AN EXPLORATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM USING THE BRAND PERSONALITY THEORY: AN EXAMPLE OF THE THREE MEMORIAL EDIFICES OF CONFUCIUS A Thesis submitted to the Kent State University College and Graduate School of Education, Health, and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science By Xingcun Zhao August 2019 Thesis written by Xingcun Zhao B.S., Kent State University, 2016 M.S., Kent State University, 2019 Approved by __________________________________, Director, Master’s Thesis Committee Philip Wang __________________________________, Member, Master’s Thesis Committee Ning-Kuang Chuang __________________________________, Member, Master’s Thesis Committee Kiwon Lee Accepted by __________________________________, Director, School of Foundations, Kimberly S. Schimmel Leadership and Administration __________________________________, Dean, College and Graduate School of James C. Hannon Education, Health, and Human Services ii ZHAO, XINGCUN, M.S., August 2019 Hospitality and Tourism Management AN EXPLORATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM USING THE BRAND PERSONALITY THEORY: AN EXAMPLE OF THE THREE MEMORIAL EDIFICES OF CONFUCIUS (70 pp.) Director of Thesis: Philip Wang, Ph.D. The major objective of this research is to investigate if psychological factors have any impact on the perceived brand personality traits of the Three Memorial Edifices of Confucius in Qufu, China, and examine the regression between travel interests and desire, as well as the regression between travel desire and intention. A questionnaire was used as the quantitative method for college students in the Kent State University. The results of presented study indicated that there is a psychological difference between allocentric travelers and psychocentric travelers in choosing perceived brand personality traits. However, the Interest in the TMEC and desire to visit the TMEC are not necessarily associated. Desire to visit the TMEC and intention to visit are not associated either. The results of this proposed study are extremely useful in helping tourism marketers promote the traditional heritage tourism products based on tourism typologies and in moderating the interests, desire, and intention of traveling to the TMEC sites. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS On one hand, I would like to appreciate the professors of my committee members, Ning-Kuang Chuang and Kiwon Lee, for their valuable suggestions and considerable input. Their professional suggestions and critiques were extremely valuable to make this research successful. My thanks would especially go out to my advisor and committee chair, Philip Wang, who has provided me with professional guidance throughout the entire process of my research study. He helped me narrow down the research topic and encouraged me to overcome difficulties throughout the way. His expertise and patience supported me a lot and made everything possible to explore the topic. On the other hand, I would also appreciate the managed from Chinese heritage site, who spent their precious time helping me narrow down the personality traits of the TMEC for this study and all the students that participated in the questionnaire. Everyone’s input and dedication were the key to the success of this study. Moreover, I would express my appreciation to my family and my friends. Without their psychological support to me, the study wouldn’t be successful either. iii TABLE OF CONTENT Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 The History of the Three Memorial Edifices of Confucius in Qufu ................... 1 The Value of the Three Memorial Edifices of Confucius ................................... 4 Cultural Heritage ................................................................................................. 6 Culture and Tourism Integration ......................................................................... 7 Tourism Branding ............................................................................................... 8 Brand Personality and Self-Congruity ................................................................ 8 AIDA Model ....................................................................................................... 9 Tourists Typology ............................................................................................. 10 China's Tourism Market Demand ..................................................................... 10 Research Purpose .............................................................................................. 14 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 16 Destination Image ............................................................................................. 16 Brand Personality and Self-Congruity .............................................................. 17 Integration of Culture and Tourism .................................................................. 22 Tourist Typology .............................................................................................. 23 AIDA Model ..................................................................................................... 26 III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................................ 29 Expert Review ................................................................................................... 29 Instrument Design ............................................................................................. 30 Data Collection ................................................................................................. 32 Data Analysis. ................................................................................................... 32 IV. RESULTS ........................................................................................................... 34 Description of the Expert Review ..................................................................... 35 Description of the Sample ................................................................................. 36 Brand Personality and the Tourist Typologies.................................................. 37 Interest and Desire for the TMEC Sites ............................................................ 40 Desire and intention for the TMEC .................................................................. 41 V. DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................... 46 Implications....................................................................................................... 47 Limitations ........................................................................................................ 49 Future Research ................................................................................................ 51 iv Reflections of the Study .................................................................................... 52 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................. 54 APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................. 55 APPENDIX B CONSENT LETTER ................................................................ 60 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................. 63 v LIST OF TABLES Table .............................................................................................................................. Page 1. Brand Personality Scale (Aaker, 1997) ......................................................................... 18 2. Brand Personality of TMEC (N=150) .......................................................................... 37 3. The congruency of participants to the TMEC site (N=150) ......................................... 38 4. T-test of the brand personality in Tourist Typology ..................................................... 39 5. Interest and desire of TMEC (N=150) .......................................................................... 41 6. T-test of the desire and intention in learning more about the place .............................. 42 7. T-test of the desire and intention for visiting this place ................................................ 43 8. T-test of the desire and intention for recommending this site ...................................... 44 vi Chapter I INTRODUCTION The History of the Three Memorial Edifices of Confucius in Qufu Qufu, Shandong, where the Three Memorial Edifices of Confucius lies, is located in the northeast part of China. It is a county-level city affiliated to Jining City of Shandong Province. It is also the birthplace of Confucius and one of the first 24 historical and cultural cities in China. In 1994, three historical buildings: the Qufu Confucius Temple, Duke Yansheng Mansion and Konglin were entitled with UNESCO’s World Cultural Heritage as a unified whole (Si & Ma, 2008). The Confucius Temple has a long history of development. Built in the second year after Confucius' death (478 BC), the Confucius Temple is situated by the south gate of Qufu Old Town.