It’s mine, that’s why I speak: Destination brand psychological ownership as a mediator of the link between social media brand engagement and local residents’ voice behavior

Abstract

Local residents’ voices have been regarded as the most important extra-role behavior that determines the growth and survival of tourist destinations. This study examines the antecedents of such crucial extra-role behaviors of local residents. Furthermore, it examines the mediation role of destination brand psychological ownership in the relationship between social media brand engagement and local residents’ voice behavior. The study collected data from 376 local residents and was analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling. The findings suggest that social media brand engagement plays a crucial role in motivating voice behavior among local residents. In addition, destination brand psychological ownership is a mediator of the relationship between social media brand engagement and local residents’ voice behavior. Therefore, Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) should deliberately consider Web 2.0 technologies as strategic assets to engage local residents in enhancing brand-building behaviors through voice behavior.

Keywords:

• social media brand engagement
• destination brand psychological ownership
• voice behavior
• local residents
• tourist destinations

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

Local residents are considered important stakeholders who can play significant role in the growth and development of tourist destination. All over the world, there is a significant increase in local residents’ support particularly voices behaviour. However, there have been challenges in promoting local residents to participate in supporting their tourist destinations through voice behavior. Several reports show that when local residents do not participate in supporting tourist destination through recommendations or opinions they can engage in anti-brand campaign which mighty have detrimental effects to the overall performance of tourist destinations. Following the role of social media brand engagement in boosting voice behavior, this study examine the mediating role of brand psychological ownership in the relationship between social media brand engagement and local residents voice behavior. It examines the contribution of Web technologies in facilitating local residents’ engagement to build destination brand psychological ownership enroute to local residents’ voice behavior.

1. Introduction

Empirical evidence suggests that the cardinal role of local residents’ voices in achieving tourist destination growth and success should not be underestimated (Atuoye et al., 2019; Chong, 2020; Muganda et al., 2013). Authoritative work in the tourism sector maintains a close relationship between local residents’ attitudes and the growth of the sector (Janusz et al., 2017; Kala & Bagri, 2018; Lwoga, 2018). AL-Hazmi and Ghaffar Hassan (2020) argue that the tourism sector is categorized under service marketing and, therefore, is highly interactive. Within the tourism sector, as in the highly interactive sector, overall brand promises can be fulfilled through local residents’ behavior during encounters with tourists or guests (Park & Vargo, 2012). Therefore, local residents should be involved as active beneficiaries who have a crucial role in fulfilling or delivering destination brand promises (Stone & Nyaupane, 2020). Theoretically, it is widely accepted that local residents cannot fulfill brand promises that are incongruent with local residents’ expectations, opinions, etc. (Bunghez, 2020). In this view, local residents must be part of the brand’s promises by ensuring that they are engaged by voicing their opinions and recommendations.

Given the globally acceptable role of local residents in offering and delivering destination brand promises, it is crucial to establish dyadic internal communication that provides room for the tourist destination through DMOs and local residents to share opinions, understanding, recommendations, etc. (Hakala, 2021; Mueller and Schade, 2012). Through dyadic internal communication, DMOs deliver approved brand messages to local residents and receive specific local residents’ constructive recommendations based on their experience obtained during interactions with guests or tourists (Kalavar et al., 2014; Skogheim et al., 2018). Overall, local residents can share their experience with DMOs because they directly interact with guests or tourists (Mueller & Schade, 2012; Melubo & Carr, 2019). Therefore, the decision to invest in dyadic internal communication is expected to provide or help local residents behave in a manner that reflects the ethnic or ethnocentric identity of the tourist destination (Xiong et al., 2019). In addition, dyadic internal communication motivates local residents to proudly and authentically claim affiliation with the tourist destination (Braun et al., 2013).

However, seminal work on the tourism sector indicates that most DMOs have not embraced such internal communication procedures. Overall, there is the dominance of traditional internal communication strategies, which are one-way and top-down from DMOs to local residents (Bassols & Leicht, 2020). Insch and Stuart (2015) argue that inadequate attention to dyadic internal communication may seriously hinder local residents’ intention to engage in conversations offering new insights for improving tourist destination performance. Scholars such as Xiong et al. (2019) argue that when embracing traditional internal communication, local residents are not always willing to voice their recommendations or opinions to DMOs as it might cause negative consequences for the voicing residents. Given the nature of voice behavior as change-oriented machinery, local residents’ voices may result in social loss, being called saboteurs, etc. (Liang et al., 2017). Additionally, traditional internal communication can raise feelings in DMOs that local residents with different views and opinions on how the tourist destination should be operated or managed are saboteurs rather than resourceful. In this view, most DMOs tend to disregard the important efforts of local residents (Xiong et al., 2019).

In addition, in other situations, traditional internal communication influences local residents to perceive speaking up as meaningless, as it does not bring the expected changes, so they stay quiet (Xiong et al., 2019). In these cases, DMOs may lose specific opportunities to exploit new insights or understanding and more experienced opinions to enhance service delivery to local residents. Other negative consequences may result from suppressing local residents’ voices. For instance, when local residents are not given a chance to voice their opinions or suggestions to DMOs, they may opt for other channels to air out their concerns and discontent (Liang et al., 2017). Moreover, particularly with the rise of Web 2.0 technologies such as social media, unmanaged local residents’ voices can easily find a public channel and cause a detrimental effect on the overall destination band (Chahal et al., 2020). However, there is a paucity of literature that emphasizes various forms of dyadic internal communication in motivating voice behavior among local residents (Rebelo et al., 2020).

Numerous studies have attempted to fill the gap in knowledge by examining voice behavior in the tourism sector. Xiong et al. (2019) offer authoritative arguments on the role of psychological ownership in determining voice behavior among employees in hospitality organizations. The study’s findings indicate that employees can initiate voice communication if they have a strong sense of ownership towards the brand. They argued that employees could initiate voice if they have invested ideas, time, and effort into the dynamic brand-building process and have adequate knowledge to deliver consistent brand-aligned performance. On the other hand, Alonso and Nyanjom (2015) revealed that voice behavior is crucial in ensuring that local residents identify role conflict, role-taking, consensus, and conformity to ensure a vested interest in tourism development. Ribeiro et al. (2017) investigated residents’ attitudes and the adoption of pro-tourism behaviors among developing Island countries. The study maintains that DMOs can no longer ignore local residents and their perspectives; hence, local residents’ voices should be instrumental in the whole process of developing various tourism policy plans and strategies. However, the literature has not conclusively examined catalysts that can fuel voice behavior among local residents (Chong, 2020).

