Kristi L. Baker a & Jason Draper a a Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, University of Houston, Houston, Texas

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1 This article was downloaded by: [University of Houston], [Jason Draper] On: 24 May 2013, At: 06:36 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: Registered office: Mortimer House, Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Convention & Event Tourism Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: Importance Performance Analysis of the Attributes of a Cultural Festival Kristi L. Baker a & Jason Draper a a Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, University of Houston, Houston, Texas To cite this article: Kristi L. Baker & Jason Draper (2013): Importance Performance Analysis of the Attributes of a Cultural Festival, Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 14:2, To link to this article: PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Full terms and conditions of use: This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.

2 Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 14: , 2013 Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: print / online DOI: / Importance Performance Analysis of the Attributes of a Cultural Festival KRISTI L. BAKER and JASON DRAPER Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, University of Houston, Houston, Texas The purpose of this study is to conduct an importance performance analysis on the attributes of a cultural festival. The analysis identified 12 of 20 attributes with significant differences, with seven being importance exceeding performance. Several of the seven differences were related to the authenticity of the Italian culture at the event. In addition, principal components analysis was conducted on the importance scale and differences across demographic items examined on the three components that were identified. These differences provide festival planners with knowledge to improve their performance, close the importance performance gap, and understand differences in motivation among attendees. KEYWORDS cultural festiva, festival attribute, attendee motivation, importance performance analysis INTRODUCTION Festivals are an increasingly popular recreation and tourism product that has grown in the number and size of events over the past few decades (Getz, 1991; Nicholson & Pearce, 2001). There are several reasons communities and/or organizations may create and implement festivals. Festivals may help a community share and educate others of its culture, history, or other unique attributes. Festivals may also be created as a catalyst for the local tourism industry to generate spending by visitors. As a result of the ever increasing The authors would like to thank the Festa Italiana Planning Committee for sponsoring this project. Address correspondence to Jason Draper, Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, 229 C. N. Hilton Hotel & College, University of Houston, Houston, TX jadraper@uh.edu 104

3 Attributes of a Cultural Festival 105 importance, festivals and events have received an increasing amount of attention and research from the academic community (Li & Petrick, 2006). In order to be successful, festival planners need to understand what motivates attendees to participate in a respective festival, as well as be able to deliver the attributes desired by attendees. While understanding the motivations of festival attendees is important for festival organizers, it is also important to understand if the festival is fulfilling the need that has motivated attendees. By assessing the gaps between motivations and a festival s ability to fulfill the attributes desired by attendees the festival planners can better plan their festival in the future. For example, festival planners might identify areas in which they are exceeding the expectations or motivations of festival attendees. Conversely, if an attribute is identified as important to attendees, but the attendees indicate the festival is not sufficiently providing an attribute (i.e., motivation level is lower than agreement that the festival provided the motive), planners can work to improve the respective festival attributes. Therefore, the purpose of this study is four-fold. First, the study assesses the motivations of visitors to Festa Italiana, an Italian cultural festival held annually in Houston, Texas. Second, the study assesses the festival s ability to provide the attributes that motivate attendees to participate in the festival. Third, the study conducts an importance performance analysis between the attributes that motivate attendees to visit the festival and Festa Italiana s ability to provide the desired attributes, according to attendees. Finally, principal components analysis (PCA) is conducted on the importance or motivation items to reduce the number of items and test for differences based on demographic variables. LITERATURE REVIEW Motivation Iso-Ahola (1982) explains motivation of tourists as having two forces: seeking and escaping. The two motivational forces also apply in recreation and leisure, including attending a festival. The seeking component of motivation suggests that individuals seek something new, or personal or interpersonal rewards. The escape component suggests people are trying to leave behind their everyday life, which includes both personal (e.g., personal challenges or problems) and interpersonal (e.g., co-workers and/or family) environments. The aspects are not mutually exclusive, as travelers, recreationists, and festival attendees likely possess a combination of reasons for participating in an activity, such as attending a festival, especially given the growth of festivals and events (Getz, 1991; Nicholson & Pearce, 2001). Festival Attendee Motivation As mentioned by Li and Petrick (2006), the literature regarding motivation to attend festivals and events is relatively small, but emerging. Some of the

