Stakeholder Involvement in the Place Branding Process and the Effect on Brand Citizenship Behavior: A Case Study of the Drechtsteden Region and the Smart Delta Drechtsteden Brand

This study has investigated the effect of involving stakeholders in the place branding process and the outcomes of this process in the form of brand citizenship behavior. It has done this through a quantitative survey and a quantitative content analysis of brand-related documents. The findings of this research show that the involvement of stakeholders in the place branding process leads to more brand citizenship behavior of stakeholders in the form of investment in the Smart Delta Drechtsteden brand. Moreover, the related factors of place identification and place dependency were investigated, and it was shown that participation in the network significantly mediates the relationship between place identification and brand citizenship behavior.