Tourist loyalty to a local cultural event: The case of Turkmen handicrafts festival

Tourist loyalty to a local cultural event: The case of Turkmen handicrafts festivalContents lists avai
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Tourist loyalty to a local cultural event: The case of Turkmen handicrafts festival*
Arman Akhoondnejad Freelance Tourism Researcher, Iran
h i g h l i g h t s
A comprehensive model of attendee loyalty at a local festival was examined. Perceived authenticity influenced perceived quality, value and satisfaction. Perceived quality was found to have the direct effect on perceived value, satisfaction and trust. Perceived value affected satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Satisfaction had the direct effect on loyalty and so did trust.
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history: Received 24 April 2014 Received in revised form 29 June 2015 Accepted 30 June 2015 Available online 12 August 2015
Keywords: Festival authenticity Festival quality Festival value Satisfaction with festival Trust in festival Loyalty to festival
* The author acknowledges the editor (Pro. Steve reviewers for their valuable comments on the early v
E-mail address: [email protected].
a b s t r a c t
The purpose of this research was to examine a comprehensive model of attendee loyalty at a local festival. More specifically, the research tested a model linking festival authenticity to festival quality, value, satisfaction, trust and loyalty to a given festival. Using convenience sampling method, empirical data was collected at the Turkmen handicrafts festival in Gonbad-e-Kavoos, the most important city in the Turkmen Sahra region, Iran. A sample of 301 domestic tourists who attended the festival was sur- veyed. Applying structural equation modeling, the findings showed that perceived authenticity influ- enced perceived quality, value and satisfaction. Perceived quality was found to have the direct effect on perceived value, satisfaction and trust. Perceived value affected satisfaction, trust and loyalty. Satisfaction had the direct effect on loyalty and so did trust.
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1. Introduction
Short-term events and festivals are an essential feature of cultural tourism (Chang, 2006; Getz, 2008). In fact, they have become an important part of a destination's portfolio of tourism products (Getz, 2008). Festivals, as one of the fastest growing types of events, have increased with regard to number, diversity and popularity since the 1980s (Getz, 2008; Gursoy, Spangenberg, & Rutherford, 2006; Yang, Yingkang, & Cen, 2011). A festival is defined as “the celebration of a specific theme to which the public is invited for a limited period of time. This celebration can be held annually or less frequently, and includes single events” (Grappi & Montanari, 2011, p. 1129).
Page) and the distinguished ersion of this research.
Festivals are recognized as an effective strategy for host desti- nations to gain several potential economic, social and cultural benefits (Grappi &Montanari, 2011). They can be seen as a strategy to achieve economic development, a way to create positive image, a stimulator of tourism demand, an expander of tourist seasons, a means to enhance the life and pride of local people, and a way to reinforce social cohesion within the communities (Getz, 2008; Grappi & Montanari, 2011; Lee, 2014; Lee, Lee, & Yoon, 2009; Saleh & Ryan, 1993; Weber & Ali-Knight, 2012). Local festivals have been known as a good means to boost sustainable tourism by facilitating learning about unique cultural heritages, ethnic back- grounds, and local customs (Lee, Lee,& Choi, 2011; Yoon, Lee,& Lee, 2010).
Despite political instabilities and unrest in the Middle East/ North Africa (MENA) region, cultural tourism has gained popularity across the region. In the region, which has many cultures, events and festivals have increased significantly in terms of their number
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and scope during the past decade (Weber & Ali-Knight, 2012). Iran, as an important country of the region, has a strong potential to develop events and festivals to enhance its tourism potential as a destination. Indeed, there are diverse regions in Iran that hold local festivals during the early spring of every year. The goal of these festivals is to revive the local customs. These festivals, which are a mixture of local handicrafts, foods and traditions of the regions, attract many domestic tourists and play a significant role in the success of the regions. In addition, the festivals contribute eco- nomic benefits to the regions, create positive image for the regions, and enhance the life and pride of the residents. Similarly, the Turkmen Sahra region, as an important region of Iran, holds several local festivals during the early spring of every year. Among the festivals, the festival of Gonbad-e-Kavoos city is the most famous.
