Abstract
Place attachment has been identified as effective marketing strength to enhance destination competitiveness. However, little research explored the formation mechanism of the place attachment of potential tourists and the role of celebrity endorsers. This study aims to identify the influence mechanism of the credibility of endorsers on place attachment. Various theories from different research fields were introduced to explore the mediating effect of destination attitude, para-social relationships, and destination source credibility between endorser credibility and the place attachment of potential tourists. The famous destination endorser in China, Tenzin, was chosen as the case. A quantitative method was adopted. The research model was examined by a survey sampling size of 367 respondents. The covariance-based structural equation model analysis revealed that the credibility of the endorser exerts a positive influence on the destination attitude of potential tourists, para-social relationship with the endorser, and destination source credibility. These three constructs have a positive effect on their place attachment. The results showed that the credibility of the endorser has a significant indirect influence on place attachment. This study extends the current literature of forming the place attachment of potential tourists from the perspective of the personal characteristics of the destination endorser. The findings shed light on how the credibility of the endorser could form place attachment through enhancing the destination attitude, credibility, and para-social relationships of potential tourists. This study provides several practical implications for destination marketing.
Highlights
The increasing competition of destinations leads to the homogeneity of both tangible and intangible attributes among them (Van der Veen and Song, 2014; Zhang et al, 2020)
The first step of structural equation modeling (SEM) aims to verify the reliability and validity of the measurement scales through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)
This study further clarifies the underlying reason of this relationship, which indicated that a credible endorser could reduce the uncertainty of potential tourists which would facilitate the potential tourists building a para-social relationship with the endorser
Summary
The increasing competition of destinations leads to the homogeneity of both tangible and intangible attributes among them (Van der Veen and Song, 2014; Zhang et al, 2020) Facing such a marketing context, place attachment, one of the main concepts in environmental psychology, has attracted the wide attention of tourism research (Dwyer et al, 2019). Many prior researchers postulated the individual place attachment derived from long-term experience with the environment (Woosnam et al, 2018; Vada et al, 2019) Factors such as the attractiveness of the destination, experience of tourists, motivation, and service interactions have been identified as antecedents of the place attachment of tourists (Dwyer et al, 2019). The role of narrative transportation of song or film related to a destination as well as the physical elements of destinations familiarized by tourists has been identified as antecedents that could foster the place attachment of potential tourists (Cheng and Kuo, 2015; Chen, 2018; Chen et al, 2019; Hosany et al, 2020)
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