Therefore, this study suggests that local residents’ voices are a vital source of information, particularly in highly interactive service industries such as tourism (AL-Hazmi & Ghaffar Hassan, 2020; Bassols & Leicht, 2020; Rebelo et al., 2020). This study theorizes that social media brand engagement as Web 2.0 technologies can allow local residents to build destination brand psychological ownership, which finally promotes local residents’ voice behavior (De Las Heras-pedrosa et al., 2020). Local residents’ voice behavior is strategic, and forms of extra-role behavior offer special benefits to tourist destinations (Insch and Stuart, 2015). Overall, local residents’ voice behavior provides critical yet productive recommendations to DMOs at property and brand levels (Chinyele & Lwoga, 2019). It is an imperative source of marketing intelligence to know tourist needs and wants, enhance service delivery practices, and improve overall tourist destination operational management (Bassols & Leicht, 2020).

Based on the above explanation, the contribution of this study is twofold: first, to examine social media brand engagement as a driver of local residents’ voice behavior while focusing on local residents residing in particular local areas, as opposed to most previous studies that focus on employees in hospitality industries. Evidence indicates that local residents, regardless of their level of participation in the tourist destination’s routine operations, are crucial resources in realizing the growth and success of the tourist destination. Given the emerging use of Web 2.0 technologies such as social media brand engagement, it is inadequate to assume that only hospitality employees or staff can contribute to the growth and success of the tourist destination. Second, the study adds to our understanding of voice behavior in tourism by examining local residents’ engagement on social media and its impact on brand-building behavior. It is speculated that DMOs can take advantage of the growing use of social media to promote massive engagement of local residents to encourage brand-building behavior and other supportive behavior towards tourist destinations.

2. Destination brand psychological ownership(DBPO)

Evidence indicates that insufficient attention has been dedicated to investigating the strategic link between social media brand engagement and destination brand psychological ownership to reach a riskier form of Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) (i.e., voice behavior). Although voice behavior is riskier yet, it contributes towards building destination brands as a strategic tool in shaping local residents’ behavior (Buil et al., 2016). As a result, it is advised that local residents develop a strong sense of ownership in the destination brand to be willing to voice their change-oriented recommendations or sentiments to change the current situation in a tourist destination (De Las Heras-pedrosa et al., 2020). Previous studies in tourism argue that supportive behavior such as OCB is nurtured by local residents’ engagement with their respective tourist destinations (Xiong et al., 2019). However, seminal work in tourism reveals that voice behavior as part of OCB is under-examined in the tourism sector despite clear theoretical and empirical understanding in other domains of knowledge in business management (Ribeiro et al., 2017).

Psychological ownership is defined in the literature as a cognitive-affective condition characterized by individuals who have strong feelings of ownership for various objects, both material and immaterial, or tangible and intangible (Xiong et al., 2019). Therefore, it represents a personal sense of control, possession, or ownership (i.e., “this particular object is mine”)(;Zhang & Xu, 2019). In tourism, local residents’ sense of destination brand psychological ownership is pioneered to build feelings of destination possession, which may prompt behaviors such as citizenship behaviors, value co-creation, etc. (Xiong et al., 2019). Furthermore, seminal work in tourism suggests that this psychological condition is expected to explain various local residents’ citizenship behavior, including volunteering and proactive intent to protect and boost the ownership of the tourist destination (Zhang & Xu, 2019).

In addition, as destination brand psychological ownership helps local residents fulfill their need to belong, they are likely to reciprocate by demonstrating behaviors that support the tourist destination (Zhang & Xu, 2019). On top of that, the so-called endowment effect, in which people prefer to value objects that they possess more highly than identical objects that they do not possess (Kuo et al., 2021), is also alleged to illustrate why destination brand psychological ownership has such influential power in determining various extra-role behaviors among local residents (Zhang & Xu, 2019). As a result, when local residents develop psychological ownership of the destination brand, they are more likely to value their citizenship and work harder to protect and strengthen it (Kuo et al., 2021). Although seminal work in psychological ownership shows a strong and positive influence on local residents’ discretionary effort (Sau-Ching Yim, 2021), scant evidence examines the influence of destination brand psychological ownership on local residents’ voice behavior.

Literature indicates that brand psychological ownership motivates local residents to assume responsibilities as owners who have a stake in the tourist destination. In other words, local residents play a role in value co-creation by assuming specific responsibilities in the production and delivery process (Zhang & Xu, 2019), and therefore, they have helpful insights, opinions, and ideas through their direct interactions with tourists or guests (Sau-Ching Yim, 2021). Furthermore, local residents must be involved in cross-functionality to deliver destination brand promises more coherently and consistently to share opinions, recommendations, and ideas with DMOs (Sau-Ching Yim, 2021). Thus, as a part of their responsibilities or obligations, local residents engage in voice behavior to facilitate constant service improvements crucial in ensuring tourist destination competitiveness and strengthening the dynamic destination brand-building behavior (Sau-Ching Yim, 2021).

3. Social media brand engagement (SMBE)

Seminal work in relationship marketing indicates that marketers have emphasized traditional metrics to build and manage potential relationships between customers and brands. However, ever-growing competition and the mushrooming of competitive brands in the marketplace influence marketers to shift from conventional metrics to modern metrics of building and sustaining productive relationships between brands and customers (Chahal et al., 2020). Furthermore, seminal work in engagement theory suggests that effective customer engagement could be the best way to nurture a strong relationship between brand and customers that promises benefits beyond conventional metrics (Lin et al., 2018). Finally, further evidence regarding engagement suggests that the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies has made customer and brand relationships more intense by allowing the exchange of values between brands and customers (Chahal et al., 2020).

Within the context of customer engagement, Web 2.0 technologies transform the relationship between customers and brands in different ways, including the emergence of user-generated content, which allows customers’ opinions during brand value co-creation (Berthon et al., 2012). Specifically, the emerging use of Web 2.0 technologies, particularly social media, enhances brand value co-creation by making customers co-producers or co-creators of brand value (Hollebeek et al., 2014). In this regard, customers become brand builders by participating and interacting to build a strong brand as value co-creators (Lin et al., 2018). Therefore, scholars (e.g., Gómez et al., 2019; Kumar & Kaushik, 2020; Perera et al., 2020) argue that marketers should embrace Web 2.0 technologies, particularly social media, as a strategic weapon for promoting customer engagement with their favorite brands. Overall, social media as a Web 2.0 technology offers room for interactions, connections, and participation between customers and their favorite brands (Hollebeek et al., 2014). Within this context, Wang et al. (2019) posit that social media as a tool that facilitates engagement is very powerful in shaping customers’ perceptions towards their favorite brands.

