The Effect of Self-Place Congruity and Individualism on Visit Intention
Streszczenie
Based on the metaphor of the brand as a person, marketers intentionally imbue
their brands with human characteristics through advertising. Destination marketers have
observed that tourists prefer to visit destinations reflecting their self-esteem and being
congruent with their personality. Therefore, if marketers could better understand the
relationship between the alignment of tourist personality with the personality of the place
(i.e. self-place congruity) and visiting intentions, they could attract more visitors.
Therefore, the current study aimed to explore the relationship between self-place
congruity and visit intentions. Additionally, I examined whether and how the congruity
between personalities of a tourist and a place interacts with another key variable for tourist
behaviors: individualism. Existing literature suggests that individualism is one of the
significant predictors of travel propensity; however, there has been a very limited number
of studies on the individualism negatively influences the relationship between self-place
congruity and effects of individualism and self-place congruity on tourists’ behavior. The
only existing empirical study by Matzler and his colleagues (2016) indicates that
propensity to travel. However, this study was based on survey methodology and did not
provide conclusive results. Therefore, I addressed this issue and thoroughly investigated
it using experimental design.
As part of the empirical work for this dissertation, I conducted a series of literature
reviews, both systematic and bibliometric, regarding key concepts used in the study, such
as destination branding, destination personality, self-place congruity, individualism, and
intention to visit. I observed a growing popularity of these terms in scientific publications,
especially after 2000. The results of my work can contribute to a better understanding of
tourist behavior issues and highlight new interesting areas for further scientific
exploration.
Furthermore, I conducted two experiments to better understand the relationship
between individualism, self-place congruity, and visit intentions. I found that both
measured (Study 1) and manipulated (Study 2) self-place congruity has a positive impact
on the intention to visit a tourist destination. However, depending on whether
individualism was manipulated (Study 1) or measured (Study 2), the effects of this
variable vary significantly. When the self-place congruity is low, manipulated
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individualism reduces visit intentions; when the self-place congruity is high, manipulated
individualism has no effect on the propensity to travel. Conversely, when the self-place
congruity is high, measured individualism reduces visiting intentions; when the self-place
congruity is low, measured individualism has no effect on the propensity to travel. The
results of my experiments show that the way tourist destinations and tourist behaviors are
studied can bring completely opposite empirical outcomes. Therefore, place brand
managers and marketers should carefully analyze the research methodology and context
of conducted studies before making strategic decisions regarding the management of
tourist destinations. In summary, the relationships that I discovered can tangibly assist
those persons who are responsible for promoting tourist destinations and help better
understand tourist behaviors, as well as provide support in developing competitive
marketing strategies.