Refinement and Validation of a Multidimensional Destination Brand Equity Scale for Inbound and Outbound Chinese Travelers: A Cross-National Perspective

摘要

Destination brand equity (DBE) consists of five tourism dimensions and differs from generic customer-based brand equity, which theoretically comprises four dimensions. This study partially adopts Yoo and Donthu’s methodological approach to cross-validate a DBE scale between three groups of tourists: Korean (KJ) and Chinese visitors to Jeju Island (CJ) and Chinese visitors to Zhangjiajie (CZ). Accordingly, data were collected from 256 KJ, 217 CJ, and 257 CZ respondents. Two empirical studies incorporate a multigroup analysis to examine whether the five key dimensions of DBE can be identically applied to the three groups. The first study extracted 15 items from the original 23 in the DBE scale; the second identified the different measures commonly applicable to the three groups. External validity is achieved by testing nomological validity and cross-validation. The findings’ implications are subsequently discussed and suggestions for future research provided.