In this line of thinking, social media brand engagement should be perceived as both physical and psychological participation or interaction of customers in wide-ranging brand value co-creation activities (Gómez et al., 2019). Other scholars such as Kumar and Kaushik (2020) and Perera et al. (2020) define social media brand engagement as a forum that allows customers to participate in brand value co-creation in a more participative, experiential, and interactive manner. Recent seminal work in customer engagement argues that social media brand engagement drives other behavioral intents such as brand loyalty, brand commitment, brand identification, etc. (Hollebeek et al., 2014). This argument is supported by Kumar and Kaushik (2020), who explore destination brand engagement’s role in determining behaviors such as brand advocacy and tourists’ revisit intentions. The findings reveal that any form of engagement can elicit brand advocacy and further instigate intention among tourists to revisit the tourist destination. Numerous research streams in engagement propose that social brand engagement advocates the need to view the relationship between brand and customer in a relational-based approach and not a transactional-based approach (Perera et al., 2020). In a relational-based approach, social media brand engagement should be perceived as a psychological state that emerges by virtue of customers’ experiences when interacting with their favorite brands (Perera et al., 2020).

Therefore, in a relational-based approach, social media brand engagement is a multidimensional construct that transpires at the level of the countenance of customers’ inspirational drivers and brand-related behavior. In this regard, as a multidimensional construct, social media brand engagement is manifested as the psychological state of mind that motivates customers to express brand-related behavior, such as by a degree of identification, enthusiasm, attention, absorption, and interactions with their chosen or favorite brand (Hollebeek, 2011). Previous studies by Kumar and Kaushik (2020) suggest that social media brand engagement dimensions are important drivers of behavior, such as destination brand advocacy and tourists’ intention to revisit the tourist destination. Therefore, this study employs consumer engagement theory to explain how local residents are engaged with their respective tourist destinations to elevate destination brand psychological ownership, which eventually prompts their intent to participate in extra-role brand behavior in the form of voice behavior. In tourism or destination branding, Gómez et al. (2019) and Perera et al. (2020) define this brand-related behavior, i.e., identification, enthusiasm, attention, absorption, and interactions, as follows:

4. Identification (IDEN)

Identification covers local residents’ perceived oneness with tourist destinations and considers their successes and failures as their own success or failure (Braun et al., 2013). Social categorization theory and identification theory conceptualize identification as behavior expressed by individuals associated with a certain group. In addition, engagement theory suggests that identification is determined by involvement in which a person builds specific behaviors while reflecting on group behavior (Bassols & Leicht, 2020). As a potential component of social media brand engagement, identification covers the extent to which the specific group is highly valued and, more importantly, self-involving (Gómez et al., 2019). In the context of local residents’ voice behavior, identification happens when local residents assume specific behaviors to attain a satisfying and self-defining relationship with tourist destinations (Chahal et al., 2020). Theoretically, identification has been the most important catalyst in influencing a sense of ownership towards an object (Braun et al., 2013). In this study, identification is theorized to be a stimulant towards achieving destination brand psychological ownership. Kalandides et al. (2012); Gómez et al. (2019) argue that local residents develop strong identification with tourist destinations when the following conditions have been fulfilled: (1) a strong belief in the tourist destination’s goals, (2) a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the tourist destination, and (3) a desire to maintain membership as part of the tourist destination. With support from the above explanation, this study hypothesizes that

H₁: There is a positive relationship between identification and destination brand psychological ownership.

5. Enthusiasm (ENTH)

In the context of engagement through social media, enthusiasm is defined as an extra-role brand behavior demonstrated by local residents towards tourist destinations. Enthusiasm symbolizes a person’s higher level of excitement and interest regarding engagement with an object (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020). It represents a positive affective engagement between an object and a person (Perera et al., 2020). In the context of local residents’ voice behavior, enthusiasm covers the sense of inspiration, pride, and passion for a tourist destination to the extent of participating in determining its success (Hakala, 2021). Often, enthusiasm takes the form of love towards an object, promoting feelings of possession. In the context of engagement theory, enthusiasm differentiates engagement from other constructs like satisfaction. Literature shows that satisfaction consists of a summative affective reaction that is more of an evaluative process based on past consumption experiences and the performance of the offering (Albert & Valette-florence, 2010). On the other hand, enthusiasm can be well explained as a strong positive feeling of enjoyment or excitement that elicits endurance, an active state that does not involve performance evaluation (Albert & Merunka, 2013). Thus, based on these explanations, it is hypothesized that

H₂: There is a positive relationship between enthusiasm and destination brand psychological ownership.

6. Attention (ATTE)

Attention (ATTE) represents the propensity of local residents to demonstrate activeness or attentiveness towards the tourist destination that motivates a sense of psychological ownership (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020). Attention as a cognitive dimension of engagement is a crucial component whereby local residents are mentally preoccupied with tourist destinations. Often, preoccupation influences a strong sense of possession of an object and considers the object as part of the self (Kuo et al., 2021). Therefore, attention is perceived as an imperative facet of social media brand engagement, constructed by attributes or characteristics in the form of cognitive engagement (Gómez et al., 2019). Attention involves cognitive existence and a specific amount of time spent by local residents actively thinking about the tourist destination and being attentive to the focus of engagement with the tourist destination.

Attention consists of a limited immaterial resource that local residents can allocate in different ways. Higgins and Scholer (2009) use the following approaches to demonstrate this point of engagement in the realm of movies: the more a spectator concentrates in a movie, the less likely they are to pay attention to noises in the audience, and the more likely they are to keep an eye on the central point of the plot. It is widely accepted that attention covers the ability to sustain or maintain focus or concentration, which is a limited resource (Gómez et al., 2019). This study theorized that engagement through social media motivates local residents to focus on tourist destinations to develop a strong sense of ownership (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020). On top of that, attention is expected to motivate local residents to resist anything that could influence a loss of focus towards tourist destinations. It promotes local residents’ engagement in value co-creation by demonstrating ownership behavior and sharing information. Thus, based on these explanations, it is hypothesized that

H₃: There is a positive relationship between attention and destination brand psychological ownership.