One of the main ways to achieve success is to build loyalty in attendees (Lee, 2014; Wu, Wong, & Cheng, 2014; Yang et al., 2011). Indeed, customer loyalty is widely recognized as a major element of business success. Various researchers had contributed to develop predictors of attendee loyalty in the festival literature. For instance, researchers had explored the effects of festival authenticity (e.g. Casteran & Roederer, 2013; Shen, 2014), festival quality (e.g. Wong, Wu, & Cheng, 2014; Wu et al., 2014), festival value (e.g. Lee et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2011), and satisfaction with festival (e.g. Grappi & Montanari, 2011; Lee, 2014; Mason & Paggiaro, 2012) on loyalty to festival. In addition, it is widely accepted that trust leads to loyalty (Lee & Back, 2008; Wang, Law, Hung, & Guillet, 2014). Therefore, in order to better understand which factors may lead to attendee loyalty, the current research proposed a comprehensive model to test the effects of festival authenticity, quality, value, satisfaction and trust as predictors of loyalty to a given festival. Furthermore, the research examined the relationships among the predictors. The findings provide information for widening the festival literature. Although this research was limited to the Turkmen Sahra region - a particular geographical region - the findings may be applied to different geographical regions and be used by festival managers and tourism marketers.
2. Literature review and research hypotheses
2.1. Festival authenticity
Authenticity as a concept indicates genuineness, reality and truth as three qualities and may be connected with a region's tradition and culture (Brida, Disegna, & Osti, 2013; Casteran & Roederer, 2013; Chhabra, Healy, & Sills, 2003; Kim & Jamal, 2007; Robinson & Clifford, 2012). There are three types of authenticity in tourists' experiences that have been identified: objective, constructive and existential. Objective authenticity re- fers to the originality of objects. Contrary to objective authenticity, constructive and existential authenticities are very subjective. Constructive authenticity relates to tourists' perceptions of the objects they visit. This type of authenticity is socially constructed and depends on tourists' viewpoints and perspectives. Construc- tive authenticity is also reliant on the situation and context, which evolves over time. Existential authenticity is built on the princi- pals of constructive authenticity, but further liberates tourists. It refers to tourists' emotions which are activated by their experi- ences. In fact, objective and constructive authenticities are object- related, whereas existential authenticity is experience-related (Casteran & Roederer, 2013; Kim & Jamal, 2007; Robinson & Clifford, 2012).
In tourism, authenticity is an expression, which describes tourists' perceived degree of the genuineness of products and ex- periences (Brida et al., 2013; Shen, 2014). Indeed, authenticity is a
perception or value placed onwhat is assessed, not a tangible thing (Brida et al., 2013). Authenticity is an important element influ- encing human behavior, particularly tourist behavior. It is one of the most crucial issues for contemporary tourists. Since contemporary society is inauthentic, quest for authenticity elsewhere has become a significant motivator in tourism (Casteran & Roederer, 2013). Tourists are interested in learning different cultures; therefore, authenticity motivates individuals to travel (Chhabra et al., 2003; Kim & Jamal, 2007; Robinson & Clifford, 2012). In the case of cul- tural products such as festivals, tourists perceive them as authentic if they are made by the local people according to the custom and tradition (Brida et al., 2013; Casteran & Roederer, 2013; Chhabra et al., 2003).
Authenticity is one of the important factors in the success of cultural festivals (Brida et al., 2013). In the contemporary world, cultural festivals have to offer authenticity to meet the need of tourists, because cultural exploration is among the significant motivations for attending festivals (Chang, 2006; Kim, Borges, & Chon, 2006). In other words, one of the reasons to attend a festival is the uniqueness and symbolic meaning of the festival (Getz, 2008; Gursoy et al., 2006). Casteran and Roederer (2013) indicated that “even if some tourists expect to be entertained regardless of the authenticity of a tourist site, authenticity mat- ters to most visitors” (p. 154). Authenticity is a vital factor in assessing the quality and value of cultural products and experi- ences (Chhabra et al., 2003; Kim & Jamal, 2007). Furthermore, one of the major elements resulting in satisfaction with cultural events is the authenticity perceived by attendees (Brida et al., 2013; Chhabra et al., 2003; Robinson & Clifford, 2012). Authen- ticity also connotes trustworthiness (Robinson & Clifford, 2012) and results in loyalty (Brida et al., 2013; Casteran & Roederer, 2013).
Several researchers investigated the role of authenticity in the festival literature. For example, Chhabra et al. (2003) found that most of the tourists came to the event to purchase authentic goods, and were eager to pay more money to purchase them. Kim and Jamal (2007) examined the experience of highly committed tour- ists to the festival. Their findings showed that authenticity was central to understanding the experience of regular, repeat festival- goers who took their participation seriously. Brida et al. (2013) deduced that tourists were more likely to spend if they perceived the event and the products sold to be authentic. Robinson and Clifford (2012) found that perceived foodservice authenticity in the festival, as a dimension of satisfaction with festival, was posi- tively correlated with revisit intention. Casteran and Roederer (2013) concluded that visitors were motivated to return to the event if the event was perceived as loyal to its origins. The findings of the research by Shen (2014) in which event authenticity was measured by two dimensions, namely food-related authenticity and overall authenticity, showed that food-related authenticity influenced revisit intention.
