Journal Paper Published

Abstract

Aaker’s brand personality scale (BPS) is a well-established tool for evaluating brands, but its application beyond goods and services and cross-cultural contexts remains debated. This study employs a mixed-methods design: content analysis of official social media posts from ten Chinese city governments, followed by a content validity index (CVI) evaluation by seven experts and in-depth interviews to explore reasons. Results reveal notable application issues: (1) Sincerity and Excitement were the most frequently represented dimensions in official Weibo communication, whereas Sophistication appeared less consistently, and Ruggedness was nearly absent; (2) Expert CVI ratings showed that only a few traits received unanimous endorsement (e.g., down-to-earth, up-to-date); low scale-level indices indicate incomplete content coverage; and (3) Interview findings attribute gaps to the vague “city personality” definition, misaligned categorization, and varied stakeholder perceptions. By integrating social media analysis with CVI, we offer a pragmatic pathway to ensure cultural relevance and identify weak traits before the large survey validation. In practice, it connects quantitative metrics to a qualitative understanding of the city branding process and helps city governments identify gaps between the intended and stakeholder perceptions of a city’s personality. We suggest including multiple stakeholders and various personality sources when adapting the BPS into a city context.

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