7. Absorption (ABSO)

In social media brand engagement, absorption can be described as a pleasant condition where a person happily concentrates on being involved with the preferred brand (Chahal et al., 2020). In the context of local residents’ behavior, absorption covers local residents’ intent to install the tourist destination as part of themselves. It is characterized by being fully concentrated and engrossed, whereby time passes quickly, and it becomes difficult to detach local residents from discussions regarding the tourist destination (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020). In this view, absorption stimulates a sense of ownership, as a person invests sufficient time, effort, and resources in the brand (Gómez et al., 2019). Absorption denotes a distortion of time, effortless concentration, and loss of self-awareness concerning the object of engagement (Chahal et al., 2020). It implies being engrossed in specific responsibilities and refers to the intensity of a person’s cognitive focus on those responsibilities (Gómez et al., 2019). This responsibility develops a sense of accountability among local residents towards tourist destinations that build psychological ownership (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020). Absorption is the level of customer concentration on and engrossment with a focal engagement object, such as a brand. Perera et al. (2020) argue that absorption focuses on immersion and concentration on a brand. This study considers absorption as the level of local residents’ concentration and immersion with an engagement partner, i.e., a tourist destination, to the extent of building psychological ownership. Thus, with support from the above explanations, it is hypothesized that

H₄: There is a positive relationship between absorption and destination brand psychological ownership.

8. Interaction (INTE)

Interaction denotes the tendencies of customers to participate in online and offline brand activities and connect with other customers outside of the purchase transaction (Gómez et al., 2019). It represents an exchange relationship between local residents and other members of online social communities through social media (Chahal et al., 2020). It is the extent to which Web 2.0 technologies, particularly social media, provide platforms or opportunities that facilitate bi-directional communication or two-way opinion exchange and sharing of information (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020; Perera et al., 2020). The engagement theory suggests that interaction permits customers to exchange opinions with like-minded others about specific brands on social media platforms (Gómez et al., 2019). It is widely accepted that interaction motivates a strong sense of ownership as it provides room for local residents to participate closely with tourist destinations through social media platforms (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020). Interaction among local residents motivates local residents to create their own generated content, arguably solidifying their attitude towards tourist destinations (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020). Overall, local residents’ tendency to post information on social media platforms can encourage discussion and enhance a strong sense of brand ownership. Therefore, this substantiates the current efforts of marketers to promote the use of social media platforms to participate in discussions that can build a strong sense of closeness between brands and customers (Gómez et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2019). Thus, with support from the above explanations, it is hypothesized that

H₅: There is a positive relationship between interactions and destination brand psychological ownership.

9. Local residents' voice behavior (LRVB)

Overall, scholars agree that tourism is a very competitive sector (Chong, 2020). Therefore, tourist destinations can build a competitive edge by gaining recommendations, opinions, ideas, etc., from local residents (Janusz et al., 2017; Kala & Bagri, 2018). Empirical evidence indicates that local residents’ role in determining the success of tourist destinations cannot be underestimated (AL-Hazmi & Ghaffar Hassan, 2020). It is documented that local residents contribute toward achieving various strategic objectives, such as sustainable tourism, through encouraging voice behavior (Kala & Bagri, 2018). Furthermore, it is indicated that local residents have direct contact with tourists, and therefore, encouraging voice behavior can reduce sabotaging behavior, which may affect the overall corporate reputations of tourist destinations (Bassols & Leicht, 2020). In addition, since local residents interact with visitors or tourists, tourist destinations may benefit through voice behavior by getting feedback about visitors’ or tourists’ perceptions of the services and products offered (AL-Hazmi & Ghaffar Hassan, 2020).

Overall, local residents’ feedback through voice behavior is part of market intelligence and vital for service improvements (Zhang & Xu, 2019). Through voice behavior, unique forms of extra-role behaviors emerge when local residents proactively and actively deliver productive suggestions, thoughts, and recommendations for positive changes in the tourist destination (Hakala, 2021). Theoretically, voice behavior idiosyncratically focuses on verbal expressions intended to benefit the group or the organization (Zhang & Xu, 2019). From the perspective of extra-role behavior, voiced behavior is change-oriented and, therefore, it is considered riskier for a voicing person. However, evidence from seminal work in extra-role and in-role behavior suggests that voice behavior is more productive in building brand success, and therefore, marketers can complement voice behavior with other more affiliative brand-based citizenship behaviors such as brand building behaviors and brand endorsement (Zhang & Xu, 2019).

Despite such negative attributes associated with voice behavior, the literature recommends that this behavior offers valuable resources for organizations consisting of group work with shared roles or obligations (Zhang & Xu, 2019). Voice behavior becomes more important in the tourism sector because a tourist destination is an amalgam of various components such as people, products, services, etc. (Braun et al., 2013). Therefore, an inclusive approach is necessary to ensure shared roles, responsibilities, and accountability among local residents and DMOs towards the tourist destination (Xiong et al., 2019). Furthermore, as the tourism sector is more interactive and consists of constant interaction between local residents and visitors, voice behavior is more important because it helps local residents share what they have acquired from visitors (Braun et al., 2013). Hence, to ensure continuous delivery of destination brand promises more coherently and consistently, local residents must be involved in cross-functionality to share opinions, recommendations, and ideas with DMOs. Like in an organizational context, voice behavior in tourism is considered informal or non-obligatory, flowing from individual intrinsic attributes due to feelings of a strong sense of possession of the tourist destination (Rebelo et al., 2020).

Evidence shows that voiced individuals are self-motivated, and therefore, they possess characteristics such as confidence, perfectionism, ownership or possession, etc. Theoretically, voicing individuals must be self-motivated because their decisions to speak out may be subject to the risk of being considered or categorized as saboteurs or non-supporters (Xiong et al., 2019). Seminal work in voice behavior suggests that the most effective way to overcome the perceived risks associated with this behavior is to encourage connection between an individual and the object (Kalandides et al., 2012). Overall, such centrality, which intends to bring the brand to the individual through brand connection, is perceived to be adequate to triumph over barriers to voice behavior. It is widely accepted that brand connection can encourage individuals to convey change-oriented recommendations, opinions, insights, ideas, etc., to enhance brand performance (Zhang & Xu, 2019). Furthermore, it is widely accepted that destination brand psychological ownership can be seen in a person through self-extension and self-meaning with the brand (Xiong et al., 2019). It is indicated that self-extension and self-meaning make local residents elicit a sense of care and anxiety towards the destination brand, encouraging them to feel a sense of accomplishment in their brand-aligned performance (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020).