4 106 K. L. Baker and J. Draper relatively few studies of motivation to attend festivals and events includes studies that examine who and why people attend special events (Nicholson & Pearce, 2000, 2001) if motives differ across socio-demographic variables (e.g., education, income, gender; Yolal, Centinel, & Uysal, 2009; Yuan, Cai, Morrison, & Linton, 2005), ethnicity and nationality (Lee, 2000; Lee, Lee, & Wicks, 2004), and compare motivations across attendees of different festivals and related products and activities (Crompton & McKay, 1997; Scott, 1996; Yolal, Woo, Cetinel, & Uysal, 2012). Inherently for special event planners, it is important to identify who and why people attend their event. In assessing who attends events, Nicholson and Pearce (2000) compared the demographics of four different events in New Zealand. Two events were focused on food and beverage, an air show, and the fourth a country music festival. The authors identified significant differences between socio-demographic (e.g., age, gender, and occupation) variables across the groups, as well as group characteristics, such as if respondents attended the event with two or more other people and the type of group (e.g., family and friends). The authors concluded that aside from the two food-related events, different events tend to attract different profiles or demographics of attendees. Consequently, Nicholson and Pearce (2001) examined why attendees went to the four different events. The top reason for each event was related to the main theme. Understanding who attends events and why are important in terms of practical implications for event planners. It allows them to identify the profile of their attendees and attempt to identify similar groups of people and market the event in order to grow in terms of popularity and attendance. In terms of studies examining differences in motivation across sociodemographic variables, research has identified significant differences in motivation for variables such as age, gender, education, income, and marital status (Yolal et al., 2009; Yuan et al., 2005). Yolal et al. (2009) found that females were more motivated by escape and excitement, while males by family togetherness and event novelty. In a study to test for differences in motivation for attending wine festivals across socio-demographic variables, Yuan et al. (2005) found differences for some of the motivations for age, education, marital status, income, and gender. Lee (2000) compared motivation of White and Asian attendees of the Kyongju World Cultural Expo held in Asia. After factor analysis identified seven dimensions of motivation, comparisons were made for the factors across two Asian (i.e., Korean and Japanese) and two White (i.e., American and European) ethnicities. Comparisons of the two Asian groups revealed significant differences for two motivations, escape and socialization. Comparing Americans and Europeans did not reveal any significant differences. Three motivation factors (i.e., cultural exploration, novelty, and event attraction ) were significantly different when comparing each of the Asian ethnicities with each of the White ethnicities. In a study of the motivation of the same festival, Lee et al. (2004) cluster analyzed attendees based on

5 Attributes of a Cultural Festival 107 motivational factors and then tested for differences between the two groups of attendees (i.e., domestic and foreign). The study identified six motivation factors and four clusters. The study did identify differences between foreign and domestic attendees and the authors suggest the results indicate event planners should pay special attention to the desires of foreign participants. Crompton and McKay (1997) identified seven motivation factors of festival attendees and then tested for differences across five different types of events, including parades, balls, food, music, and shows. For food festivals or events the motivational factor cultural exploration was a significantly weaker motive compared to all other motivations. Scott (1996) compared attendees of three different festivals and their motivation for attending. The study also compared repeat and first time attendees of each festival. Repeat attendees were significantly more motivated by nature appreciation and event excitement and first time attendees by family togetherness and curiosity. In a more recent study, Yolal et al. (2012) examined the motivations of festival attendees for different types of festival related products. The authors examined for differences in motivation of people who attend different music, dance, and performing arts festival products. Some significant findings include attendees of rock music festivals having a significantly lower family togetherness motivation compared to all of the other types of festivals included in the study. Much of the research related to motivation to attend festivals and events focuses on differences across socio-demographic items and relationships to other variables (e.g., satisfaction, future intentions). Little or no research has been identified that not only asks attendees about their motivations for attending a festival, but then asks the attendees if the festival was able to deliver on those motives. In other words, little research has asked attendees about their motives or the importance of various attributes of a festival and then asked how well the festival performed. Importance Performance Analysis Importance performance analysis was developed by Martilla and James (1977) to assess how well an organization or business was able to deliver attributes desired by their customers. Testing the framework in an automobile service context, Martilla and James (1977) indicate two basic questions about each attribute being tested: how important is this feature and how well did the dealer perform (p. 77). Resulting from the importance performance analysis organizations can classify performance of each attribute into one of four categories. The first category Martilla and James (1977) identify as concentrate here, where the attribute is important to customers, but they had low satisfaction with the business or organization s ability to provide it. Second, keep up the good work is where the attribute is important to the customer and they are satisfied with the service. Third, low

