Examining Structural Relationships among Brand Experience, Existential Authenticity, and Place Attachment in Slow Tourism Destinations

Wenwen Shang, Qing Yuan and Nan Chen
Additional contact information
Wenwen Shang: School of Tourism Management, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Qing Yuan: School of Culture Industry & Tourism Management, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China
Nan Chen: School of Culture Industry & Tourism Management, Henan University, Kaifeng 475001, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 7, 1-23

Abstract: Understanding how tourists’ brand experiences impact their existential authenticity, and the role of existential authenticity in the formation mechanism of place attachment to the destination, are key issues for the marketing of a destination. The current study examines the relationship between tourists’ experience, existential authenticity, and place attachment, and the indirect effect of existential authenticity on the relationship between destination brand experience and place attachment from the oriental perspective against the slow tourism background. A self-administered survey was conducted at Yaxi town, the first international slow city in China. A total of 398 samples were analyzed using a two-step approach of the structural equation model (SEM). The findings show that destination brand experience partially impacts existential authenticity, and both the intrapersonal and interpersonal authenticity (the sub-dimensions of existential authenticity) significantly influence place attachment. Additionally, affective and behavioral experience indirectly influence place attachment through existential authenticity. Based on the conclusions, theoretical and practical recommendations are considered.

Keywords: destination experience; existential authenticity; place attachment; slow tourism; structural equation model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2784/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/7/2784/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:7:p:2784-:d:340032

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().