This research examines the inter-relationships between integrated marketing communications (IMC), destination reputation and consumer brand engagement (CBE) in tourism. For that purpose, two dimensions of IMC are considered: consistency and interactivity, and three components of CBE: cognitive, emotional and behavioural. Data collection will take place among tourists visiting Rome, Italy. Expected results will show the presence and the valence of the following hypothesised relationships: 1) the influence of the IMC's dimensions on destination reputation; 2) the influence of destination reputation on all the components of CBE; 3) the impact of the IMC's dimensions on CBE. Data will be analysed through Partial Least Squares (PLS), a suitable technique for examining relationships that are still unexplored and when the studied construct is relatively new or changing as in this case. This study will contribute to the understanding of the potential of integrated marketing communications in tourism, a completely neglected research area, by examining its impact on reputation and consumer brand engagement, which received far too little attention in the marketing literature.
This study makes a significant contribution to the existing marketing communication literature. On the one hand, there is hardly any empirical evidence on IMC in the context of tourism destinations (e.g. Skinner, 2005), where the need for integration has proven to be as necessary as in other sectors. Owing to the fact that tourism markets have grown more fragmented, consumers find themselves with incomplete media images in a confusing marketing environment. This project proposes to examine the IMC construct in this specific context, approaching, moreover Italy - a top tourist destination. On the other hand, there is a general agreement among both scholars and practitioners that branding is a powerful means for product differentiation and that differentiation is an effective marketing strategy in a competitive environment. Accordingly, the consumer brand engagement concept has recently emerged as one of the key concepts in marketing and tourism literature. The concept reflects the nature of consumers' interactive relationships with a brand, embracing cognitive, emotional and behavioral brand-related activities (Holleebek, 2014). Still, owing to the novelty of this concept and limited number of contributions that have approached it, new empirical contributions are necessary for its development and establishment, an issue that will be addressed in this project.
Within the tourism context, the concept of brand has important implications for the management of tourism destinations. This is because the ever-increasing number of potential tourism destinations has resulted in increased substitutability of destinations and a lack of differentiation among destinations with similar tourism products. Accordingly, the global tourism marketplace is becoming a fiercely competitive environment, why tourism destinations are under extreme pressure to reinvent their selves in order to differentiate against their competitors (Krešic and Prebežac, 2012). As brand is a main source of differentiation and reputation, it is clear why the research on brand-related concepts of tourist destinations is both necessary and inevitable. Still, so far the research in the context of the destination branding process has been mainly limited to the analysis of destination image, based on the distinctive destination features, and the accurate delivery of this image to the potential visitors. This project makes a step further, and instead of examining perceptual components of a tourism brand, like brand image or perceived quality, it transcends to the field of customers' relationships with a brand, and how these can be influenced by integration of marketing communications.
While the impact of IMC on perceptual components of a brand has been corroborated by some studies (e.g. Šeric et al., 2014), a great challenge for IMC researchers is to confirm its impact on the relational approach among customers and a brand, i.e. on customer brand engagement and reputation. IMC should build customers' emotional attachment to the brand and nourish a long-term relationship with their target customers through steady delivery of brand messages. In particular, the messages customers receive ¿ for example through promotional material or word-of-mouth - might affect their cognitive processing, behaviour, and attachment to a brand. Still, no study actually tested these relationships to support these assumptions, which is the main goal of this project.
Overall, the results of the proposed research are meant to have important contributions to the tourism marketing theory and practice and will be highly relevant for both academics and managers. The project thus aims at providing practitioners with findings and insights for improvement of their successful business practices.