6 108 K. L. Baker and J. Draper priority indicates an attribute that is not as important to customers, who also rate their satisfaction with the attribute as low. Finally, possible overkill represents a comparison where the customers are satisfied with the delivery of the attribute, but it is a low priority in terms of importance to customers. Importance performance analysis was adopted as a research framework in hospitality and tourism and has been used for years (Oh, 2001). However, few studies could be found where the importance performance framework was used for festivals or events. One example of how the importance performance framework has been used in hospitality and tourism is for a study of a culinary event (Smith & Costello, 2009). Smith and Costello (2009) conducted an importance performance analysis of 27 items measuring pull motivation attributes for attending a barbecue cooking competition. Of the 27 items compared in the study, 26 were significantly different with importance being rated higher than performance. As a result, the study reports a number of recommendations to help possibly close the gap between the importance and performance results. It is important for festival organizers, especially for regularly occurring festivals, to not only know what motivates their attendees to attend, but also what attributes the event fulfills and what attributes they need to improve or enhance. Tafesse, Korneliussen, and Skallerud (2010) conducted an importance-performance analysis for a trade show for benchmarking purposes regarding nine activities related to a trade show. Seven of the nine activities resulted in a significantly higher performance expectation measure than perceived performance, resulting in practical areas in which the show can work to improve. Both the Smith and Costello (2009) and Tafesse et al. (2010) studies show that conducting importance performance analysis studies for festivals and events will help organizers identify areas for improvement. METHODS Study Event Festa Italiana is an Italian cultural festival organized by the Italian Cultural and Community Center in Houston, Texas ( 34th Houston Italian Festival, 2012). The purpose of the festival is to educate and maintain the Italian culture for Houstonians, as well as visitors to Houston who attend the annual festival. Festival organizers estimate the event has grown to about 18,000 attendees per year. Festa Italiana provides Houstonians and others the opportunity to learn about the Italian culture through a variety of events (e.g., wine tastings, cooking demonstrations, bocce tournament, pasta eating contest, and children s activities), entertainment (e.g., music), and opportunities to taste Italian food. The 2011 Festa Italiana was the 33rd year of Houston s Italian cultural festival.

7 Attributes of a Cultural Festival 109 Sample Respondents for this study were intercepted at Festa Italiana in October 2011 at the two main entry gates. Festa Italiana occurred over a three-day period (i.e., Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) in Attendees were intercepted for a 4-hour period Friday due to the event starting late in the afternoon. For Saturday and Sunday, 2 sets of 2-hour intervals were randomly selected. This was done to get as a representative sample as possible of the festival attendees. Sampling for each time interval also started with a random starting point. Once those intercepting attendees finished talking to a group entering or exiting, they approached the next group. While talking to an individual or group, others passed by those intercepting attendees. Festival attendees were informed of the purpose of the study and asked to provide their name and address to receive an request to complete an online questionnaire. Attendees were also informed participating in the study would qualify them for a drawing that was used as an incentive. The Festa Italiana planning committee provided $25 gift cards (n = 10) and a case of wine (grand prize) for the incentive drawing. In order to be qualified for the drawing, respondents had to complete the online questionnaire and provide an address upon completion, which was only used to contact the winners of the drawing. A total of 776 names and addresses were collected. Since attendees had to agree to participate and provide an to receive the online questionnaire, a non-response check against those who refused was not feasible. Questionnaire The items to measure importance and performance of the festival attributes for this study were modified from a study that examined motivations toward visiting a wine tourism destination (Sparks, 2007). The items used by Sparks (2007) were very similar to those found in festival and event motivation studies and, therefore, with some slight modifications utilized in this cultural festival study. In addition, a few statements not in the Sparks (2007) study were added for the current study based on characteristics of the study festival. First, to assess motivations, or the importance of various festival attributes, the questionnaire included a series of statements requesting respondents to indicate how important (1 = not at all important to 5 = extremely important) each attribute was in the decision to attend Festa Italiana. Appendix A provides a copy of the questions from the study that were included in analysis for this article. In order to assess Festa Italiana s performance on the key attributes that motivate attendees to attend the festival, the items used in the importance scale were slightly modified, when necessary, and respondents were asked their level of agreement that the festival provided the attributes. The festival s

8 110 K. L. Baker and J. Draper performance measures for the attributes desired by attendees were measured on a scale of 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Data Collection Prior to sending the link to the online questionnaire to the list of attendees intercepted at Festa Italiana, a pretest was conducted. The purpose of the pretest was to ensure wording of the scale items were clear and revise if necessary in order to minimize non-response to items on the questionnaire. The two sets of items were distributed to 25 students at the University of Houston to provide feedback on clarity and item wording. Minor modifications were made after the pretest. Data for the main portion of this study were collected using a modified Dillman (2007) procedure. The names and addresses collected during the event, along with the questionnaire, were programmed into an online survey software system. Festa Italiana attendees that provided an e- mail address were sent a series of s (n = 3) including a cover letter reminding them of the study and their rights as participants, as well as a link to the online questionnaire. Once respondents completed the online questionnaire they were excluded from subsequent reminders. A total of 365 festival attendees participated in the study, representing a 47.0% response rate. However, 23 cases were excluded from analysis due to large amounts of missing data and 10 cases that responded to most of the scale items with the same value. As a result, 332 cases were used for data analysis for this article. However, a number of respondents did not complete every item on the online questionnaire and excluded from respective analysis by Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). RESULTS Festa Italiana Attendee Demographics Table 1 presents the demographic characteristics of attendees to Festa Italiana in Just over two-thirds (67.0%) of respondents were female. The average age of respondents was years. Respondents were fairly well educated, with 73.9% being a college graduate or having obtained a higher degree, as well as fairly wealthy with more than half (54.4%) having a household income of $80,000 or more. Just over one-fourth (27.0%) of the respondents indicated they are of Italian descent. Including the current year respondents have attended Festa Italiana an average of more than two times (mean [M] = 2.43; standard deviation [SD] = 3.52) and 61.0% indicated this was their first time attending the event. In addition, respondents were asked for a zip code to determine their place of residence. Close to all of the respondents resided in Houston and most were in close proximity to the festival site. Prior

