NATIONAL FASHION ELEMENTS AS A MEDIATOR BETWEEN TOURISM EXPERIENCE AND DESTINATION BRAND EQUITY: THE NF-DBE MODEL AND A FIELD RESEARCH PROTOCOL

Purpose: Destination brand equity models generally treat culture as an aggregated attribute, leaving scope to examine national fashion as a distinct contributing factor. This study formalises the proposed mediating role of national fashion elements in the relationship between tourism experience and destination brand equity and develops a field research protocol to test whether perceived authenticity and cultural meaning contribute to tourists' willingness to pay a premium. Design/methodology/approach: A structured bilingual questionnaire is developed based on validated destination brand equity and authenticity scales, as well as recent studies on traditional cultural load, purchase intentions regarding traditional clothing, and willingness to pay a premium for cultural and creative tourism products. The target population comprises domestic and international tourists visiting Samarkand, Bukhara, Khiva, Tashkent, and Margilan. The pre-specified analytical framework employs partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), bootstrapped mediation analysis, and multi-group analysis. The present article focuses on developing the conceptual model, research instrument, and empirical protocol, while primary field data will be collected during the subsequent stage of the research. Findings: The article presents four methodological outcomes that provide a foundation for subsequent empirical assessment. First, it defines contact with national fashion as a measurable construct that is distinct from the broader heritage experience. Second, it separates the proposed conversion mechanism into perceived authenticity, cultural load, and willingness to pay a premium. Third, it formulates three testable hypotheses linking contact with national fashion to destination image, perceived quality, and destination loyalty, while specifying the relevant mediation and group-comparison tests. Fourth, it establishes pre-specified criteria for assessing reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, the structural model, and mediation effects, thereby enabling field results to be evaluated consistently following data collection. The hypotheses will be empirically tested once the field data have been collected. Originality/value: The study introduces national fashion elements as a proposed mediating construct within the destination brand equity framework and provides an applicable research instrument, a field sampling plan, testable hypotheses, and a pre-specified analytical sequence. Its value lies in transforming a widely recognised conceptual relationship into an empirically testable framework while ensuring that future conclusions are based on systematically collected tourist data.