Perceived image and reputation at festivals
Assessing the different perceptions of consumers who
visited a subsidized festival and consumers who visited
a non-subsidized festival.
Marine Fees
10059431
01-07-2013
Thesis seminar Business studies Supervisor: P.V. Bhansing Academic year: 2012-2013
Abstract
The size and the audience of music festivals have increased substantially over the years in Europe. This does lead to a problem, some music festivals are now experiencing difficulties in attracting enough consumers to make a profit. A substantial part of the music festivals is subsidized. Some music festivals receive a subsidy from the government and other festivals have gained some help from their local department, but every year there a fewer festival receive a subsidy. Every festival has a different kind of audience and this audience has created a certain view of image and reputation. Previous studies found that the concepts image and reputation are two important variables for a firm to be successful, but there has not been any research about how visitors view image and reputation at festivals. Therefore, this study will first of all examine if visitors have a different view of image at festivals that receive a subsidy and festivals that do not receive a subsidy. This study will also try to find if there is a significant relationship between a festival that is subsidized and reputation and the effect of image on these two variables. In order to examine this, a survey was spread among Dutch consumers who visited a Dutch festival. The results show that there is a significant relationship between subsidized festivals and reputation and image also plays a mediated role in it.
Contents
Abstract……….2
1. Introduction………. 5
2. Literature review……….8
2.1 Subsidized versus non-subsidized festivals……….…….8
2.2 Theory on reputation….………...…………..10
2.3 Theory on image…….………...…12
2.4 Conclusion………...….13
3. Conceptual framework……….……….15
3.1 Reputation versus subsidized festivals……..……….….…15
3.2 Images versus subsidized festivals………..16
3.3 Image versus reputation………...………16
3.4 Conclusion………...………...17 4. Methodology………19 4.1 research design………20 4.2 Sample………...22 4.3 Data collection………22 4.4 Measures ……….22 4.4.1 Reputation………23 4.4.2 Image………24 5. Results………..26 5.1 Sample characteristics………...……..26 5.2 Data descriptions……….……27 5.3 Reliability………..28 5.4 Correlations……….29 5.5 Regression analysis……….30
5.5.1 Relationship between image, reputation and subsidized festivals…………...31
5.5.2 Relationship between all the variables……….32
6. Discussion………35
6.1 Differences between reputation, image and subsidized festivals………..…35
6.1.2 The relationship between Subsidized festivals and image……...…………...36
6.1.3 The relationship between image and reputation……….37
6.1.4 The mediated effect of image.………...………….37
6.2 Theoretical implications……….38
6.3 Managerial implications……….39
6.4 Policy implications………..40
6.5 Limitations and suggestions for future research……….40
7. Conclusion………...42
Bibliography………...……….43
1. Introduction
The summer is coming up and that means that the festival season has begun. In the
Netherlands you will find a lot of different types of festivals with different types of music and of course a different kind of audience. The size and the audience of music festivals have increased substantially over the years in Europe (Koranteng, 2004). This does lead to a problem, some music festivals are now experiencing difficulties in attracting enough
consumers to make a profit. The Gypsy festival tried to establish its first festival to support a good cause; Found Children Academy Foundation. Unfortunately they were not able to sell enough tickets, so the festival had to be cancelled. The Gospel March festival had exactly the same problem and couldn’t go through also due to not enough tickets sold.
A substantial part of the music festivals is subsidized. Some music festivals receive a subsidy from the government and other festivals have gained some help from their local department. There are many different types of festival, some festivals have artists who give a performance and some festivals have dj’s or have a combination of a dj and music artists. All these festivals also have their one reputation and image. Reputation and image are two
important concepts in the present competitive environment (Nguyen & Leblanc, 2001). Image and reputation are acknowledged to have a potential to impact on consumer loyalty towards organizations, but they are not yet acknowledged to have an impact on the arts and crafts industry.
Not much has been written about the arts and crafts industry and especially not a lot has been written about how consumers perceive the image and reputation of organizations in this industry. There have been numerous studies with a focus on brand image. Brand image is a concept that has been widely used by practitioners and academics and has become a vital concept for marketing managers within corporations (Dobni & Zinkan, 1990). Dobni and Zinkhan (1990) also state that image has been an important concept in consumer behavior research since the early 1950s. According to Gardner and Levi (1958) products have a social and psychological nature as well as a physical one, and a set of feelings, ideas, attitudes, that consumers have about brands, their image of brands. Reynolds (1965) states that image is a mental construct based upon impressions drawn from a flow of information. According to Martineau (1958) the term image is considered as a sum of functional qualities and psychological characteristics that has its existence in the mind of the consumer.
Reputation has also been studied in different kind of fields; economics, organization theory and marketing. These different fields give a different definition to the concept reputation.
According to Cretu & Brodie (2007) a company’s reputation is likely to have an important influence on the buying processes that is different to the product specific influence of the brand’s image. Hebri and Milewicz (1993) wrote that corporate reputation is formed as a process that accumulates the judgments over time of the various groups who interact with a firm. An organization can therefore have numerous reputations, for different kind of attributes a different kind of reputation is possible. There has been considerable research about an organizations reputation and image, but in previous research image and reputation has been largely independent from each other. Some researchers have investigated the relationship between reputation, image and brand loyalty (Nguyen & Leblanc, 2001). Herbig and Millewicz (1994) have investigated the relationship of reputation and credibility to brand success. Shapiro (1982) found out that the value of a firm’s overall reputation is easily seen in its relationship to a firm’s revenues. As a firm’s reputation improves, so does its sales (Gray & Balmer, 1998). A good understanding of corporate reputation and image can help managers in today’s sensitive business milieu, in order to survive and maintain a recognizable image and favorable reputation (Gray & Balmer, 1998).
