Residents’ power and trust: A road to brand ambassadorship?

As key stakeholders in successful destination branding campaigns, residents have the potential to act as destination brand ambassadors. Based on the literature on destination branding, this study examines residents' brand ambassador behavior (BAB) in relation to power and trust in relevant authorities. As such, this research considers destination residents as ‘citizens’, which frames their relationship with local authorities. Using survey data from 651 Hong Kong permanent residents, this study finds psychological empowerment and public trust to be closely related. Structural equation modeling revealed that both variables positively influenced residents' intentions to engage in BAB. Implications and future research directions are presented at the end of this study.