Bìznes Inform (Jan 2024)
Theoretical Aspects of Territory Branding: A Bibliometric Analysis
Abstract
The aim of the article is to study the problems of territory branding in the scientific works of domestic and foreign scholars. The research methodology is based on bibliometric analysis, which allows accumulating an array of publications on a particular topic and processing it. For data collection, the Web of Science scientometric database was chosen. After applying a number of criteria – the choice of subject area, type of publications, language and year of publication – 948 papers between 2000 and 2023 were selected for final review. Valuable results obtained on the basis of the study include the following. Firstly, the authors’ publication activity stabilized and began to grow gradually in 2000, during the 1990s only 12 works were published. In 2021, the authors published the most – 113 works, and the highest level of citations was reached in 2023. Thus, the article by C. Fornell of 1981 was mentioned 72 times, the article by K. L. Keller of 1993 – 64 times, the publication by J. F. Hair of 1998 – 60 times. The composed chronology of citations in the analyzed scientific publications made it possible to trace the order of joint citation of literary sources. Thirdly, scholars from China, the United States and Great Britain show the greatest interest in the topic under study. Their joint scientific achievement makes 35% of the total number of analyzed publications. Fourthly, the words «branding» and «brand», «marketing», «destination» and «place» are often used both in keywords and in the titles of articles. Fifth, half of the analyzed articles meet at least one Sustainable Development Goal. The eleventh (Sustainable Cities and Communities), ninth (Innovation and Infrastructure) and third (Good Health) goals are most often reflected. Sixthly, Ukrainian scholars have published 13 articles on the topic of territory branding, which indicates interest in this topic and the presence of development potential. Further research will be aimed at deepening the typology of approaches to determining territory branding strategies.
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