Purpose – This study seeks to explore residents’ attitudes towards cultural events in Nelson Mandela Bay (NMB), South Africa. The study further discusses the cultural values and social realities of the diverse socio-economic landscape inherent to the city. Equally, the extent of stakeholder involvement has been reflected throughout the study as an indispensable requirement towards sustainable tourism in the city. The study presents that customising cultural events according to the cross-cultural typology has far-reaching consequences in enhancing the image of NMB and induces stakeholder engagement. This study is based on the notion of Social Capital and Stakeholder theory and draws on the multi-cultural phenomenon as the thrust of the study is based on attracting residents’ to cultural events. The literature study indicated that the concept of Social Capital and stakeholder collaboration are mutually exclusive and empirical analysis indicates a strong relationship between the factors relative to residents’ attitudes. Design/Methodology/Approach – This study is located in the positivism paradigm and comprises literature and exploratory research to examine the supposition between the independent variables and the attitudes of residents’ in the NMB. The independent variables underlined in the proposed model are embedded in the literature undertaken. Equally, the thrust of the study is underpinned in Social Capital theory and the Stakeholder theory and is evident throughout this study. In this study, the convenience sampling and snowball sampling methods were employed to obtain a representative sample of residents from the NMB. A questionnaire was used in this study to solicit responses pertaining to the biographical information and questions relating to the factors of perceived satisfaction of residents in the NMB in relation to cultural events. A total number of 3,659 residents participated in this study. The researcher conducted this study by means of testing the constructs of the measuring instrument employed, as well as providing a causal model of relationships between the independent variables and the residents’ attitudes of cultural events in NMB. Findings – The results confirm the reliability and validity of the scales tested on a sample of 3,659 residents, collected using the questionnaire in Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan area. The empirical analysis indicates relationships among the independent factors; Social Capital and Stakeholder Profile, where a Pearson’s correlation of 0.50 exists. Furthermore, descriptive findings indicate that there is an overall positive tendency in attitudes for cultural events in the city. The practical significance as identified in the Cohen’s d test for significance infers that the moderating factors in the conceptual model prove that age, area code, home language, ethnicity and home language exert influence in determining residents’ attitudes in the city. Practical Implications – This study identifies the importance of leveraging the cross-cultural typology underscored the Stakeholder theory. Equally, for destination marketing organisations (DMOs) this study can glean insights in respect of the profile of residents for cultural event marketing and their response as stakeholders in the organisation of a cultural event. Social Implications – This study aims to gain a better understanding of the residents’ attitudes of the cultural events hosted by the NMB, its Social Capital and its relationship with varying demographic niches and cultural-centric insights that align to the ideologies pertaining to global citizenship. Originality/Value – This present study makes a contribution to the theories of Social Capital and Stakeholder theory by investigating its roles in determining residents’ attitudes of cultural events in a city. Moreover, it discusses the role of the factors as inducing variables for residents’ motivation by employing marketing principles related to the unique and emotional selling proposition philosophy. Equally, the study espouses the significance of promoting cultural events to extent that it acts as a platform to promote socio-economic development; employment opportunities, improved living standards, improving city infrastructure and environmental protection of a destination and justifies the expedition of Social Capital on the attitudes of residents’.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:26976 |
Date | January 2016 |
Creators | Boucher, Sasha Marilyn, Calitz, André |
Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
Language | English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Thesis, Masters, MBA |
Format | xiii, 138 leaves, pdf |
Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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