Branding through visitors: how cultural differences affect brand co-creation in independent hotels in Iran

Purpose In most countries, independent hotels are a major contributor to both national economy and the hospitality sector, but to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there is a lack of any study on brand co-creation (BCC) in independent hotels. This study aims to examine the interrelationship of moral judgement (MJ), self–brand connection, customer–brand engagement (CBE), electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and how BCC occurs in independent hotels and contrasts visitors’ perspectives between two different Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness clusters in independent hotels. Furthermore, this study also examines the moderating impact of privacy concern (PC) on the relationship between eWOM and brand co-creation. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from two groups of tourists, Iranian (290) and European (224), who visited and stayed in independent hotels in some major cities in Iran. The structural equation modelling using AMOS 22 was adopted to test the hypotheses. Findings The study’s findings revealed that there are significant differences between two culturally different travellers in terms of selected variables, suggesting that MJ is a main antecedent of CBE, which leads to eWOM among Iranian travellers, which consequently leads to BCC. Moreover, the study’s data indicates that European travellers show a high level of PCs while staying in independent hotels in Iran, which prevents them from sharing and getting engaged in the social media, which could delay the BCC process especially in international level. Originality/value This study contributes to literature by providing new insights on the differences in the concept of brand co-creation between two culturally different groups in the context of independent hotels, which require special attention of independent hotel managers.