Search results

The functionalities of tourist destinations as regional innovation systems (RIS) still show substantial deficits. Especially for destinations in developing countries (DC), this incurs a wicked problem when it comes to unfolding the potentials of tourism for social innovation and sustainable regional development. Determining factors for these weaknesses are manifold, complex, multi-causal and prone to inherent system-dynamics making it difficult for destination management organisations to proactively monitor and control them in the long term. Backed by empirical comparative findings from rural destinations in Azerbaijan and Ecuador, this chapter tracks down selected major drivers of this wicked problem both from a monocausal-linear and multi-causal-dynamic analytical perspective. As a primary outcome, a set of suitable indicators will be presented to serve as a monitoring framework for a social innovation governance of DC destinations.

This paper aims to explore how sub-national or regional cultural differences influence backers’ willingness to crowdfund projects. The paper also explores how migrant transnationalism influences the impact of backer’s sub-national culture and crowdfunding relationships.

This paper is based on the experimental design technique using analysis of covariance methods. The authors tested the study hypotheses on a sample of 790 respondents.

The study results suggest that individuals differ in their intent to crowdfund product campaigns depending on value congruence between their cultural values derived from the region to which they belong and the nature of the product category, such as environmentally friendly or happiness-enhancing products.

This paper explores the role of regional cultural differences in determining the intention to crowdfund different campaigns based on the nature of the product. Value congruence, as driven by regional cultural differences with crowdfunding campaigns, has not been explored before.

There is a wealth of value hidden in regional cultural heritage, but its preservation status is not optimistic. This study introduces a method that focuses on the inherent cultural value of regional cultural heritage to preserve it by value construction and release.

Based on the great value of regional cultural heritage due to spatial adjacency and temporal continuity, this paper focuses on its inherent cultural value to explore the preservation path and chooses Shichahai cultural heritage digital resources for a case study. This paper draws lessons from the narrative method of ancient Chinese historiography, constructs a cultural space and tells cultural stories. A linked data organization model for digital resources is created to construct a conceptual cultural space. Then, the space is materialized by linked dataset creation. The authors tell cultural stories discovered from the space, which are presented by various user interfaces using visualization technologies.

A cultural space promotes the development of a fine-grained description of regional cultural heritage and aids in relationship discovery to enhance the value construction ability. Additionally, storytelling via interactive user interfaces is helpful in the utilization and dissemination of knowledge extracted from a cultural space and enhances the value release of regional cultural heritage. In this way, a path with the inherent cultural value of regional cultural heritage as the core is established, and preservation is achieved.

This study focuses on the inherent cultural value of regional cultural heritage and proposes a new path to preserve these resources. This approach will enrich research on the preservation of regional cultural heritage and contribute to the construction and release of its cultural value.

The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between the attributes of Olympic mascots and their impact on sponsorship effectiveness. Based on a multiattribute model and the introduction of engagement theory and the meaning transfer model, this article uses the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics mascot “Bing Dwen Dwen” as the research object to empirically analyze the effects and mechanisms of the mascot's attributes on preference, event engagement, sponsorship enterprise trust and sponsorship enterprise attitude, ultimately constructing a sponsorship effectiveness model.

The survey method was used to examine 238 respondents' emotions and attitudes towards companies participating in sponsoring Olympic mascots.

The study found that the main attributes of the mascot include visual and emotional factors, both of which have a positive impact on preference, with emotional factors having a greater influence than visual factors. Visual and emotional factors indirectly affect engagement through preference. Preference and engagement play a completely mediating role in the effect of mascot attributes on sponsorship enterprise trust and sponsorship enterprise attitude.

This study provides practical recommendations for managers to achieve marketing success in sports sponsorship through mascots.

This paper provides a measurement tool for the study of mascot attributes and important support for subsequent research in sponsorship marketing.

The aim of this study is to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusiveness (DEI) culture by using individuals’ learning engagement (ILE) as a catalyst with formal and informal learning engagement interventions for sustainable learning and performance.

As part of a transdisciplinary study (DEI and learning), a mixed method was used. The data from 16 semi-structured interviews (SSI) with corporate professionals was analysed to create the ILE framework for enhancing DEI culture. A focus group discussion and experimentation were used for validation as triangulation.

The suggested ILE framework had a considerable impact on DEI. Findings revealed a positive, statistically significant association between ILE and DEI cultural enhancement describing how participants' ILE experiences impacted their DEI perspectives, demonstrating compelling evidence of DEI culture enhancement.

This study proposes a sustainable learning approach for a multi-cultural workforce by using the ILE framework for business, HR, DEI and L&D experts to enhance DEI culture.

The study contributes to DEI and learning engagement domains with a framework for integrating all three elements of DEI by using impactful ILE interventions.

