Too close or not enough? The refinement of the Citizen Satisfaction Index (CSI) in place brands: a comparison of the significance of personal factors between Kuwait City and London

Purpose – The study aims to develop and supply new instrumentation for the diagnostic phase of place brand development at the residential level. This helps to fill a gap in empirical knowledge by addressing a missing factor from the existing Citizen Satisfaction Index (CSI), which measures the effectiveness and sustainability of place branding. The CSI primarily evaluates socio-economic factors: nature and recreation, urbanity and diversity, cost efficiency and job opportunities. This focus overshadowed the other factors and unexplored place attributes that can influence residents' level of satisfaction. Personal factors significantly influence residents' stakeholder engagement but remain a neglected domain in literature. Personal factors represent residents' cognitive and affective associations with place branding efforts. They are deeply rooted mental and emotional responses that go well beyond the value of the physical environment or the image and reputation of a place. The study expands the CSI to the Refined Citizen Satisfaction Index (RCSI), which includes a range of personal factors defined through social bonds and relationships, educational background, life stage, and human values. These elements influence our choice of where to live, how long we choose to stay, and our level of satisfaction. The study further explores the resonance of these personal factors in relation to other factors of citizen satisfaction with university students in London and Kuwait City. This gives practitioners and researchers a strategic and inclusive perspective on “how” and “why” particular residents connect with specific place brands. The study also provides a methodological critique on the validation of the original CSI model as a reason for expanding the instrumentation. Research approach and questions – The research applies a social constructionist epistemological perspective on place branding theory and practice, examining the phenomenon from the residents' perspective. Furthermore, the research applies the co-creation paradigm to analyse the process of place branding for residents because they bring legitimacy to place branding efforts and influence their meaning. I evaluate the importance of place satisfaction in keeping residents involved in creating, developing, and owning place brands on two levels, each with its research question: First, what is the range of personal factors and city attributes influencing a resident’s satisfaction? Second, what influence (if any) do personal factors have on a resident’s connection with a place brand in relation to other citizen satisfaction factors? Overall research design - The overall research design is divided into two research studies based on the logical sequence for instrumentation development to address each of the abovementioned research questions. The methodological approach is a mixed method, starting with a survey with qualitative measures and then moving to questionnaires with quantitative measures. In brief, the literature review explores the importance of residents within the place branding process and presents a conceptual elaboration for personal factors. A set of subdomains and items were generated using the combination of a multidisciplinary systematic literature review to inform the empirical evidence gathered from a Delphi survey. Next, I psychometrically test the original factor structure of the CSI when it's exposed to additional scales, which I believe taps into an additional construct, with the RCSI survey using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with Principle Factor Analysis (PFA). In other words, I test if the RCSI maintains the original CSI constructs and if a new stable construct for personal factors emerges. Finally, I test the model fit and explore the relationship between all the latent factors on overall place satisfaction and place attachment using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). A total of 1,510 student residents participated in the research study, which included the Delphi survey (n=399) and RCSI survey (n=1,111). Empirical setting- The study focuses on the representative value of stakeholder engagement from two target groups of resident stakeholders who come from different educational, economic, social, and cultural backgrounds and are connected to highly distinguishable place brands: 1) University Students in Kuwait City; and 2) University Students in London. These cities were chosen according to a maximum-variation selection principle based on urban settings (global versus emergent cities) and cultures (western versus eastern traditions). Findings—A systematic review of the place satisfaction literature identified the multi-item scales for personal factors (10 items), and further conceptual elaboration undertaken empirically through the application of the Delphi approach identified an additional 30 items to operationalise the construct. The factor analysis results confirm the value of personal factors in place satisfaction and show the benefit of its inclusion in the CSI measure. The original CSI structure was not replicated, but a competing four-factor structure is presented that provides both an objective evaluation of what a place has to offer and a subjective evaluation of the importance of urban features to the individual, improving the total variance explained from the original model by almost 10%. As a result, the research provides further validation and empirical evidence to support the CSI’s simple four-factor model. Furthermore, there is evidence that the importance of these items varies in intensity depending on the individual's urban setting and socio-cultural background. Practical implications—The study will inform practitioners and scholars how to co-brand places with residents more effectively by addressing the place brand equity factors most important to them. Social implications—The study will identify and evaluate the cultural and social differences of a highly disparate set of resident stakeholders (local citizens and expat residents). These insights will illustrate how residents contextualise the strength of different network associations and how place brands can connect with people at a deeper and more meaningful personal level. Originality/value—The study will use a strategic and inclusive perspective to evaluate the factors influencing resident participation and engagement in the place branding process. These factors must be addressed and assessed to understand how to make place brands more appealing. The research aims to highlight the complexity of defining and forming place brands among stakeholders with different backgrounds and multivariate views towards place branding and demonstrate what influence personal factors have on the sustainability of place brands.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

PhD thesis

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Middlesex University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Alnajadah, A.

• Place Branding
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Instrumentation Development
• Place Satisfaction
• Factor Analysis
• Personal Factors
• Citizen Satisfaction Index
• Latent Factors
• Creative Professionals

Identifier

oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:27969q

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.mdx.ac.uk:27969q