This Is My Hometown! The Role of Place Attachment, Congruity, and Self-Expressiveness on Residents’ Intention to Share a Place Brand Message Online

Abstract

In a gradually more hypercompetitive global tourism arena, destination marketers are increasingly seeking effective ways to promote places through appealing place brand messages. Local residents can be valuable ambassadors for the place, as well as co-creators of place-related brand communication. However, research focusing on place advertising from the residents’ perspective is scant. To address this gap, this work identifies three main antecedents of residents’ intention to share a place brand message online: place attachment, place ad–brand congruity, and self-expressiveness. A model is developed and tested on a sample of current and former residents of a Swedish city. Structural equation model results support that these antecedents have a positive influence on current as well as former residents’ intention to share a place brand ad online. Place attachment also has a significant indirect influence on intention to share, with place ad–brand congruity and self-expressiveness as partial mediators. Furthermore, place ad–brand congruity partially mediates the relationship between place attachment and self-expressiveness.