However, several pieces of literature in organizational behavior indicate that the risk of allowing employees to speak out is very minimal compared to the risk of stopping voice behavior (Zhang & Xu, 2019). In organizational behavior, stopping voice behavior may motivate employees to find alternative ways of voicing their opinions, such as sabotaging public complaints, whistleblowing, etc., where its effects are more intense. In tourism, restricting voice behavior may motivate local residents to develop dis-identification or a missing sense of ownership. Overall, dis-identification or a lack of a sense of ownership among local residents can fuel other antagonistic behaviors such as anti-brand campaigns on social media, etc. (Rebelo et al., 2020). Therefore, as presented in figure 1 the study theorizes that voice behavior results from local residents’ sense of destination brand psychological ownership, which propels local residents to take risks and sacrifice on behalf of the destination brand. In this regard, local residents’ sense of ownership of the destination brand is suggested to be the driver of in-role and extra-role behavior indicators of voice behavior. Therefore, in light of the above explanations, the study hypothesized that

H₆: There is a positive relationship between destination brand psychological ownership and local residents’ voice behavior.

Figure 1. Hypothesized model.

10. Methodology

10.1. The study area

This study was conducted in two regions with potential for tourism in Tanzania, namely the Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions. The World Economic Forum (WEF) (2019) mentioned Tanzania as the most endowed tourist destination in terms of natural resource potential for the tourism sector’s growth and development. These abundant and unrivaled natural resources’ potential for tourism growth and development have ranked Tanzania in 12^th position in the world and 1^st position in Africa as the most endowed tourist destination (WEF, 2019). Typical tourist attractions include Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, found in the Kilimanjaro region (Kilungu et al., 2019), and Ngorongoro Crater, a protected area and a World Heritage Site, which is found in the Arusha region (Melubo & Lovelock, 2019). Additionally, the statistics reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS; 2016) show that 60% of all visitors or guests visiting Tanzania use the Arusha and Kilimanjaro regions as their gateways.

10.2. Sampling and data collection procedures

The study used a cross-sectional survey design that allows the collection of data once and at a specific point in time. The study population consisted of local residents in the selected regions, namely Arusha and Kilimanjaro. The sample was drawn from local residents in Kilimanjaro and the Arusha Region using convenience non-probability sampling. Seminal work in multivariate data analysis techniques such as SEM suggests a minimum requirement of a sample size to achieve robustness in the model (Hooper et al., 2008). Hair et al. (2010) suggest that when dealing with the hypothesized model with 7 or fewer constructs, the robustness of the model and its outputs can be achieved by having at least 300 observations. This study has 7 constructs, and therefore a sample size of more than 300 respondents could be sufficient to achieve the robustness of the hypothesized model. The sample size was 376 respondents, slightly above the recommended observations by Hair et al. (2010).

After establishing the required sample, the survey was conducted in June 2021 by collecting data using structured questionnaires, which were self-administered to selected respondents, i.e., local residents in the selected regions. During data collection, strong measures were taken to ensure that respondents who participated resided in the selected regions for at least 5 years. Furthermore, to achieve the minimum observation requirements for multivariate data analysis techniques such as SEM, 400 questionnaires were distributed or administered to selected respondents, i.e., local residents who were ready and willing to participate in the study. Finally, 24 questionnaires (6 percent) were rejected due to incomplete information. Then, 376 questionnaires (94 percent) with complete information were taken for further procedures.

10.3. Scales and measures

Social Media Brand Engagement is operationalized as a second-order construct, measured through identification, enthusiasm, attention, absorption, and interaction. The study adopts previously well-established and validated scales or measures proposed by seminal work in social media brand engagement, psychological ownership, and voice behavior, as indicated in Table 1. However, re-wording and modifications were made to ensure the measures fit the study context. All measurements were assessed using Likert scales with endpoints of 5–strongly agree to 1–strongly disagree. The study borrowed scales by Kumar and Kaushik (2020) to measure social media brand engagement. In addition, the study adapts scales suggested by Xiong et al. (2019) to measure destination brand psychological ownership. Finally, to measure local resident voice behavior, the study adopts measures proposed by Xiong et al. (2019).

Table 1. Evaluation of reliability and validity of measurement model constructs

Item	Statements	Mean	SD	λ	CR	α
Identification (IDEN)					0.776	0.776
iden1	When some criticize this destination on social media, I feel like a personal insult	4.215	0.793	0.769
iden2	When I talk about this destination in social media, I usually say we rather than they	4.218	0.763	0.734
iden3	I consider this destination success as my own personal success	4.234	0.816	0.692
Enthusiasm (ENTH)					0.803	0.788
enth1	I feel excited about this destination	4.575	0.762	0.671
enth2	I love this destination	4.539	0.680	0.800
enth3	I am passionate about this destination	4.755	0.530	0.803
Attention (ATTE)					0.872	0.9
atte1	I pay a lot of attention to this destination issues in social media	4.189	0.834	0.830
atte2	I spend a lot of time thinking about this destination on social media	4.170	0.838	0.847
atte3	Anything in social media related to this destination grabs my attention	4.082	0.892	0.824
Absorption (ABSO)					0.830	0.800
abso1	When I am interacting with news and stories about this destination on social media, I feel happy	3.734	1.013	0.787
abso2	When I am interacting with this destination news and stories on social media, I forget everything else around me	3.806	0.919	0.762
abso3	When I am interacting with news and stories about this destination on social media, it is difficult to detach myself	3.729	0.955	0.811
Interaction (INTE)					0.814	0.810
inte1	I like to interact with other destination members of the community on social media	3.920	1.003	0.674
inte2	I often participate in activities of this destination through online social community	4.109	0.865	0.831
inte3	I enjoy exchanging ideas about this destination with other people in the online social community	3.702	1.023	0.800
Destination Brand Psychological Ownership (DBPO)					0.770	0.764
dbpo1	I sense that this destination is mine	4.285	0.880	0.730
dbpo2	I sense that the work I do as the part building of this destination is MINE	4.309	0.794	0.768
dbpo3	I feel a very high degree of personal ownership for this destination	4.319	0.783	0.678
Local Residents’ Voice Behavior (LRVB)					0.851	0.846
lrvb1	I speak to the relevant destination marketing organization with new ideas for projects or changes in procedures that affect this tourist destination	3.928	0.984	0.624
lrvb2	I speak out and encourage colleagues to get involved in issues that affect this tourist destination	4.000	0.1001	0.711
lrvb3	I give constructive suggestions to respective destination marketing organizations to improve issues in this tourist destination	4.162	0.857	0.804
lrvb4	I communicate my opinions about this tourist destination issues to others even if my opinion is different and others disagree with me	4.061	0.851	0.715
lrvb5	I develop and make recommendations concerning issues that affect this tourist destination	4.122	0.855	0.787

