A critical approach to place branding governance: From "holding stakes" to "holding flags".

Reynolds, Laura 2018. A critical approach to place branding governance: From "holding stakes" to "holding flags". PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

This thesis presents a critical account of place branding governance, questioning whether the decentralisation of ownership enables greater stakeholder participation. To do so, three overarching components are drawn upon from the extant literature, namely (place) brand meaning (Green et al., 2016; Merrilees et al., 2012), stakeholder engagement (Foo et al., 2011; Hankinson, 2009; Hanna and Rowley, 2015) and Bourdieu’s field-capital theory (Bourdieu, 1077, 1984, 1986). The holistic analysis responds to stakeholders’ continued hierarchal involvement, which operates in contradiction to academic claims that stakeholders should be partners, and not merely passive participants, in shaping the place branding process (Aitken and Campelo, 2011; Kavaratzis, 2012). This place branding conundrum is explored through two in-depth case studies of Bath and Bristol. The case studies utilise in-depth interviews with 60 salient stakeholders from the business community, local authority, local community and visitor economy (Mitchell et al., 1997). The thesis adopts elements from a moderate constructivist approach to grounded theory to augment the data collection, data analysis, and the abductive development of emergent theory (Charmaz, 2014; Gioia et al., 2013). This approach ensures a combination of flexibility, integrity, and depth to the research process. The abductive research establishes the 7Cs of a critical approach to place branding governance. These combine the three interconnected components (claims, contributions, capacity) and four supplementary and emergent outcomes (competition, connectivity, chronology, cyclicality). Together these themes show that stakeholders who possess the greatest resources, over a prolonged period of time and across the city, are best equipped to establish and maintain their strategic positions within the place branding process.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Acceptance
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Business (Including Economics)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Place branding; participatory place branding; brand governance; brand meanings; stakeholder engagement; Bourdieu field-capital; stakeholder participation; hierarchy of involvement; typology of stakeholder participation; place branding framework
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	7 December 2018
Date of Acceptance:	30 September 2018
Last Modified:	17 Mar 2021 11:05
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/117479

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