Abstract
This study investigates the role of non-profit organizations in the nation branding process. A conceptual model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) was empirically tested to determine the impact of non-profit organization activities, specifically Turkish Cultural Centers in the United States, on the formation of perceived country image and visiting intentions. Survey data was analyzed using Partial Least Squares. Non-profit organizations had a statistically significant impact on potential visitors’ attitudes, which lead to behavioral intentions to visit and to ultimately travel to Turkey. The study underscores the importance of non-profit organizations in the country image formation process in tourism, and incorporating stakeholders in the strategic destination branding process.
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Appendix
Appendix
Five semantic differential scales (for example, not at all to great extent) were used to measure an information and interaction items.
Information
To what extent have you received information about Turkey from the following sources provided by the TCC?
Interaction
To what extent have you participated in the following TCC activities?
Five semantic differential scales (for example, very unpleasant to very pleasant, very undesirable to very desirable) were used to measure an attitude item.
Attitude
Describe your overall attitude toward Turkey below.
A Likert scale (1=‘Strongly Disagree’ to 5=’Strongly Agree’) was used to measure each of the items used in this study. Those are listed below.
Subjective norms
People whose opinions I care about approve about Turkey.
People I care about encourage me to think positively about Turkey.
I feel social pressure to think positively about Turkey.
People who are close to me would approve of my positive thoughts about Turkey.
Perceived behavioral control
If I wanted to, I could easily go to Turkey.
Whether I visit Turkey is entirely up to me.
It will be difficult for me to visit Turkey.
I should have no trouble visiting Turkey.
Behavioral intention
Information obtained from Turkish Cultural Center has led me to think about visiting Turkey.
Visiting any of the Turkish Cultural Center activities have led me to think about visiting Turkey.
The behavior and attitudes of the members of the Turkish Cultural Center have led me to think about visiting Turkey.
Opinions and thoughts of others have led to me to think about visiting Turkey.
Behavior
I visited Turkey in part based on information received from the Turkish Cultural Center.
I visited Turkey based on my involvement at Turkish Cultural Center events.
I visited Turkey based on Turkish Cultural Center members’ behavior and attitudes.
Opinions and thoughts of others have resulted in my visit of Turkey.
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Aziz, N., Friedman, B. & Ilhan, H. The impact of nonprofit organizations on the intent to visit Turkey: An empirical test using the theory of planned behavior. Place Brand Public Dipl 11, 175–189 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2015.2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/pb.2015.2