Examining antecedents of residents’ support for the European Capital of Culture project – event’s sustainability perception, emotional solidarity, community attachment and brand trust

Purpose

The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects on support for the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) project development of residents’ perception of the project’s sustainability, emotional solidarity toward tourists, community attachment and brand trust.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey research was conducted among 303 residents of Novi Sad, which has been selected to be the ECoC for the year 2022.

Findings

The findings confirmed the positive roles of three aspects of the event’s sustainability and three facets of emotional solidarity in shaping local people’s support for the ECoC event development. Besides, findings show the positive effect of residents’ community attachment and ECoC brand trust in predicting their supportive attitudes for the event development. Finally, results highlight which areas of the event’s sustainability are still unsatisfactory from the residents’ perspective, making it easier for event practitioners to optimally focus their attention and resources on enhancing problematic areas of the event’s sustainability.

Originality/value

The present study contributes to existing tourism literature as it is the first to explore the role local people’s perception of event sustainability, emotional solidarity toward tourists, community attachment and brand trust plays in their support for the ECoC event development. In addition, a unique contribution lies in the confirmation of brand trust as a significant antecedent of residents’ support, as this relationship remained an unexplored area in tourism literature. Practical implications, specifically derived for ECoC event practitioners, which should also find their place in securing residents’ support toward the development of any cultural event that attracts visitors, are discussed in the paper.