Nation branding: resources, management, and performance

Abstract

Nation Branding is imperative as nations compete in inviting inward investment, strengthening images, attracting talents, winning export markets, and garnering the trust of the population towards the ruling government. This study integrates the Resource-Based View (RBV) theory and Anholt’s hexagon model in order to examine the nation branding efforts in Kuwait from the perspectives of business communities. Quantitative analysis was performed to measure suitable variables for the Kuwait nation branding as a way of meeting the research objectives. The research is founded in the theoretical framework of the five main constructs namely Reputation Resources (investment, export, and tourism), Governance (power relation, region stability, and fair trade), Psychographic (attitude, cultural values, and behavior), Snowball sampling was carried out using the 210 usable data which were collected from businessmen from various cities of Kuwait. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized in analyzing the data. The results indicate a significant relationship between reputation resources and governance on branding performance with the mediation of the role of branding management. However, the psychographic aspects of the people which were hypothesized to influence the nation branding were found to be insignificant. The findings shed light on existing nation branding knowledge stock and provide valuable insights for the government in improving its Nation Branding Strategy.