The interaction between the culture and tourism industries is naturally concentrated in cities. However, the effect of their co-agglomeration on urban tourism development depends on their level of integration. This study aims to answer the following questions: Can culture–tourism co-agglomeration promote the development of the tourism economy? Is the effect of culture–tourism co-agglomeration on tourism development moderated by culture–tourism integration? Does culture–tourism co-agglomeration have spatial spillover effects?

Taking 262 prefecture-level cities in China from 2009 to 2019 as the research sample, this study measures the degree of culture–tourism co-agglomeration using a co-agglomeration index and measured culture–tourism integration using a coupling coordination degree model. Using a threshold model and a spatial econometric model, this study examined the effect of culture–tourism co-agglomeration on urban tourism development.

Culture–tourism co-agglomeration had a positive effect on the urban tourism economy, and the effect differed according to geographical location and city grade. Moreover, culture–tourism co-agglomeration’s effect on the urban tourism economy was affected by the level of culture–tourism integration. When the level of culture–tourism integration crossed the threshold, the positive effect of culture–tourism co-agglomeration on the urban tourism economy will be enhanced. Finally, culture–tourism co-agglomeration had positive spatial spillover effects on surrounding cities.

This study integrated culture–tourism co-agglomeration, culture–tourism integration and urban tourism economy into the same research framework and innovatively analyzed the effect of the scale and quality of culture–tourism interaction on the urban tourism economy.

文化产业和旅游产业之间的互动性使其天然地在城市中集聚发展。然而, 文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的影响取决于它们的融合发展水平。本研究旨在回答以下问题：文化和旅游协同集聚能否促进旅游经济的发展？文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的作用是否受到文化和旅游融合发展水平的调节影响？文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的影响是否具有空间溢出效应？

本文以2009-2019年中国262个地级及以上城市为研究样本, 采用协同集聚指数测度城市文化和旅游集聚水平, 采用耦合协调度模型测度城市文化和旅游融合发展水平, 并通过构建面板门槛模型和空间计量模型, 检验文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的影响。

文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展具有正向的促进作用, 而且这种影响会因为地理位置和城市等级的不同而存在差异。此外, 文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的促进作用还受到文旅融合发展水平的影响, 当文旅融合发展水平跨越发展门槛后, 文化和旅游协同集聚对城市旅游发展的正向影响得到增强。最后, 文化和旅游协同集聚对周边城市具有积极正向的空间溢出效应。

本文将文化和旅游协同集聚、文化和旅游融合发展、城市旅游发展纳入统一框架, 创新性地分析了文化和旅游互动发展的规模和质量对城市旅游发展的影响。

The purpose of this study is shed light on the underlying forces behind entrepreneurship within a regional innovation system (RIS) in a remote rural region. The authors examine the following questions: Which are the main underlying forces behind the entrepreneurial process in a rural RIS characterized by traditionally low-tech, small-scale businesses? How can the development of a low-tech regional innovation system be conceptualized?

The design of the study is based on entrepreneurship theory. Data analysis followed practices used in phenomenography, a research approach used to analyse and identify commonalities and variations in populations' perceptions of a certain phenomenon. Data are composed using semi-structured interviews and a database composed of company information of all firms in the population.

A proactive mobilization of regional stakeholders and resources can be an important driving force behind the entrepreneurial process and generation of a rural RIS. Innovation can be generated within low-tech industries turning the rural context into an asset. An RIS in a remote rural context can be initiated and orchestrated by regional authorities, but knowledge brokering and orchestration can also be managed by networks of small-scale businesses brought together by mutual benefit and common interests.

Regional innovation systems theory is most often used to study high-tech industries. But by combining regional innovation systems with rural entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship context theory is a fruitful avenue to understand the role of rural entrepreneurship in regional development, even in remote and peripheral regions. Innovation does not need to entail high-tech international environments; it can appear as the result of efforts in low-tech industries in rural and remote environments. The authors’ findings need to be scrutinized; therefore, the authors call for more research on regional innovation systems in rural environments.

It is possible for regional authorities to orchestrate a development process through the actions of a strong regional agent but also by supporting the creation of networks of small businesses that are built on trust and common interests.

This study contributes to the literature with a new perspective to the study of entrepreneurship and of regional innovation systems. Entrepreneurship research with focus on rural contexts most often highlight limits to entrepreneurship and see entrepreneurship as “just running a business”. A perspective that starts from innovation and innovative behaviour, despite the rural context and embedded resources, helps to generate new knowledge that can enrich the understanding of entrepreneurship and also be the foundation for more precise business development policies in rural settings.