9 Attributes of a Cultural Festival 111 TABLE 1 Frequency Distribution for Demographics Frequency Percentage (%) Mean (Standard Deviation) Gender Female Male Total Age (14.52) Total Highest education level Some high school or less Some college/technical school College graduate Master s degree Doctorate degree Total Household income Less than $20, $20,000 39, $40,000 59, $60,000 79, $80,000 99, $100, , $150, , $200,000 and above Total Italian descent Yes No to the current study, no research had ever been conducted for the festival. Therefore, there is no prior data to determine how representative this study is of the general attendees. Importance Performance Analysis of Key Attributes To conduct the importance performance analysis a series of dependent sample t-tests were conducted between the importance of the attribute and Festa Italiana s performance for each attribute. Dependent sample t-tests, also referred to as matched pairs, are conducted when comparing the observations of a first set of items with those of a second or subsequent set of items (Agresti & Finlay, 2009). In this study, the matched pairs are the importance item and corresponding performance item where respondents were asked to indicate the level of agreement that Festa Italiana was able

10 112 K. L. Baker and J. Draper TABLE 2 Comparison of Importance and Agreement Scale Responses Importance a Performance b Key Attribute Scale Statement Mean (SD) Mean (SD) Significance Test An opportunity to try authentic 4.14 (0.93) 3.79 (0.97) t = 5.39 Italian food A unique festival experience 3.96 (0.92) 3.50 (0.99) t = 6.35 Opportunities to purchase Italian 3.87 (1.09) 3.49 (1.04) t = 5.15 food or products at a reasonable price Opportunities to experience 3.79 (1.00) 3.79 (0.83) t = 0.36 Italian culture An opportunity to experience 3.78 (1.07) 3.84 (0.92) t = 0.57 authentic Italian music Opportunities for me to escape 3.77 (1.06) 4.01 (0.84) t = 4.26 from the routine of daily life The festival takes place in an 3.75 (0.97) 3.89 (0.88) t = 1.97 attractive setting A chance to learn about a 3.71 (1.05) 3.50 (0.94) t = 3.28 country s people through cultural events An opportunity for me to escape 3.66 (1.14) 3.76 (0.96) t = 1.52 from the stress of daily life An authentic Italian experience 3.61 (1.03) 3.46 (1.00) t = 1.96 An opportunity to try authentic 3.59 (1.29) 3.74 (0.91) t = 1.73 Italian wine Regional produce unique to Italy 3.40 (1.17) 3.04 (1.01) t = 4.30 Indulgent experiences 3.37 (1.12) 3.59 (1.02) t = 2.74 A festival experience that is new 3.35 (1.15) 2.95 (1.10) t = 5.15 to me An opportunity to feel 3.15 (1.09) 3.17 (0.97) t = 0.05 enlightened Opportunities to purchase rare 3.14 (1.28) 3.13 (1.05) t = 0.25 Italian products not readily available An opportunity to feel inspired 3.09 (1.19) 3.19 (1.03) t = 1.70 Meeting and talking to members 2.93 (1.18) 3.32 (0.94) t = 5.44 of the Italian community An experience that allows me to 2.91 (1.18) 2.92 (1.03) t = 0.47 develop as a person An opportunity to learn new skills 2.63 (1.20) 2.87 (1.02) t = 3.09 a Measured on a scale of 1 = not at all important to 5 = extremely important. b Measured on a scale of 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < Note. Bolded items are for significant results on the dependent samples t-tests the measure (i.e., importance of performance) that is significantly higher than the other. provide the respective festival attribute. In order for a case or respondent to be included in the analysis for each pair of items they must have responded to both the corresponding importance and performance items. Table 2 provides the descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation)

