Bridging the gap between culture, identity and image: a structurationist conceptualization of place brands and place branding
Journal of Product & Brand Management
ISSN: 1061-0421
Article publication date: 15 March 2019
Issue publication date: 22 May 2019
Abstract
Purpose
Although place branding is increasingly popular in research as well as in local, regional and national political agendas, the theoretical foundations of the place branding discipline are still underdeveloped. By embracing the stream of identity-based studies, this paper aims to attempt to demonstrate that place brands can be usefully approached through an emphasis of their cultural traits and the practical connection between culture, identity and image.
Design/methodology/approach
In constructing its theoretical arguments, the paper challenges the place branding model propounded by Kavaratzis and Hatch (2013), and uses practices as units of analysis. The paper conducts a brief review of the principal tenets of practice theory(IES) and uses structuration theory as a theoretical device to demonstrate how this theory can provide a (still lacking) theoretical anchorage for the place branding process.
Findings
The usefulness of structuration theory for understanding the place branding process is analysed at both the strategic and tactical levels by means of two illustrative examples. Structuration theory proves to be a solid theory which links the constitutive elements of the place branding process, i.e. culture, identity and image, and to inspire further theoretical elaborations and empirical efforts grounded on this theory.
Originality/value
This is the first paper which uses practice theory(ies) in general and structuration theory in particular to explain the place branding process. The theoretical arguments advanced provide valuable guidance for further theoretical elaborations and empirical applications.
Keywords
Citation
Pedeliento, G. and Kavaratzis, M. (2019), "Bridging the gap between culture, identity and image: a structurationist conceptualization of place brands and place branding", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 348-363. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-01-2018-1735
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited