Place branding and place marketing: a contemporary analysis of the literature and usage of terminology

Abstract

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the “place branding” and “place marketing” research domain, complexities associated with it have not been addressed adequately, and ambiguity between uses of both the terms is evident. Therefore, the present study aims to provide a contemporary, systematic and exhaustive overview of “place branding” and “place marketing” literature by rigorously analyzing 188 articles since its inception, i.e. from 1975 to 2018 contributed by 370 authors published across 67 different academic and scholarly journals. The identified articles are systematically classified into various categories like research themes, bibliographic data, research methods of studies reviewed, methods of data collection and proposed theoretical/conceptual frameworks/models, geographical entities studied, major trends and the paradigm shift of this concept. Further analysis discerns that there is the dominance of qualitative research relying heavily on conceptual and case studies. However, results show an exponential increase in quantitative studies from 2015 onwards. Also, this field lacks empirically tested theories, concepts, models, suffers from divergent and ambiguous definitions, and inadequate theoretical foundations. As a result, the reliability of various factors concerned with “place branding” and “place marketing” remains unsubstantiated. Finally, this study concludes by identifying prominent research and review articles; it further discusses the differences between “place branding” and “place marketing.” At last, it identifies the knowledge gaps in this area that can be addressed in future studies.