11 Attributes of a Cultural Festival 113 for the importance and performance for each attribute, as well as dependent sample t test results. Table 2 provides the wording for the importance items, which are in descending order by the mean for the motivation or importance items. In terms of the importance of the festival attributes, trying unique Italian food (M = 4.14; SD =.93) was the most important motivation for attending Festa Italiana, followed by experiencing a unique festival experience (M = 3.96; SD =.92), opportunities to purchase Italian food or products at reasonable prices (M = 3.87; SD = 1.09), opportunities to experience Italian culture (M = 3.79; SD = 1.00), and opportunity to experience authentic Italian music (M = 3.78; SD = 1.07). Four of the top five most important attributes for attending Festa Italiana, according to attendees, have to do with Italian-specific (e.g., food, culture, and music) attributes. The other item in the top five reflects the uniqueness of the festival. The top five attributes in terms of Festa Italiana s performance include opportunities to escape from the routine of daily life (M = 4.01; SD =.84), the festival takes place in an attractive setting (M = 3.89; SD =.88), Festa Italiana provides an opportunity to experience authentic Italian music (M = 3.84; SD =.92), the festival provides opportunities to try authentic Italian food (M = 3.79; SD =.97), and the event provides an opportunity to experience Italian culture (M = 3.79; SD =.83). Three of the top five performance measures for Festa Italiana were Italian specific, while the other two were more general about escaping one s daily routine and setting. A series of dependent samples t-tests were used to conduct the importance performance analysis. Twelve of the 20 comparisons were significant. Of the 12 significant comparisons, 7 resulted in a higher importance rating than performance measure, indicating areas where festival planners might focus to improve their performance and better provide what is important to Festa Italiana attendees. Of the seven comparisons with a higher importance measure five are Italian specific, including an opportunity to try authentic Italian food, purchase Italian food or products at a reasonable price, chance to learn about a country s people, and an authentic Italian experience. Thus, these results provide festival planners with certain aspects of the Italian experience where there are areas for improvement. A common theme of the items where the importance measure is less than the performance rating is they are mostly more general attributes, rather than the Italian-specific. For example, Festa Italiana s performance was significantly greater than respondents importance for such items as opportunities to escape from the routine of daily life, the festival takes place in an attractive setting, provides indulgent experiences, and opportunity to learn new skills. An Italian specific measure where performance is significantly greater than the importance measure is being able to meet and talk to members of the Italian community.

12 114 K. L. Baker and J. Draper TABLE 3 Principal Components Analysis Results of Motivation Items Culture Products Escape An opportunity to feel enlightened.88 Meeting and talking with members of the.84 Italian community An experience that allows me to develop.70 as a person A chance to learn about a country s.70 people through cultural events An opportunity to feel inspired.69 An authentic Italian experience.67 An opportunity to learn new skills.66 Opportunities to experience Italian.62 culture Opportunities to purchase Italian food or.87 products at a reasonable price An opportunity to try authentic Italian.85 food Regional produce unique to Italy.75 A unique festival experience.63 Opportunities to purchase rare Italian.63 products not readily available An opportunity to experience authentic.60 Italian music An opportunity to try authentic Italian.59 wine Opportunities for me to escape from the.88 routine of daily life An opportunity for me to escape from.86 the stress of daily life Indulgent experiences.61 A festival experience that is new to me.43 Cronbach s Alpha Eigenvalues Variance explained Principal Components Analysis and Differences in Motivation by Demographics To further examine motivations for attending Festa Italiana, principal components analysis with Promax rotation was conducted to reduce the number of items to components (Table 3). A scree plot and parallel analysis were used to determine how many components and only loadings above.40 were included. Three and four component structures were examined. Three components provided the simplest and easiest to interpret structure. One item (i.e., the festival takes place at an attractive setting) did not load sufficiently. The first component primarily revolves around experiencing Italian culture, the second Italian products including food and wine, and the third escape from daily life and new experiences. All three components had reliabilities above the recommended cutoff of.70 (Pallant, 2005). In addition, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (.90) exceeded the

