Unravelling the link between actors’ roles in place branding processes and brand citizenship behaviour

Abstract

Both scholars and practitioners agree that stakeholder participation in place branding processes is important for enhancing their support, often referred to as Brand Citizenship Behaviour (BCB). Stakeholder participation can be varied and is often linked to the different roles that place stakeholders can adopt in the place branding process. The literature suggests a link between different stakeholder roles taken along the branding process (from decision-making to implementation) and their voluntary and active supportive behaviours towards the brand project. Despite this recognition, many aspects related to place stakeholders’ roles and BCB remain underexplored, particularly what leads stakeholder to adopt certain roles and engage in behaviours associated with such roles. This study aims to fill this gap by using role theory as a theoretical lens to conceptually explore the different roles actors adopt in the place branding process, their motivations to adopting a certain role and the behavioural expectations that come with such roles. Given the complexity of places and interactive nature of place branding, we also reflect on the fluid and interrelated nature of such roles as they are constantly (re)shaped in the interactions between place stakeholders.