Modeling the commonly-assumed relationship between human capital and brand equity in tourism

Since most of the product quality in tourism is determined by intangible factors of service, the quality, skills, experience, and capabilities of service personnel become utmost important in the success of tourism business. The purpose of this article is twofold: (a) to provide an argument on the significance of the relationship between human capital and brand equity of a tourism product; and (b) to develop a conceptual model to guide empirical investigation of the relative magnitude of the causal relationships between the involved constructs. A model is developed along with appropriate operationalization suggestions for pertinent constructs.