Determining the antecedent model of psychological ownership towards tourism destinations: theme analysis

Psychological ownership plays a role in destination marketing and branding activities and has led to an increase in the attractiveness of the destination. The purpose of this article is identifying the effective factors on psychological ownership of tourists towards tourist destinations.

A mixed method has been used in this research. In the first stage, the effective factors on the psychological ownership of tourists towards the tourist destination were identified through in-depth interviews with experts (including university professors and managers and experts in the tourism industry). The qualitative sampling method was purposive and snowballs. Interviews were conducted with 10 experts. Theme analysis method was used to analyze the data. Then, a quantitative survey was conducted using a questionnaire among 384 tourists from major tourist cities in Iran (including Yazd, Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad and Shiraz). Quantitative sampling method due to the unlimitedness of the statistical population, sampling was available. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to investigate the validity of the model.

The findings showed that the effective factors on the psychological ownership of tourists include destination image, socio-cultural, environmental, human, economic, managerial, contextual, physical factor, marketing and attraction. The validity of the conceptual model was confirmed, based on the results of the quantitative part.

In this research, effective factors on psychological ownership of tourists' toward the tourist destination have been identified. These findings will have many theoretical and practical applications for policy makers and planners in the field of tourism.