13 Attributes of a Cultural Festival 115 TABLE 4 Significance Tests by Demographics for Importance Components Culture Products Escape Means (Standard Deviations) Gender Male 3.06 (0.81) 3.47 (0.83) 3.36 (0.82) Female 3.34 (0.86) 3.83 (0.79) 3.66 (0.84) t = 2.65, p =.008t = 3.66, p <.001 t = 2.87, p =.004 Italian descent Yes 3.48 (0.86) 3.89 (0.93) 3.51 (0.88) No 3.17 (0.83) 3.65 (0.77) 3.60 (0.81) t = 2.92, p =.004 t = 2.06, p =.042 t = 0.92, p =.357 Highest education level Some high school or less 3.33 (0.97) 3.63 (0.95) 3.70 (1.13) Some college/technical school 3.37 (0.70) 3.81 (0.72) 3.60 (0.88) College graduate 3.22 (0.89) 3.70 (0.82) 3.54 (0.83) Master s degree 3.21 (0.84) 3.68 (0.87) 3.63 (0.74) Doctorate degree 2.83 (1.07) 3.33 (0.84) 3.11 (0.91) F = 1.41, p =.231 F = 1.15, p =.331 F = 1.42, p =.227 Household income Less than $20, (0.83) 3.27 (0.89) 3.51 (0.77) $20,000 39, (0.88) 4.08 (0.71) 3.99 (0.73) $40,000 59, (0.86) 3.91 (0.78) 3.77 (0.68) $60,000 79, (0.71) 3.71 (0.72) 3.69 (0.80) $80,000 99, (0.82) 3.75 (0.77) 3.67 (0.73) $100, , (0.84) 3.64 (0.90) 3.42 (0.89) $150, , (0.78) 3.56 (0.73) 3.26 (0.83) $200,000 and above 3.30 (0.90) 3.73 (0.85) 3.70 (0.88) F = 2.97, p =.005 F = 2.23, p =.032 F = 2.42, p =.020 recommended minimum of.60 and Bartlett s Test of Sphericity was significant (p <.001; Pallant, 2005). The variance explained cumulatively by the three factors is 60.67%. A series of tests using demographic variables as predictor variables and the three motivation or importance components as outcome variables were conducted to see if motivations vary according to attendee characteristics (Table 4). The importance components variables were created by taking the mean of the items that loaded onto each component. Independent samples t-tests revealed significant differences for all three components by gender. For each importance component females had a significantly higher rating compared to males. Independent samples t-tests revealed significant differences for the importance of culture and products by the Italian descent (i.e., yes or no) variable. Those of Italian descent indicated culture and products were significantly more important in deciding to attend Festa Italiana compared to those who are not of Italian descent. No significant differences were found when running analysis of variance (ANOVA) to test for differences in the importance of the three components by education. Therefore, no post hoc tests were conducted.

14 116 K. L. Baker and J. Draper The ANOVAs by household income revealed significant differences for all three importance components. The Levene s test of homogeneity of variance for each ANOVA was not significant and Tukey Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) post hoc tests were conducted to determine which household income intervals were significantly different. The group with a household income of $20,000 39,999 (M = 3.75, SD =.88) placed the most importance on the culture component and significantly more than those with a household income less than $20,000 (M = 2.92, SD =.83), $100, ,999 (M = 3.08, SD =.84), and $150, ,999 (M = 2.93, SD =.78). The $20,000 39,999 (M = 4.08, SD =.71) household income group also placed a significantly more amount of importance on the products component compared to the less than $20,000 (M = 3.27, SD =.89) group. Only one significant difference was found in the post hoc tests for the escape component where the $20,000 39,999 (M = 3.99, SD =.73) household income group placed a higher level of importance on escape compared to the $150, ,999 (M = 3.26, SD =.83) household income group. DISCUSSION The purpose of this study is to assess the importance of various attributes of a festival in deciding to attend, the ability of the festival to provide those attributes, conduct an importance performance analysis between the two, and to examine differences by demographic variables on the components of the importance or motivation items. Designed by Martilla and James (1977), importance performance analysis can help organizations, such as the Festa Italiana planning committee, identify the preferences of customers, or festival attendees in this case, and the ability to fulfill or satisfy those expectations. Twelve of the 20 items in the study resulted in significant differences for the importance performance analysis, which provide practical implications for the Festa Italiana planning committee. By examining differences by demographics on the broader dimensions of motivation for attending festival organizers can identify the broader themes that different groups of attendees prefer. Then, organizers can develop additional activities, entertainment, and/or products that provide such opportunities. Seven of the 12 significant differences between importance and performance measures resulted in significantly higher importance measurement compared to the performance of Festa Italiana at delivering the respective attributes. The items resulting in significantly higher importance items primarily revolved around aspects of desiring items, food, and experiences that are unique or authentic to Italy. As a result, the festival organizers can focus on increasing the authenticity of these aspects of the festival. Festival attendees may have felt that such aspects of the festival such as the food

15 Attributes of a Cultural Festival 117 were too Americanized rather than authentic Italian examples. Therefore, Festa Italiana organizers might search for more authentic restaurants to rent a booth at the festival. Another example where the importance exceeded the performance was attendees learning about a country s people through cultural events. As a result, festival planners might explore the possibility of inviting representatives from the different regions of Italy to attend the festival and provide additional educational sessions. Having representatives from the respective regions would help with the authenticity and knowledge of the regions given that the individuals live in the respective regions. The other five significant differences between the importance and performance resulted in significantly higher performance scores compared to importance. Only one of the five items was Italian specific, which was to be able to meet and talk to members of the Italian community. Given the performance is greater than importance it is likely the attendees wanted to meet and talk to members of Houston s Italian community. The other four items generally revolved around attendees being able to escape the routine of daily life and get new experiences. While most of the festival attendees live close to the festival grounds, Festa Italiana provided them that escape and something they do not experience every day. These festival attributes where performance exceeded importance are attributes Festa Italiana seems to not need to worry about or improve on for attendees at this point. After the PCA was conducted and identified three components (i.e., culture, products, and escape) a number of differences by demographic variables were found. Females placed significantly more importance on all three components compared to males, suggesting the festival planners may want to focus their marketing efforts on targeting women. Those of Italian descent placed higher levels of importance on the Italian culture and products, while non-italian descent participants sought escape and the type of cultural festival was less important. As a result, festival organizers could develop more unique programs and education about Italian culture and products targeted at the Italian community while placing less emphasis on the festival being Italian for non-italian potential attendees. Significant differences were also found by household income groups. All of the differences found were the $20,000 39,999 household income group placing significantly more importance on each of the components compared to other household income groups. As a result, festival organizers of cultural festivals like Festa Italiana could focus more marketing efforts in communities where this is the typical household income. The results of analyzing the zip codes provided by attendees indicated most attendees reside in the city in which the festival was held, providing an opportunity to market the festival to other local communities with the household income group that placed the most importance on the components they are looking for in a cultural festival.