Notes: SD-Standard Deviation, λ-Standardized Loading

10.4. Assessment of psychometric properties of the measurement model

The hypothesized seven-factor CFA model was evaluated using AMOS version 21. The statistics displayed in Table 1 show that factor loadings for all measurement items are within the tolerable range of 0.624–0.847 and statistically significant (Blunch, 2012). The Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient (α) is above the acceptable threshold of 0.7, and the Composite Reliability Coefficient (CR) is above 0.6, indicating good reliability (Tavakol & Dennick, 2011). In addition, the overall measurement model depicts reasonable goodness of fit with χ² = 437.270, df = 209, and χ²/df = 2.073 less than the recommended value of 3 (Hooper et al., 2008). Furthermore, the model has yielded an acceptable value of RMSEA (0.053) and adequate values of GFI (0.912), AGFI (0.9), IFI (0.944), TLI (0.931), CFI (0.943), PCFI (0.779), PNFI (0.741) and SRMR (0.036). Statistically, the values of GFI, AGFI, IFI, TLI, and CFI are above the cutoff points of 0.9 (Hooper et al., 2008), while the values of PCFI and PNFI are above the threshold of 0.7 (McDonald & Ho, 2002).

Further statistics, as presented in Table 2, confirm that the measurement model offers adequate justification and support for confirming convergent and discriminant validity. Convergent validity was achieved because Average Variances Extracted (AVE) values for all constructs in the hypothesized seven-factor model exceeded 0.5 (Valentini et al., 2016). Conversely, discriminant validity was tested using the Fornell and Larcker Criterion. The findings indicated in Table 2 provide adequate proof for claiming discriminant validity as AVE values are above squared multiple correlations between the respective constructs. Also, the value of AVE was above the value of the Maximum Shared Variance (MSV) for each construct (Ab Hamid et al., 2017).

Table 2. Testing of discriminant validity using Fornell & Larcker criterion

	AVE	MSV	MaxR(H)	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1.dbpo	0.527	0.497	0.774	0.726
2.enth	0.578	0.258	0.815	0.508	0.760
3.inte	0.595	0.271	0.829	0.499	0.124	0.771
4.atte	0.695	0.497	0.873	0.705	0.454	0.371	0.834
5.iden	0.536	0.466	0.779	0.683	0.462	0.211	0.538	0.732
6.abso	0.619	0.368	0.831	0.607	0.253	0.299	0.490	0.463	0.787
7.lrvb	0.534	0.271	0.860	0.454	0.223	0.521	0.374	0.311	0.356	0.731

Notes: RMSEA- Root Mean Square Error of Approximation, GFI-Goodness of Fit Index, AGFI-Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index, IFI- Incremental Fit Index, TLI-Tucker-Lewis Coefficient, CFI-Comparative Fit Index, PCFI-Parsimony Comparative Fit Index, PNFI-Parsimony Normed Fit Index (PNFI), and SRMR-Standardized Root Mean Square Residual.

10.5. Evaluation of structural model and hypotheses testing

The structural model was evaluated before hypotheses testing to depict its overall goodness of fit. Overall, the structural model depicts an adequate fit because all the goodness of fit indices are within the specified thresholds. The χ² = 466.390, df = 214 and χ²/df = 2.179, below the recommended threshold value of 3 (Hooper et al., 2008). With respect to other model fit indices, the structural model has produced an acceptable value of RMSEA (0.06), an acceptable value of GFI (0.906), AGFI (0.9), IFI (0.937), TLI (0.924), CFI (0.936), PCFI (0.792), PNFI (0.8), and SRMR (0.046). Statistically, all the GFI, AGFI, IFI, TLI, and CFI values are above the acceptable cutoff point of 0.9 (Hooper et al., 2008). In addition, the values of PCFI and PNFI are above the cutoff point of 0.7 (McDonald & Ho, 2002). Therefore, following the good goodness of fit of the structural model, further procedures were taken to test the proposed hypotheses.

The statistics as indicated in Table 3 show that H₁, which examines the influence of identification on destination brand psychological ownership, is supported (β = 0.352; t > 1.96; p < 0.05). Furthermore, the relationship between enthusiasm and psychological ownership of a destination brand has (β = 0.186; t > 1.96; p < 0.05) which supports H₂. Furthermore, the findings support H₃, which shows the relationship between attention and destination brand psychological ownership with (β = 0.237; t > 1.96; p < 0.05). H₄ was supported because, the statistics indicate that absorption influence destination brand psychological ownership positively with (β = 0.181; t > 1.96; p < 0.05). The findings further reveal that, interaction significantly influences destination brand psychological ownership with (β = 0.245; t > 1.96; p < 0.05) and therefore, H₅ was supported. Finally, the findings support H₆ because destination brand psychological ownership influence local residents’ voice behavior positively (β = 0.504; t > 1.96; p < 0.05).

Table 3. Path coefficients

Hypotheses	Relationship Between Variables	Estimates	Standard error	t-value	p-value	Support (Yes/No)
H1	iden→ dbpo	.352	.077	4.567	***	Yes
H2	enth→dbpo	.186	.068	2.720	.007	Yes
H3	atte→dbpo	.237	.058	4.072	***	Yes
H4	abso→dbpo	.181	.045	4.023	***	Yes
H5	inte→dbpo	.245	.041	5.980	***	Yes
H6	dbpo→lrvb	.504	.068	7.466	***	Yes

***denotes p-value< 0.001

Furthermore, the mediation effect of destination brand psychological ownership between social media brand engagement and local residents’ voice behavior was estimated using the PROCESS macro developed by Hayes (2013). The results presented in Table 4 show that destination brand psychological ownership mediates the relationship between social media brand engagement and local residents’ voice behavior. Regarding the study findings, the direct effect of SMBE on LRVB was significant (direct effect = 0.667; 95% bootstrap CI from 0.532 to 0.802). Furthermore, the indirect effect between SMBE and LRVB was also significant (indirect effect = 0.135; 95% bootstrap CI from 0.105 to 0.381). Overall, these findings suggest that destination brand psychological ownership partially mediates the relationship between social media brand engagement and local residents’ voice behavior.

