Mediation Role of Destination Brand Patriotism in Social Media Brand Engagement and Destination Brand Value Co-creation: Local Residents' Perspective in the Tourism Sector in Tanzania

The study is an attempt to advance knowledge on the supply-side perspective of destination branding using a bottom-up approach. The study proposed and tested a model that examines the role of social media brand engagement in enhancing destination brand value co-creation via destination brand patriotism. The proposed model was tested empirically among 499 local residents using structural equation modeling. The findings suggest that social media brand engagement influences destination brand value co-creation via destination brand patriotism. Therefore, the findings suggest that destinations can use social media to engage local residents in destination brand value co-creation as brand value co-creators.