The Impact of Flexible Identity on Urban Brand Competitiveness

Abstract

Based on empirical analysis, this study explores the influencing mechanism of flexible identity on urban brand competitiveness. Within the theoretical framework of urban branding, this research conceptualizes flexible identity into four core dimensions: subjectivity, diversity, adaptability, and expansibility. By introducing urban attractiveness as a mediating variable, it further constructs an analytical model of “flexible identity -urban attractiveness–urban brand competitiveness”. Compared with existing studies that mostly focus on design experience and conceptual description, this paper expands the operationalization and theoretical development of flexible identity from the perspectives of structural composition and functional mechanism.

From structural equation modeling analysis of questionnaire data collected from Singapore, Sydney, and New York, this study yields the following findings. First, subjectivity and diversity exert a significant positive effect on urban brand competitiveness. Second, adaptability demonstrates a significant negative effect, indicating that its influence is not a simple linear relationship and may be constrained by homogenization effects stemming from excessive adaptation. Third, urban attractiveness plays a critical mediating role between flexible identity and urban brand competitiveness, with expansibility primarily affecting competitiveness indirectly through mediating pathways.

Theoretically, this study breaks away from the conventional assumption that adaptability functions solely as a positive linear variable. It proposes and verifies the potential nonlinear mechanism of adaptability, thereby revealing the structural tension between flexibility and distinctiveness. Furthermore, by introducing urban attractiveness as a pre-attitudinal perceptual mechanism, this research fills the theoretical gap in the causal pathway linking visual representation to urban brand competitiveness. Practically, the findings suggest that urban branding should consolidate subjectivity and diversity while implementing controlled management of adaptability. Such strategies prevent expressive homogenization caused by phantomization and standardization, and strengthen brand competitive advantages by optimizing attraction-driven influence pathways.