Author(s): Hsu, SY (Hsu, Shih-Yun); Dehuang, N (Dehuang, Ning); Woodside, AG (Woodside, Arch G.)
Title: Storytelling research of consumers' self-reports of urban tourism experiences in China Source: JOURNAL OF BUSINESS RESEARCH, 62 (12): 1223-1254 DEC 2009
Language: English Document Type: Article
Author Keywords: Netnography; Brand; Icon; Tourism; China; Beijing; Lijiang; Shanghai;
Xi'an; Destination
KeyWords Plus: MARKETING-RESEARCH; BEHAVIOR; STRATEGY; INQUIRY; BRANDS Abstract: Using brand netnography (analyzing first-person on-line stories consumers tell that include discussions of their product and brand use), this article probes how visitors interpret the places, people, and situations that they experience while traveling in China (People's Republic of China). The visitors' reports focus on four greater metropolitan areas in China:
Beijing, Lijiang, Shanghai, and Xi'an. Visitor stories interpreting these destinations support Robert McKee's wisdom that powerful storytelling moves people via unique "inciting incidents"- incidents serving to unfreeze or throw life out-of-balance. The visitors' destination lived-dramas give credence to Tom Peter's advocacy of focusing strategically on brand and Doug Holt's treatise on how brands become icons. The analysis includes applying Heider's balance theory in maps showing immediate and downstream positive and negative associations of concepts, events, and outcomes in visitors' stories. These maps include descriptions of how visitors experience specific Chinese destinations unique promises (i.e., distinct cultural history, minority way-of-life (Naxi society), China's Big Apple, China's origin, respectively for Beijing, Lijiang, Shanghai, and Xi'an). The article provides a revisionist proposal to Holt's five-step strategy for building destinations as iconic brands and suggestions for tourism management.
(C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Addresses: [Hsu, Shih-Yun] Asia Univ, Dept Leisure & Recreat Management, Wufeng 41354, Taichung County, Taiwan; [Dehuang, Ning] Kunming Univ Sci & Technol, Sch Management &
Econ, Kunming 650093, Yunnan, Peoples R China; [Woodside, Arch G.] Boston Coll, Carroll Sch Management, Dept Mkt, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 USA
Reprint Address: Hsu, SY, Asia Univ, Dept Leisure & Recreat Management, 500 Lioufeng Rd, Wufeng 41354, Taichung County, Taiwan.
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Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
Publisher Address: 360 PARK AVE SOUTH, NEW YORK, NY 10010-1710 USA ISSN: 0148-2963
DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.11.006 29-char Source Abbrev.: J BUS RES ISO Source Abbrev.: J. Bus. Res.
Source Item Page Count: 32 Subject Category: Business ISI Document Delivery No.: 518CH