Thus, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H1. Festival authenticity has a positive and direct effect on festival quality.
H2. Festival authenticity has a positive and direct effect on festival value.
H3. Festival authenticity has a positive and direct effect on satis- faction with festival.
H4. Festival authenticity has a positive and direct effect on trust in festival.
H5. Festival authenticity has a positive and direct effect on loyalty to festival.
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2.2. Festival quality
Perceived quality refers to superiority or excellence of a product or service as perceived by consumers (Lee et al., 2009; Rigatti- Luchini & Mason, 2010; Song, Lee, Kim, Bendle & Shin, 2014a; Wu et al., 2014). In other words, quality indicates the performance of a product or service (Wu et al., 2014; Yoon et al., 2010). Crompton and Love (1995) who proposed the first conceptualization to measure festival quality, pointed out that five types of relationships had been used to evaluate quality in tourism, which are as follows: attribute expectations, attribute expectations and importance, attribute performance and importance, attribute performance and expectations, and attribute performance, expectations and impor- tance. They also argued that there are two types of quality: per- formance (opportunity) and experience. Performance quality can be defined as the quality of attributes of a service, which are under the control of the supplier. In contrast to performance quality, experience quality involves both the attributes provided by a sup- plier and the attributes brought to the opportunity by a visitor.
In the case of festivals, attendees first evaluate the performance quality. Based on the results of this evaluation, the attendees then perceive the experience quality (Cole and Illum (2006). “A festival's performance quality refers to the characteristics of products (including the event design and programmed entertainment, ac- tivity, and performance) and services (for example, catering, facil- ities, merchandising) that are provided at the festival” (Savinovic, Kim, & Long, 2012, p. 684). Festivals' attributes are the key com- ponents in evaluating festivals by attendees. Quality is an important element providing successful tourist experience. Indeed, one of the key strategies for the survival and success of any business is to deliver superior quality to customers (Song et al., 2014a; Wong et al., 2014; Wu et al., 2014). Improving the quality leads to increased visitations and revenues (Yuan & Jang, 2008). Quality is also recognized as an underpinning element of competitive advantage (Wong et al., 2014; Wu et al., 2014). Consequently, fes- tivals have to deliver high quality to their attendees to succeed (Lee, 2014; Saleh & Ryan, 1993).
There is much empirical research exploring the role of quality in the festival literature. For instance, Baker and Crompton (2000) found that performance quality was a significant determinant of attendee satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Cole and Illum (2006) deduced that performance quality influenced experience quality, which in turn resulted in attendee satisfaction and behav- ioral intentions. Lee, Petrick, and Crompton (2007) found the sig- nificant relationship between festival quality and behavioral intentions. Yuan and Jang (2008) concluded that festival quality significantly predicted satisfactionwith festival. Rigatti-Luchini and Mason (2010) found that experiential quality affected functional value and revisit intention. Wu et al. (2014) concluded that festival quality had the significant effect on visitor satisfaction and behav- ioral intentions. Wong et al. (2014) found that festival quality affected attendee satisfaction and loyalty. Thus, there appears to be recognition of a significant effect from quality to value, satisfaction and loyalty in the literature. Furthermore, it is accepted that quality is a good determinant of trust (Wang et al., 2014).
Thus, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H6. Festival quality has a positive and direct effect on festival value.
H7. Festival quality has a positive and direct effect on satisfaction with festival.
H8. Festivalqualityhas apositive anddirect effect on trust in festival.
H9. Festival quality has a positive and direct effect on loyalty to festival.
2.3. Festival value
Perceived value is defined as an individual's perception of the difference between the benefits and the sacrifices (Kim, Kim, & Goh, 2011; Lee & Back, 2008; Lee et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2011). Kim et al. (2011) pointed out that value can be identified in four things: “(1) value is low price, (2) value is whatever one wants in a product, (3) value is the quality that the consumer receives for the price paid, and (4) value is what the consumer gets for what he/she gives” (p. 1161). “According to the equity theory, a customer eval- uates what is fair, right, or deserved for the perceived cost of the offering, including monetary payments and nonmonetary sacrifices such as time consumption, energy consumption, and stress expe- rienced by customers” (Yang et al., 2011, p. 30). The prevailing approach to value is the trade-off between quality and price (Rigatti-Luchini & Mason, 2010), indicating that perceived quality enhances value, whereas monetary (e.g. price) and non-monetary sacrifices (e.g. time, effort, search cost) decrease value (Lee et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2011; Yoon et al., 2010).
