Who Learns from Who in Participatory Practices of Place Brand Co-creation? An Exponential Random Graph Modelling Analysis on the Determinants of Learning Interactions in a Belgian Branding Process

This chapter examines the conditions under which individual 12 stakeholders within a Flemish case are likely to engage with other participants in learning activities during a place brand co-creation. In order to make inferences about the learning interactions among these stakeholders, the statistical network methodology of Exponential Random Graph Modelling (ERGM) is used. So far, ERGMs have not been applied in place branding studies. The ERGM method has been used in neuroscience (Teleford et al. 2011), conflict management and piece studies (Cranmer et al., Confl Manag Peace Sci 29(3):279–313, 2012) as it helps to explain tie-formations (Goodreau, Soc Netw 29:231–248, 2007). This means the methodology is able to draw inferential conclusions about why individual actors have a tendency to connect with some people and not with others. Hence, by looking at the conditions under which these individual stakeholders are likely to learn from each other, we aim to gain a better understanding of how through dialogue place brands are co-created by multiple active stakeholders. The data were collected in two steps: the involved stakeholders were first asked to fill a standardized questionnaire and then interviewed to ask to follow-up question based upon their initial responses on the survey. The results show four significant conclusions: (1) relational history matters. This means that repeated deliberation in different settings, instigates a modus vivendi (stable network). (2) Societal relevance matters, if an individual believes the project is meaningful to society, they are more eager to learn. (3) Less managerial involvement increases the learning interactions and (4) ingenious stakeholders (who can combine different branding stories into coherent vision) are more likely to connect and learn from various network alters.