This paper aims to investigate how and when visual referents in brand visual aesthetics (i.e. colours, shapes, patterns and materials) serve as design applications that enable consumer diasporic identity.

This paper uses an innovative methodology that triangulates 58 in-depth interviews with diasporic consumers, 9 interviews with brand managers and designers and a visual analysis of brands (food retailer, spices and nuts, skincare, hair and cosmetics, ice cream and wine) to provide a view of the phenomenon from multiple perspectives.

This study illustrates how and when particular applications and compositions of product and design referents support diasporic identity for Middle Eastern consumers living outside the Middle East. Specifically, it illustrates how the design applications of harmonising (applying separate ancestral homeland and culture of living product and design referents simultaneously), homaging (departing from the culture of living product and design referents with a subtle tribute to ancestral homeland culture) and heritaging (departing from the ancestral homeland culture product and design referents with slight updates to a culture of living style) can enable diasporic identity in particular social situations.

Although applied to the Middle Eastern diaspora, this research opens up interesting avenues for future research that assesses diasporic consumers’ responses to brands seeking to use visual design to engage with this market. Moreover, future research should explore these design applications in relation to issues of cultural appreciation and appropriation.

The hybrid design compositions identified in this study can provide brand managers with practical tools for navigating the design process when targeting a diasporic segment. The design applications and their consequences are discussed while visually demonstrating how they can be crafted.

While previous research mainly focused on how consumption from the ancestral homeland occurred, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine how hybrid design compositions that combine a diaspora’s ancestral homeland culture and their culture of living simultaneously and to varying degrees resonate with diasporic consumers.

This research examines the impact of the National Rural E-commerce Comprehensive Demonstration Project (NRECDP) on poverty reduction and income growth in rural China.

The study develops a theoretical framework, which considers the role of geographical, technological, institutional and cultural factors for the e-commerce poverty alleviation (e-CPA) model. Empirically, this study applies the difference-in-differences (DID) model and the event study approach to evaluate the effectiveness of NRECDP on the basis of large-scale county-level and household-level panel data spanning 2010 to 2020.

The study found that the NRECDP, as a government-led, information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled, market-based program, has led to a significant increase in per capita output of primary industry employees, as well as in the disposable income of rural residents, especially those in national-level poverty-stricken (NP) counties. The interventions of the NRECDP achieved these positive outcomes through transportation and Internet infrastructure improvement, ICT adoption and human capital accumulation in impoverished towns and villages in remote rural areas. These effects are larger in the eastern region of China, followed by the central region, whereas the weakest effects were found in the western region. However, we found little evidence of the NRECDP increasing household developmental expenditure.

The study findings have important practical and policy implications for rural e-commerce development and self-sustained poverty alleviation solutions. The research revealed the significance of government NRECDP interventions for increasing rural income, reducing living costs, and empowering the rural population in its multiple social roles, namely, as consumers, producers, employees and microentrepreneurs. The local cultural context may also play a role in ICT adoption and entrepreneurship cultivation with a downstream effect on the effectiveness of e-CPA practices. Policymakers would need to ensure a supportive entrepreneur-friendly environment for rural e-commerce development and continue implementing progressive policies for poverty alleviation.

This study explores poverty alleviation issues in China by developing for the first time a multi-faceted framework that is subsequently tested by both county-level and household-level large-scale observations. Also, it is the first study to provide nationwide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of e-CPA in narrowing down the spatial and digital divides in China. In addition to the impact of geography, technology and governmental support, this study also sheds light on the role of culture in the adoption and diffusion of digital technologies and as a source of local entrepreneurial opportunities.

This paper critically evaluates regional development through the lens of well-being and purpose. The paper provides insight into the key roles that well-being and purpose play in regional development and the way in which various actors are engaged in this process. This paper focuses on the Swansea Bay City Region within Wales, a country at the forefront of well-being legislation.

This paper analyses a case study of 4theRegion, a membership organisation that undertakes regional development activities underpinned by a social purpose and well-being across the Swansea Bay city region. 4theRegion has been selected due to (1) its unique business model; (2) its clear focus on well-being and purpose; and (3) the influence of its regional development actions bringing together various stakeholder groups under a common aim.

This paper extends existing debates on collaborative development approaches and underlines the unique emphasis on asset-based local development influenced by well-being, which seeks to engage with a variety of community stakeholders to derive “holistic flourishing”. This emphasises inclusive development activities across the region, through people, place, process and purpose, underpinned by well-being. The research also underlines debates about the subjectivity of well-being and how the impact of well-being legislation can be evaluated.

This research provides a new way of looking at regional development, through the lens of well-being and purpose and provides insight into the way in which various actors are engaged in this process. Implications of this research could influence policymaking in supporting regional development activities, as well as practical lessons for those involved in place-based development.