16 118 K. L. Baker and J. Draper Limitations and Future Research A few limitations of this study should be addressed. First, this study used a convenience sample from one cultural festival. Therefore, generalizing the results should be done with caution. Second, the characteristics of the general attendee are not known. As a result, tests could not be conducted to determine if the respondents that participated in the study are representative of the general attendees. Future research might try to identify a way to gather some socio-demographic data from some of the attendees and determine if those who participate in the full study differ from attendees who are just asked for a few socio-demographic items. A number of future research opportunities could be developed as a result of this study. From a more theoretical perspective, given the importance performance analysis results, research could compare different studies. For example, in other types of events it is plausible that the escaping from daily routine becomes more important than the culture specific items and result in different importance performance analysis outcomes. In addition, to see if the cultural attributes of such festivals are the critical attributes this study could be replicated at other cultural festivals. Very few attendees of the festival in this study were tourists. For festivals that attract both residents and tourists, future studies could compare the two groups to determine if there are differences in the importance of various attributes for attending a cultural festival. The results of the importance performance analysis reveal practical future research opportunities that are important for festival planners. After implementing any changes or enhancements to a festival based on importance performance analysis, follow-up research is necessary to assess subsequent performance based on such changes. As a result, a longitudinal study, such as yearly comparisons on the performance measures, would help festival organizers know if they are performing better on the measures where importance was significantly higher than performance. For example, this study revealed that five Italian specific attributes (e.g., opportunity to try authentic Italian food and purchase Italian food or products at a reasonable price) were important attributes where performance was significantly lower than the importance. Thus, festival organizers should put more emphasis on providing such attributes. Subsequent to more emphasis festival organizers would need to conduct longitudinal studies (e.g., year over year or every couple years) to determine if they are improving their performance at providing such attributes. In addition to longitudinal studies to compare their performance, continuing importance performance analysis of the festival s attributes is important to assess if the festival is closing the gap on attributes where importance is significantly higher than performance.

17 Attributes of a Cultural Festival 119 CONCLUSION In conclusion, this study identified a number of significant differences with the importance performance analysis conducted on the attributes of an Italian cultural festival. Most of the items that had a significant difference were a result of the importance being significantly higher than the performance measure. As a result of the study, Festa Italiana organizers are better equipped to implement changes to close the gaps in the respective attribute items where importance exceeded the performance. However, to continue to be successful, after conducting a study like this, it is importance for festivals to continue to monitor the importance and performance, especially if the results of such a study lead to changes in attributes of the festival, such as attempting to provide more authentic food. REFERENCES 34th Houston Italian Festival. (2012). Retrieved February 20, 2012 from Agresti, A., & Finlay, B. (2009). Statistical methods for the social sciences (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Crompton, J. L., & McKay, S. L. (1997). Motives of visitors attending festival events. Annals of Tourism Research, 24(2), Dillman, D. A. (2007). Mail and internet surveys: The tailored design method (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Getz D. (1991). Festivals, special events, and tourism. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. Iso-Ahola, S. E. (1982). Toward a social psychological theory of tourism motivation: A rejoinder. Annals of Tourism Research, 9(6), Lee, C.-K. (2000). A comparative study of Caucasian and Asian visitors to a cultural expo in an Asian setting. Tourism Management, 21(2), Lee, C.-K., Lee, Y.-K., & Wicks, B. E. (2004). Segmentation of festival motivation by nationality and satisfaction. Tourism Management, 25(1), Li, X., & Petrick, J. F. (2006). A review of festival and event motivation studies. Event Management, 9(4), Martilla, J. A., & James, J. C. (1977). Importance-performance analysis. Journal of Marketing, 41(1), Nicholson, R. E., & Pearce, D. G. (2000). Who goes to events: A comparative analysis of the profile characteristics of visitors to four South Island events in New Zealand. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 6(3), Nicholson, R. E., & Pearce, D. G. (2001). Why do people attend events: A comparative analysis of visitor motivations at four south island events. Journal of Travel Research, 39, Oh, H. (2001). Revisiting importance performance analysis. Tourism Management, 22,

