Organisations encourage shareholders to invest in the place and the place audience relies on place reputation when making investment decisions and product choices. Given the significance of the place branding and place heritage and building upon the evidence discussed, this research is one of the first attempts at collecting empirical evidence that seeks to prove that a favourable place branding and place branding heritage influence a favourable place image and favourable place reputation. This study aims to explore employees and visitors/consumers’ perceptions and practices regarding the place branding and the main factors that influence place branding suitability at a visitor/consumer/employee level. By achieving these objectives, it is expected that the investigation will add to current knowledge about the place branding and provide practical insights to managers and decision-makers. Based on the research objectives of this study, three overall research questions are: (i) What are the factors that influence place branding favourability, (ii) What are the main influences of place heritage favourability on favourable place branding?, and (iii) What are the main influences of place branding favourability on favourable place image and favourable place reputation?
This research addresses the general goals: first, it explores the concept of the place
branding and its dimensions. Second, it identifies the factors that are most likely to
have a significance influence on the favourable place branding (antecedents of the
favourable place branding). Third, it develops and empirically assesses a model
concerning the relationships between favourable place branding, its antecedents and its
consequences. Fourth, it examines the influence of the favourable place heritage on
place branding. Finally, it investigates the impact of the favourable place branding on
favourable place image and favourable place reputation (consequences of the
favourable place branding). Despite the potentially significant role of the favourable
place branding, little empirical research has examined how the favourable place
branding exposes corporations and their members to far greater scrutiny. Creating a
employee/consumer/visitor level model based on attribution theory demonstrates the
issues retailers face in relation to place branding: (i) the association between the place
branding concept and its elements that foster or discourage; (ii) its benefits or outcome
for place; (iii) the relationships between other theoretically and empirically identified
variables. In order to fill this gap in the academic literature, prior studies and the insights gained from current field research were reviewed. The model and various propositions developed thereafter, merit further study.