Investigating the Dialogic Communications Potential of the Botswana Trade and Investment Centre Website for Destination Branding

Abstract

This study investigated the dialogic potential of a public sector organization’s website and its impact on trade and investment decisions as a precursor to highlighting the influence of marketing communications of a nation’s brand for advancing trade and/or tourism. Drawing upon Kent and Taylor’s dialogic communications framework and the Media Richness Theory (MRT), the study examined the the brand communications potential of the Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) website. A total of 398 respondents participated in an online survey, and the Partial Least Squares approach was utilized to analyze the data. The results indicate that the dialogic principles of the destination’s trade and investment website have a positive impact on destination awareness, image formation, and trade and investment opportunities. Specifically, destination awareness partially mediates the relationship between the dialogic principles and destination image, and destination image fully mediates the relationship between the dialogic principles of the website and trade and investment intentions. The study contributes to the literature by uncovering the rich media potential of a nation’s trade and investment website to create awareness, influence destination image, and trade and investment intentions, based on the dialogic potential of the website.