There are five types of value: functional, emotional, social, epistemic and conditional. Functional value is the utility of an experience for functional or practical performance. Emotional value refers to affective states or feelings associated with an experience. Social value relates to the utility of an experience's associationwith a particular group. Epistemic value is the utility of an experience to arouse curiosity or satisfy a desire for knowledge. Conditional value relates to the utility of an experience as the result of a particular situation or particular circumstances (Lee et al., 2011). In the case of festivals, attendees evaluate festival value by mentally trading off between the benefits (functional, emotional, social, epistemic and conditional) which they receive and the sacrifices in terms of time, money and effort.
According to the goal and action identification theories, con- sumers usually classify their goals based on their importance and control their actions so that they go in the highest ranked goal's direction. Since the highest ranked goal is considered as having the most value, consumers tend tomaintain and continue relationships with the exchange partners who deliver superior value (Lee et al., 2009). If consumers receive the benefits they want from an expe- rience, they assess the experience positively, and thus the experi- ence has the ability to change the consumers' consumption and purchase behaviors. Value is of vital importance, because it is widely accepted that perceived value is a critical factor for devel- oping long-term relationships with consumers (Lee et al., 2009; Yang et al., 2011) and gaining a competitive edge for businesses (Kim et al., 2011). Consequently, festivals have to deliver superior value to their attendees because of the great influence of perceived value on the experiences, perceptions and behaviors of attendees (Yoon et al., 2010).
Some empirical efforts have been made to investigate the role of value in the festival literature. For example, Gursoy et al. (2006) found that both utilitarian and hedonic values influenced festival attendance. Lee et al. (2007) concluded that festival value resulted in attendee satisfaction and loyalty. Lee et al. (2009) deduced that festival value was a significant predictor of loyalty for both first- time and repeat visitors. Rigatti-Luchini and Mason (2010) found that festival functional value affected visitor satisfaction and revisit intention. Yoon et al. (2010) deduced that festival value influenced attendee satisfaction. Grappi and Montanari (2011) found that he- donic value led to visitor satisfaction. Lee et al. (2011) concluded that both functional and emotional values influenced attendee satisfaction. Their findings also suggested that only emotional value influenced behavioral intentions. Kim et al. (2011) found that festival value resulted in visitor satisfaction and revisit intention. Yang et al. (2011) deduced that festival value significantly predicted
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behavioral intentions. Thus, there appears to be a consensus that value is a predictor of satisfaction and loyalty in the literature. Furthermore, it is enunciated that value results in trust (Lee& Back, 2008; Lee et al., 2011).
Thus, the following hypotheses are proposed:
H10. Festival value has a positive and direct effect on satisfaction with festival.
H11. Festival value has a positive and direct effect on trust in festival.
H12. Festival value has a positive and direct effect on loyalty to festival.
2.4. Satisfaction with festival
Satisfaction refers to a consumer's overall evaluation of his/her consumption experience (Kim et al., 2011; Lee& Back, 2008; Mason & Paggiaro, 2012). According to Mason and Paggiaro (2012), “satisfaction is a partly affective and partly cognitive evaluation of the consumption experience” (p. 1331). From a cognitive perspec- tive, what makes an experience satisfying or dissatisfying depends on the expectations of consumers and actual performance of an experience. Consumers are satisfied if the experience's perfor- mance is higher than their expectations and dissatisfied if the performance does not meet their expectations (Chang, Gibson, & Sission, 2013; Grappi & Montanari, 2011; Lee & Back, 2008; Mason & Paggiaro, 2012; Song et al., 2014a). From an affective perspective, what makes an experience satisfying or dissatisfying depends on the arousal of feelings which is caused by the experi- ence (Chang et al., 2013; Grappi & Montanari, 2011; Lee & Back, 2008; Mason & Paggiaro, 2012).
On the other hand, based on the equity theory, satisfaction happens when consumers get more value than what they spend in terms of money, time and effort (Yuan & Jang, 2008). According to Lee and Back (2008) and Rigatti-Luchini and Mason (2010), there are two types of satisfaction: transaction-specific and overall satisfaction. Transaction-specific satisfaction can be defined as the instant judgment of a consumer about…