Table 4. Path coefficient and respective bootstrap confidence intervals

Path	Local Residents Voice Behavior
	β	95% CI
Without DBPO as the mediator
Direct effect of SMBE	0.570	0.375 to 0.764
With DBPO as the mediator
Direct effect of SMBE	0.667	0.532 to 0.802
Indirect effect of SMBE via DBPO	0.135	0.105 to 0.381

11. Discussion

With all proposed study hypotheses supported, the study highlights how local residents develop psychological ownership of destination brands through social media brand engagement dimensions: identification, enthusiasm, attention, absorption, interaction, and expressing extra-role behaviors such as voice behavior. Overall, the study’s findings contribute to the current state of knowledge about voice behavior by extending it to local residents’ perspectives. Past studies in the tourism and hospitality industries examined voice behavior among employees, with very little attention to local residents. While employees are important local residents who have direct contact with tourists and guests during encounters, this study brought to light the importance of local residents who have indirect contact with tourists in the overall brand-building process. The findings suggest that local residents’ voice behavior is influenced by destination brand psychological ownership, a psychological state that indicates a strong relationship between local residents and tourist destinations. A seminal review by Kumar and Kaushik (2020) indicates that engagement is an important motivator for boosting a sense of ownership towards an object. These findings are consistent with an idea by Zhang and Xu (2019), who posited that engagement transfers ownership of the object from physical ownership to psychological ownership, which is very powerful in fueling different psychological behaviors such as behavioral intention.

Within the local resident voice behavior context, social media brand engagement is meaningful in predicting local residents’ brand-supportive behavior and enhancing brand performance. Engagement theory suggests that when individuals invest time, effort, talents, skills, etc., when involved with an object, they are more likely to be ready to assume specific responsibilities, roles, and ownership of the object and express extra-role performance (Kumar & Kaushik, 2020). With respect to the study findings, social media brand engagement is expected to motivate local residents to assume responsibilities, roles, and ownership of the tourist destination, motivating them to develop extra-role performance in voice behavior. The findings clearly show that identification contributes to psychological ownership of a destination brand (β = 0.352; t > 1.96; p < 0.05). These findings suggest that local residents’ engagement, emphasizing identification, may increase local residents’ sense of ownership by 35.2%. Therefore, increasing identification through social media engagement may influence local residents to assume responsibilities and ownership of the tourist destination. Furthermore, the findings show that enthusiasm predicts destination brand psychological ownership (β = 0.186; t > 1.96; p < 0.05), indicating a significant and positive relationship. This suggests that engagement that emphasizes developing feelings of excitement, passion, love, etc., may influence local residents to assume responsibility and ownership of the tourist destination. Statistically, when efforts are made to increase passion, love, excitement, and the like, the sense of ownership increases by almost 18.6%.

With respect to attention as antecedents of destination brand psychological ownership, the findings unveil that attention significantly and positively predicts destination brand psychological ownership (β = 0.237; t > 1.96; p < 0.05). Therefore, when attentiveness is enhanced among local residents through social media engagement, can improve the sense of ownership by 23.7%. Seminal work on social media brand engagement suggests that engagement through social media should aim to draw individuals’ attention towards the target or object. Therefore, through social media brand engagement, local residents are drawn closer to the tourist destination in whatever they speak, think, hear, etc., in social media. Likewise, through attention as a dimension of social media brand engagement, local residents are ready to spend their valuable time, efforts, talents, etc., to be actively connected with the tourist destination. In other words, it is expected that social media brand engagement should motivate local residents to be attentive to whatever is posted, shared, etc., in social media about the tourist destination. By so doing, local residents assume responsibilities, roles, and ownership towards tourist destinations. Throughout this study, these driving forces are expected to elicit different extra-role behavior, including the intention to share inner feelings about the tourist destination through voice behavior.

Furthermore, absorption, defined as the intention to imbibe tourist destination values, ideologies, and so on, influences the psychological ownership of destination brands (β = 0.181; t > 1.96; p < 0.05). It can be said that when local residents increase their intention to imbibe tourist destination values, ideologies, etc., it can enhance destination brand psychological ownership by 18.1%. Within the context of social media engagement, local residents develop specific self-meaning, which enhances a sense of ownership. Often, absorption indicates that local residents have infused or instilled the tourist destination in their minds. In addition, absorption is an indication that the tourist destination has occupied a distinct space in the minds of local residents, and therefore, they breathe and live the destination brand. Under normal circumstances, through breathing and living the brand, local residents assume responsibilities, roles, and ownership that foster extra-role behavior such as voice behavior. Theoretically, breathing and living the brand implies demonstrating appropriate behavior that reflects brand identity and speaking on behalf of the brand.

Furthermore, the interaction that defines how local residents maintain a consistent connection with tourist destinations and other potential communities influences destination brand psychological ownership (β = 0.245; t > 1.96; p < 0.05). When interaction is enhanced, it can help tourist destinations boost their sense of ownership by 24.5%. It should be noted that regular interaction increases the likelihood of local residents developing an interest in tourist destinations. In addition, regular interaction may imply that a person participates in different online and offline activities of the tourist destination. Therefore, interaction motivates local residents to develop responsibilities, roles, and ownership of the tourist destination. Based on the findings, responsibilities, roles, and ownership influence local residents to participate in voice behavior as a brand-building behavior.

Finally, the findings indicate that destination brand psychological ownership is an antecedent of local residents’ voice behavior (β = 0.504; t > 1.96; p < 0.05). Given these findings, it is possible to enhance local residents’ voice behavior by 50.4% if deliberate measures are taken to boost psychological ownership. Seminal work in extra-role behavior indicates that individuals are engaged in voice behavior when they feel ownership or possession of the object or target. Therefore, it is not common to find a person demonstrating voice behavior without taking objects or targets as part of themselves. Often, individuals develop the intention to demonstrate voice behavior because they own the target or object, and therefore they love to share their opinions, recommendations to make the object or target more delightful. Concerning the study’s findings, local residents’ voice behavior can be fueled by enhancing a sense of destination brand psychological ownership. Therefore, a strong sense of destination brand psychological ownership enables local residents to share opinions or recommendations when they discover opportunities to enhance the brand-building process through voice behavior. In other words, local residents with a strong sense of destination brand psychological ownership perceive voice behavior as their special contribution in building a strong destination brand through brand co-creation behavior.

