One way to develop rural Kansas is by attract urban visitors using Kansas's "secret weapon" pure natural beauty, however little has been done to advertise effective, and guided by data. This project is to help find data driven approach for future advertisement. Methodology: Non-parametric data has always been difficult to utilize when in practice, following the philosophy of "occam's razor", authors suggest a non-parametric ranking method to help extract meaningful information for practice and downgrade statistical meaningfulness for more unity concern. Poster for Kansas State Capital; originally planned for legislators and Kansas wide life and recreational Published article at Journal Anatolia, full version available at https://doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2019.1588758

1. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Destination Personality of Kansas
How to Make the Metaphor Simpler?
Naiqing Lin, Kevin R. Roberts

2. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Introduction
 Visitors’ spending in Kansas is the sixth-lowest in the
nation1.
 The niche tourism market is growing due to the easy
accessibility with internet and mobile apps.
 Kansas can engage with new round of opportunities
with its rural destinations2.
 But, there is a dearth of marketing research related
with the state of Kansas.
1. Economic Report, 2015; Tourism Economics, 2015
2. Anderson, 2006, 2009; Anderson, 2016
3. Horner & Swarbrooke, 2016; Tourism Economics, 2015
0.00%
2.00%
4.00%
6.00%
8.00%
10.00%
12.00%
14.00%
16.00%
Kansas Califonia
GDP
Employ
Ads

3. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Destination Personality and Application
1. Ekinci & Hosany, 2006, p. 127; 2. Aaker, 1997; 3. Keller et al.,
2011; 4. Freling & Forbes, 2005; 5. Malar et al., 2011; 6. Chen &
Phou, 2013; 7. Ekinci & Hosany, 2006
 Destination personality is a projection of human traits onto a destination1, which can help
establish a relationship with visitors.
 Destination personality is a critical factor affects destination selection:
 facilitates differentiation of a destination from its competitors2,
 improves the destination equity3,
 increases destination preference4,
 develops strong emotional attachment and emotional loyalty5
 Overall destination personality can effectively influence tourists’ choice6,7

4. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Research Problems – Complicated Measurement

5. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Research Problems – Complicated Measurement
 Researchers argue multidimensional constructs are too specific
to allow for modelling1.
 Need large sample size
 Take them all or not-at-all
 Practitioners argue scales are too long to be used in applied
setting2.
1. Heere, 2010; Hultman et al., 2015, Keller et al., 2011
2. Low and Lamb, 2000;

6. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Research Problems – Complication in Theorization
 Theorizing and testing a multidimensional construct is a straining task and prone to errors1.
 Following Occam’s razor’s principle:
 The simplest possible explanation often is the best explanation1.
 Thus, we need protocols for adaption2.
 We have to simplify scale dimensions for applied settings3.
1. Augoustinos & Innes, 1990; Panaccio, 2017 2. Freling and Forbes, 2005; Hultman
et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2009; Liu et al., 2016; Sahin and Baloglu, 2011; 3. Low &
Lamb, 2000; Hosany et al., 2007

7. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Purpose
 The purpose of this research is to understand the top destination personality attributes
that define Kansas.
 Some objectives include:
 Identify which attributes are ranked as most important
 What are the key differences between first-time and repeat visitors

8. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Methods - Maximum parsimony analysis
 Parsimony analysis is a principle borrowed from phylogenetic, which denotes the
simplest possible explanation is the best explanation, also most likely to be correct1.
 We applied non-parametric Henry Garrett Ranking Analysis2.
 We argue those associations above or near 95th percentile are primary associations, all
others deem secondary3.
 A two-stage data analysis procedures were conducted using Excel 3654 and SPSS
V.215.
 A post-hoc Mann-Whitney non-parametric test was used to compare first and repeat
visitors.
1. Farris, 2008; 2. Garg, 2015; Garrett, 1924; Motulsky, 2013; 3. Augoustinos
& Innes, 1990; 4. Microsoft: Albuquerque, NM; 5. IBM Inc: Armonk, NY

9. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Methods - Common Method Bias and Power Analysis
 Procedural control was used
 Survey was pilot tested1. Participants were prescreened, recruited from multiple
states1, at different seasons of 20162.
 Statistical remedies
 Harman’s Single-factor show low indications (8.11%)3.
 Non-parametric analysis was conducted4
 Control variables used4
 Power analysis
 Alpha set at (p < 0.001), effect size at (d > 0.5)
 Sample has sufficient power (1-β > 0.90)
1. Podsakoff et al., 2003; 2. Fernandez-Morales et al., 2016;
3. Harman, 1976
4. Podsakoff & Organ, 1986

10. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Results - Participants Profile
 Participants (N = 209) were recruited from a marketing company panel to ensure reaching
to domestic tourists who visited Kansas at least once.
 Participants visited Kansas on average 3.1±2.7 times, with approximately equal in male
and female distribution and a mean age of 46.
 First-time tourists (n = 67) and repeat visitors (n = 132)
 Most participants were white (64%) and married (40%), with high school degree (18%) and
full employment status (53%).

11. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Results - Combined Garrett Value Score in Descending Order1
• Hardworking and reliable ranked top destination personality traits among US travelers.
1. Garg, 2015; Garrett, 1924; Motulsky, 2013

12. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Results - First and Repeat Visitors
• The personality trait ‘Real’ become more important and ranked higher in the repeat visitors’
group (#6) compared to first-time group (#8).
• ‘Up-to-date’ has became less important among repeat visitors (#6) and ranked lower
compared to first-time group (#3).

13. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Results
• ‘Sincere’, ‘contemporary’, and ‘outdoorsy’ became significantly less associated with
repeat visitors1 compare to first-time visitors.
Post-hoc Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test
1. The person who visited Kansas multiple times.
Note: SD = Standard deviation; U = Mann-Whitney U; W = Wilcoxon W; t = t-test; df = degree of freedom.
a Sig. = Asymptotic significance; b Sig. = Significance
*p < .05 (two-tailed test; Wilcoxon, Katti, & Wilcox, 1970).
destination personality N Mean SD U W Z Sig.a
Sincere First-time 67 6.57 2.13 3579 12132 -2.22 .026*
Repeat 132 5.86 2.26
Total 199
Contemporary First-time 67 8.13 3.32 3641 5919 -2.16 .030*
Repeat 132 8.93 3.19
Total 199
Outdoorsy First-time 67 1.76 1.12 3714 5992 -1.98 .047*
Repeat 132 2.12 1.30
Total 199

14. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Discussion
 Two prominent personality traits were identified through analyses
 ‘Hardworking’ trait is defined as industrious and zealous
 This is often relevant to one of the core identities of family value1.
 ‘Reliable’ is defined as trusted and dependable
 This is often referenced to being accuracy and honesty1.
 Through the expression of hardworking and reliable characteristics, Kansas connect
tourists with these functional core identities2.
1. Merriam-Webster, 2013 2. Keller et al., 2011

15. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Discussion
 Repeat visitors feel Kansas is less ‘up-to-date’
 Sincere, contemporary, and outdoorsy are significantly lower among repeat visitors
compare to the first-time visitors in the post-hoc tests.
 Marketers should carefully review marketing materials to ensure the message accurately
portrays the reality that Kansas has established.
 Future marketing campaigns should focus on genuineness and reliableness of Kansas
character to help attract repeat visitors.
1. Merriam-Webster, 2013 2. Keller et al., 2011

16. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Discussion
 Previous researchers argue scales are too long to be used in applied settings1, we
introduced a new method to identified salient traits for Kansas.
 This study attemped to address the previous limitations in the literature:
 Mutidimensional items are too specific to be allowed for general use2,
 Developed protocols for adaption3,
 Simplified scale dimension4,
 Provided empirical data for future researcher to do cross-cultural and geographic
comparisons.
Theoretical Contributions
1. Low and Lamb, 2000; 2. Heere, 2010; Hultman et al., 2015, Keller et al., 2011; 3.
Freling and Forbes, 2005; Hultman et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2009; Liu et al., 2016;
Sahin and Baloglu, 2011; 4. Low & Lamb, 2000; Hosany et al., 2007

17. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
Discussion For Destination Management Organizations
 Practitioners can better understand tourists’ emotional
associations towards Kansas.
 Explored the significant difference between first
and repeat visitors
 Better position of Kansas in the marketplace.
 Legislators can use results as empirical references to
help promote employment within Kansas.
* Marketers should carefully review marketing materials to ensure the
message accurately portrays the reality that Kansas has established.

18. Department of Hospitality Management
College of Human Ecology
References and preprint available via
https://tinyurl.com/yaadkbe9
Correspondence
Naiqing Lin
nlin@ksu.edu