. The success of these strategies relied on the two museums recognising the situational variables of the context of consumption and adopting appropriate strategies that enabled them and the visitors to leverage the value of the visitor experience. The findings from this study suggest that further research should be undertaken on how authenticity might be integrated into a service-dominant logic paradigm and service strategies aimed at enhancing the co-creation of value.

Environmental influences on pre-schooler’s understanding of brand symbolism

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors influencing young children’s (aged three to five years) understanding of brand symbolism. Design/methodology/approach Multiple hierarchical regression was used to analyse the relationships between age, gender and environmental factors, including family and the media, on the development of brand symbolism in pre-school children based on 56 children and parent dyad interviews. Findings Results confirmed the primary influence of age, television exposure and parental communication style on three to five-year-old children’s understanding of brand symbolism. The study demonstrates that the tendency to infer symbolic user attributes and non-product-related associations with brands starts as early as two years, and increases with age throughout the pre-school years. Children exposed to more television and less critical parental consumer socialisation strategies are more likely to prefer branded products, believe that brands are better quality and that they make people happy and popular. Social implications Identifying the factors that influence the development of symbolic brand associations in pre-school children provides an important contribution to public policy discussions on the impact of marketing to young children. Originality/value The paper extends existing research by considering, for the first time, the role of environmental factors in pre-schooler’s understanding of brand symbolism. The results provide a more informed basis for discussion about the impact of marketing messages on very young children and the environmental factors that may lead to a more critical engagement with brands.

Perpetration of Alcohol-Related Aggression by Male and Female College Students: An Examination of Overt and Relational Aggression

Existing literature exemplifies the relationship between alcohol and overt aggression, especially for adult males. Less clear is the relationship between alcohol and aggression among male and female college students, in particular, the nature of this aggression and the co-occurrence of drinking and aggression on the same day (temporal proximity). This study examines the chronic and temporal nature of males’ and females’ alcohol-related aggression among college students. Two hundred fourteen students completed a web-based 7-day event-level survey measuring alcohol consumption and perpetration of physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger, and relational aggression over 4 weeks, resulting in 4,256 observations (days). The global analysis revealed students who are heavy drinkers are more likely to perpetrate all four forms of aggression, whereas the event-level analysis revealed that specific forms of aggression are associated with drinking at the time, while other forms were not linked to drinking occasions. Cross-tabulation revealed males and females were more likely to use verbal and physical aggression when drinking. For females, drinking was also associated with relational aggression and anger. Despite often being overlooked in research on aggression during emerging adulthood, relational aggression was prevalent. Discrepancies between the global and temporal analysis revealed factors other than alcohol might explain the relationship between chronic alcohol consumption and specific forms of aggression. This is one of the first event-level studies to show the temporal relationship between alcohol and relational aggression. The distinctions in the current study, exemplifying the diversity of alcohol-related aggression, are critical for understanding aggressive behavior, potential gender differences, and for developing interventions. The temporal relationship between alcohol and aggression suggests health interventions should target drinking and aggression simultaneously.

Drinkers' perceived negative alcohol-related expectancies: informing alcohol warning messages

Abstract Background: Concerned groups are pressuring government bodies to implement warning labels. However, research informed label development is limited and current labels are generic, despite tobacco research revealing targeted messages are more effective. Expectancy research provides a platform to inform message development, however reliance on researcher-driven survey-dependent expectancies has limited findings. This study aims to extend expectancy theory and inform warning label development by identifying negative expectancies that are participant derived and salient to drinkers from specific segments. Method: A New Zealand sample involving 1168 drinkers (651 men) completed an online survey measuring their demographics, their drinking and self-reported negative alcohol expectancies. Thematic analysis resulted in 13 salient expectancies, and differences between segments were examined. Results: Chi-square analyses revealed: heavy drinkers and young adults were characterised by concerns for self (e.g. liver damage); lighter drinkers and older adults by expectancies that could harm others (e.g. violence); females reported greater concern than males with the majority of expectancies. Conclusion: Results extend alcohol expectancy theory by revealing negative expectancies that are salient to drinkers from specific segments. This study delivers the initial steps for systematically informing alcohol warning label development, by identifying expectancies that are likely to be integrated by drinkers.

Developing two Types of Social Distance Scales to be Used in the Host-Guest Relationship Context.

The world is becoming increasingly accessible to most of its population, with travel times decreasing. In this context the earth is getting smaller and because of our accessibility to vastly different countries; cross-cultural contact is becoming more predominant. One area of human interaction where cross-cultural contact is prevalent is tourism.