18 120 K. L. Baker and J. Draper Pallant, J. (2005). SPSS survival guide (2nd ed.). New York: Open University Press. Scott, D. (1996). A comparison of visitors motivations to attend three urban festivals. Festival Management & Event Tourism, 3, Smith, S., & Costello, C. (2009). Culinary tourism: Satisfaction with a culinary event utilizing importance-performance grid analysis. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 15(2), Sparks, B. (2007). Planning a wine tourism vacation? Factors that help predict tourist behavioural intentions. Tourism Management, 28(5), Tafesse, W., Korneliussen, T., & Skallerud, K. (2010). Importance performance analysis as a trade show performance evaluation and benchmarking tool. Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 11(4), Yolal, M., Cetinel, F., & Uysal, M. (2009). An examination of festival motivation and perceived benefits relationship: Eskisehir International Festival. Journal of Convention & Event Tourism, 10, Yolal, M., Woo, E., Cetinel, F., & Uysal, M. (2012). Comparative research of motivations across different festival products. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 3(1), Yuan, J. J., Cai, L. A., Morrison, A. M., & Linton, S. (2005). An analysis of wine festival attendees motivations: A synergy of wine, travel, and special events? Journal of Vacation Marketing, 11(1),

19 Appendix A Using a 5-point scale, please rate how important each of the following items is when making a decision to attend Festa Italiana. Not at all Slightly Moderately Very Extremely important (1) important (2) important (3) important (4) important (5) An authentic Italian experience (1) Opportunities to experience Italian culture (2) An opportunity to feel enlightened (3) Meeting and talking to members of the Italian community (4) Opportunities for me to escape from the routine of daily life (5) An opportunity to feel inspired (6) Indulgent experiences (7) An experience that allows me to develop as a person (8) The festival takes place in an attractive setting (9) A chance to learn about a country s people through cultural events (10) An opportunity to learn new skills (11) Opportunities to purchase rare Italian products not readily available (12) Opportunities to purchase Italian food or products at a reasonable price (13) Regional produce unique to Italy (14) A unique festival experience (15) A festival experience that is new to me (16) An opportunity for me to escape from the stress of daily life (17) An opportunity to try authentic Italian food. (18) An opportunity to try authentic Italian wine. (19) An opportunity to experience authentic Italian music (20) 121

20 Rate your level of agreement with the following statements. Strongly Neither agree Strongly disagree (1) Disagree (2) nor disagree (3) Agree (4) agree (5) Festa Italiana provided an authentic Italian experience (1) Festa Italiana provided opportunities to experience Italian culture (2) Festa Italiana provided an opportunity to feel enlightened (3) Festa Italiana provided a chance to meet and talk to members of the Italian community (4) Festa Italiana provided opportunities for me to escape from the routine of daily life (5) Festa Italiana provided an opportunity to feel inspired (6) Festa Italiana provided indulgent experiences (7) Festa Italiana provided an experience that allows me to develop as a person (8) Festa Italiana provided an attractive setting for the festival (9) Festa Italiana provided a chance to learn about a country s people through cultural events (10) Festa Italiana provided an opportunity to learn new skills (11) Festa Italiana provided opportunities to purchase rare Italian products not readily available (12) Festa Italiana provided opportunities to purchase Italian food or products at a reasonable price (13) Festa Italiana provided regional produce unique to Italy (14) Festa Italiana provided a unique festival experience (15) Festa Italiana provided a festival experience that is new to me (16) Festa Italiana provided an opportunity for me to escape from the stress of daily life (17) Festa Italiana provided an opportunity to try authentic Italian food. (18) Festa Italiana provided an opportunity to try authentic Italian wine. (19) Festa Italiana provided an opportunity to experience authentic Italian music (20) 122

21 Attributes of a Cultural Festival 123 What is your age? (1) Are you Male (1) Female (2) Which of the following best describes your ethnicity? (Optional) African-American (1) Asian or Asian-American (2) White/Caucasian (3) Hispanic or Hispanic-American (4) Native American (5) Multicultural or mixed ethnicity (6) Other (please specify) (7) Are you of Italian descent? Yes (1) No (2) What is your approximate annual household income before taxes? Less than $20,000 (1) $20,000 39,999 (2) $40,000 59,999 (3) $60,000 79,999 (4) $80,000 99,999 (5) $100, ,999 (6) $150, ,999 (7) $200,000 and above (8) Which of the following best describes the highest level of education you have completed? Some high school or less (1) Some college/technical school (2) College graduate (3) Master s degree (4) Doctorate degree (5)