12. Theoretical implications

Within the theoretical context, the study extends the use of engagement theory by investigating social media brand engagement in cultivating voice behavior among local residents. On top of that, the mediating role of destination brand psychological ownership in explaining the relationship between social media brand engagement and local resident voice behavior has been reinstated. Theoretically, it extends the application of engagement theory by explaining the local residents’ voice behavior as an outcome of local residents’ engagement through social media. In this line of thinking, voice behavior is integrated into the engagement cycle, implying a reciprocal relationship between local resident voice behavior and the tourist destination’s competitive edge. Therefore, within the engagement cycle, tourist destinations create enabling environments to promote local residents’ intent to speak out or air out their opinions or recommendations about the tourist destination. Theoretically, local residents’ voice behavior can be perceived as reciprocation due to a strong sense of destination brand psychological ownership. Hence, in consumer engagement theory, voice behavior among local residents responds to feelings of destination brand psychological ownership. Zhang and Xu (2019) maintain that theoretical and practical understanding of the various supportive behaviors of local residents towards their tourist destinations deserves more attention.

13. Managerial implications

The findings of the study confirm the cardinal role of social media brand engagement dimensions, i.e., identification, enthusiasm, attention, absorption, and interaction, in fueling destination brand psychological ownership and, ultimately, local residents’ voice behavior. Existing literature in tourism development indicates that local residents’ voice behavior is among the most important sources of marketing intelligence for DMOs in gaining local residents’ insight to build a competitive tourist destination. However, DMOs should create environments that can motivate local residents to speak up by considering the risky voice behavior. Therefore, the study proposes using destination brand psychological ownership as a mediator variable. Furthermore, evidence indicates that various seminal works have conceptualized psychological ownership as an antecedent of organizational citizenship behavior. This study extends this empirical stance to the tourism sector by examining psychological ownership as a mediator variable that mediates the relationship between social media brand engagement and local residents’ voice behavior.

The findings of the study suggest that destination brand psychological ownership mediates the relationship between social media brand engagement and local residents’ voice behavior. These findings are in line with the idea by Zhang and Xu (2019) that a sense of destination brand psychological ownership can elicit local residents to assume personal risks and sacrifice for the well-being of their tourist destinations. Furthermore, within the context of destination brand psychological ownership, local residents often bring the tourist destination into their sphere and recognize that their success or failure may imply their own success or failure. Therefore, this feeling of psychological ownership can trigger local residents’ perceived responsibilities and readiness to speak out about change-oriented enhancement endorsements and contribute to tourist destination success and growth.

The study empirically confirms that DMOs can employ web 2.0 technologies, particularly social media, to mobilize the massive engagement of local residents in building a competitive edge for the tourist destination. Social media brand engagement should be encouraged among local residents to enable DMOs to involve local residents in deciding on issues that revolve around the growth and success of tourist destinations. Through social media brand engagement, tourist destinations can enhance identification, making local residents develop favorable attitudes and encouraging them to pay attention to information about the tourist destination. In addition, DMOs should encourage Web 2.0 technologies because identification as part of social media brand engagement can enhance commitment and connection towards tourist destinations. Thus, the study recommends social media brand engagement as essential in building psychological ownership.

In addition, DMOs should encourage Web 2.0 technologies, mainly social media, to attract the attention of local residents towards tourist destinations. When local residents become attentive towards tourist destinations, they build a sense of ownership that drives them to offer opinions to build a competitive edge. In this view, DMOs should generate and share content that draws the attention of local residents towards tourist destinations. It is widely accepted that the content generated by DMOs should reflect local residents’ self-interest and identity to attract their attention. On top of that, DMOs should encourage users to generate content that can influence other online users to have a strong intent to draw attention towards tourist destinations. Attention towards tourist destinations often implies that local residents consistently follow any content about the tourist destination through online forums. In this regard, regular attention is an important catalyst for building a sense of ownership that drives local residents’ voice behaviors.

Furthermore, Web 2.0 technologies can help DMOs improve local residents’ interactions with their tourist destinations. In a practical context, regular interaction can reshape local residents towards developing a sense of ownership, which is crucial in building voice behavior. Therefore, DMOs must have official online forums or sites that allow local residents to interact with tourist destinations and others who share the same opinions about the tourist destination. In addition, DMOs should deliberately consider navigating various online forums to acquire potential opinions about local residents’ perceptions of tourist destinations. On the other hand, consistent interaction can further influence local residents’ absorption of tourist destination values. Through absorption, local residents develop emotional responses in which a tourist destination becomes an internal aspect of themselves. Thus, by considering the tourist destination as an internal aspect of themselves, local residents develop ownership and become ready to offer opinions and insights to improve the performance of the tourist destination.

14. Limitations and future research

Although the study offers a potential contribution to knowledge about the antecedent of local residents’ voice behavior, some limitations are presented that offer room for further studies. First, because this study was conducted in a tourist destination in Tanzania, the generalization of the findings should be done with caution. This is because tourist destinations consist of socio-cultural and political dimensions that distinguish how local residents should be engaged and their consequences. Therefore, it is recommended that further studies should be replicated on the same topic under investigation in different tourist destinations. Replicating the same topic under investigation in different tourist destinations can determine whether the current study’s findings are consistent across different socio-cultural and political contexts. In addition, future studies can involve tourists to provide a room for comparing the strength of social media brand engagement in eliciting voice behavior among local residents and tourists. On the other hand, future studies should seek to uncover a naturalistic picture of the topic under investigation using qualitative approaches that facilitate acquiring qualitative insights through in-depth interviews. In-depth research can be conducted using qualitative approaches by examining local residents’ perceptions and attitudes about how voice behavior is constructed through social media brand engagement when mediated by destination brand psychological ownership.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

David Amani

David Amani is a research scholar pursuing PhD in Business Administration at Mzumbe University in Tanzania. He completed his MBA from the University of Dodoma in 2012. He is currently working with the University of Dodoma in Tanzania as a lecturer and researcher in the Department of Business Administration and Management. His research interests include brand management, services marketing, sports marketing, corporate social responsibility, and entrepreneurial marketing.