This dissertation research was conducted to help understand this under-researched area particularly in the field of leisure and tourism. It is argued in this study that the celebrity fandom is a novel form of leisure/tourism activity, which should be understood in relation to other leisure and tourism constructs. Two separate models were proposed: one model was concerned with the impacts of celebrity involvement on various tourism perceptions, and the other model investigated the efficacy of celebrity involvement within the constraints-effects-mitigation model. The results corroborated several hypothesized relationships within the first proposed model. The level of celebrity involvement positively affected destination familiarity and visitation intention. Destination images and familiarity were also positively related to visitation intentions. The positive association between affective images and cognitive images was empirically supported as well. However, contrary to the expectation, the posited relationship between celebrity involvement and destination images was not empirically supported. The results supported all the hypothesized relationships within the second model. The level of celebrity involvement positively affects constraints negotiation and frequency of participation in celebrity fandom activities. The study also found that the level of leisure constraints positively influence constraints negotiation and frequency of participation. The positive relationship between constraints negotiation and frequency of participation was empirically supported as well. This dissertation study makes several significant contributions to existing literature in the field of tourism and leisure studies. First of all, it introduces a concept of celebrity fandom to the field of tourism studies. Second, although leisure involvement has received widespread attention over the last two decades, its application to celebrity fandom has gone virtually ignored. Third, in spite of conceptual and operational parallels between leisure involvement and motivation, the possible interchangeability between the two concepts has never been empirically examined. Lastly, this research helps clarify the effects of leisure involvement on the leisure negotiation processes, which eventually contributes to making this mitigation model more comprehensive.

This dissertation research was conducted to help understand this under-researched area particularly in the field of leisure and tourism. It is argued in this study that the celebrity fandom is a novel form of leisure/tourism activity, which should be understood in relation to other leisure and tourism constructs. Two separate models were proposed: one model was concerned with the impacts of celebrity involvement on various tourism perceptions, and the other model investigated the efficacy of celebrity involvement within the constraints-effects-mitigation model. The results corroborated several hypothesized relationships within the first proposed model. The level of celebrity involvement positively affected destination familiarity and visitation intention. Destination images and familiarity were also positively related to visitation intentions. The positive association between affective images and cognitive images was empirically supported as well. However, contrary to the expectation, the posited relationship between celebrity involvement and destination images was not empirically supported. The results supported all the hypothesized relationships within the second model. The level of celebrity involvement positively affects constraints negotiation and frequency of participation in celebrity fandom activities. The study also found that the level of leisure constraints positively influence constraints negotiation and frequency of participation. The positive relationship between constraints negotiation and frequency of participation was empirically supported as well. This dissertation study makes several significant contributions to existing literature in the field of tourism and leisure studies. First of all, it introduces a concept of celebrity fandom to the field of tourism studies. Second, although leisure involvement has received widespread attention over the last two decades, its application to celebrity fandom has gone virtually ignored. Third, in spite of conceptual and operational parallels between leisure involvement and motivation, the possible interchangeability between the two concepts has never been empirically examined. Lastly, this research helps clarify the effects of leisure involvement on the leisure negotiation processes, which eventually contributes to making this mitigation model more comprehensive.

Fandom is, as scholars in relevant areas of Media Studies and Sociology attest, a vibrant aspect of contemporary culture and influential in individuals' expression and construction of their identities. This thesis examines and endeavours to challenge how fandom, defined as "emotionally involved consumption of a given popular narrative or text," is conceived and received in contemporary art. It addresses misconceptions about art by four artists who explicitly express their fan identities in their artwork and examines how a finer understanding of fandom can enrich contemporary art discourse and illuminate the artists' works. Bringing together the fields of art criticism and cultural studies, the thesis explores the impact of contemporary artists' fandom on their depiction of celebrities and the critical reception these artworks have received. The principal artists whose works and fan identities are analysed are: Ryan McGinley (b. Ramsey, New Jersey, 1977-), Elizabeth Peyton (b. Danbury, Connecticut, 1965-), Karen Kilimnik (b. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1955-) and Stella Vine (b. Alnwick, England, 1969). In addition to these, art works by eleven other prominent late twentieth and early twenty-first century artists are presented as revealing contrasts. These artists, the principal artists and their comparisons, all are not only doing something interesting artistically; their work presents different approaches to expansive concerns about the nature and function of fans and celebrity in wider culture. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate how fandom manifests itself in artists' work, whether fan feelings are discernible in their artwork and how admissions of fandom, either through artists' public declarations or evidence in their art, influence critical interpretation of art and colours public perception of the artists themselves.