This paper will have a focus on the two concepts of reputation and image and how consumers of music festivals perceive these two concepts. The perception of image and reputation of consumers of festivals that are subsidized and that are not subsidized has not been analyzed before. A lot of literature is written about image and reputation and how it can help managers run their organizations but nothing has been written about how managers can improve their festivals with the concepts image and reputation.
In order to fill the gap in the literature about what kind of perception consumers have on the concepts reputation and image with music festivals that receive a subsidy and music festivals that do not receive a subsidy, this paper will investigate consumers with different demographics who visit music festivals. For this research two research questions are developed, the first question is: Do consumers who visit music festivals that are subsidized
have a different perception on reputation and image than consumers who visit festivals that are not subsidized? The second question is: Does image has a mediated effect on the
relationship between the two types of festival and reputation? To find an answer for this research question a survey will be held among Dutch
consumers with different demographics; gender, age and education. With the help of a questionnaire it will hopefully become clear how different consumers value image and reputation of music festivals and what the difference is between subsidized and non-subsidized festivals. With this information managers of festivals could perhaps gain more
insight about the perception of their consumers which might managers in improving the brand image and reputation of their festivals. This could help managers of organizations in
improving the success of their brand and increase their revenues (Millewicz & Shapiro, 1994, 1982). In order to find an answer to the research question stated for this research a
quantitative exploratory study will be necessary in order to understand the antecedents of image and reputation. This thesis will follow up with a literature review, which will provide more information about the variables reputation and image and what has already been written about reputation and image in previous papers. In the second and third chapter the research design and methodology will be explained. After these chapters chapter four will be dedicated to the conceptual framework. In this chapter the hypothesis will be stated. The next chapter will contain the results of this research. At last the paper will end with a discussion of the results and a conclusion.
2. Literature review
The previous chapter was a introduction into the concept image and reputation. In the following chapter the variables within the research topic will be addressed. This sector will explore previous literature on festivals, image and reputation. The first section will be a discussion about festivals which are subsidized and festivals which are not subsidized. The second section will be an analysis of the concept reputation and the different definitions that have been giving to this concept. After this the concept image will be addressed and also the different definitions that have been mentioned in previous literature. At last this chapter will end with a summary of the important concepts for this research.
2.1 Subsidized versus non subsidized festivals
The arts and crafts industry consists of different areas of expertise. Some examples are the music industry, there is the dance industry, theatre, the museum industry and at last the music festival industry. In previous studies several meanings have been given to a music festival but none of these are a clear definition of what a music festival exactly entails. The different industries mentioned before all have to deal with a high amount of competition, because these industries reside in a very dynamic and booming industry (Korantang, 2004). This research will be focused on the music festival industry. Getz (1997), and Nicholson & Pierse, (2001) found that festivals are increasingly diverse and competitive. Gretz (1991) recognizes festivals and events as a new wave of alternative tourism, that contributes to a sustainable development and improves the relationship between host and guest. A lot of research on music festivals is focused on the motivations of visitors to attend a music festival (Crompton & McKay, (1997), Schneider & Backman, (1996), Formica & Uysal (1998), and Lee (2000)). There are many different kind of definitions given to the term music festival. Mcdowal (2008) states that a festival is a planned event, related to a particular time and space. According to Gretz, (2008) a festival is a cultural tourism. In this thesis the definition of a music festival will be that a music festival is a cultural tourism, related to a particular time and space with a certain image and reputation to ensure leisure for its visitors.
Because the music industry has to deal with a lot of competition, some festivals receive some financial help from their government or their local department in order to have enough finance to be able to proceed with the music festival. This research will divide festivals into two different types; music festivals that receive a subsidy and music festivals that do not receive a subsidy.
Every four years the government decides which festival will receive a subsidy. The year 2013 is the start of a new period and a new calculation has been made. This year less festivals receive a subsidy than in the period 2009-2012. In the year 2013 only 80
performances of arts and crafts will receive a subsidy from the Dutch foundation of platform of arts against the 118 subsidies that were given in the year 2009-2012. There were 203 requests for a subsidy and only 80 received a subsidy. This year there were more requests to obtain a subsidy and the competition is substantially higher than it was four years ago. In the period from 2009-2012 the Foundation had a budget of 60 million Euros, but in the period from 2013-2016 only 46 million Euros will be available each years for the arts and crafts industry (fonds podiumkunsten, 2013). Some festivals which did not receive a subsidy from the foundation of platform of arts received a subsidy from their local department. Festivals can also receive some financial help from their local department. Almost every department in the Netherlands provides some local festivals with financial help. The government established certain guidelines that a music festival must follow if they wish to receive a subsidy from the foundation. One of the most important guidelines for a music festival to obtain a subsidy is their line-up. The comity focuses on the composition of the program, the quality of the program and also in the case of a fusion of partners of a festivals, the surplus value of the festival after this fusion (fonds podiumkunsten, 2013). This year 46 festivals asked for a subsidy and at least 35 of the requests received a favorable assessment. Every department in the Netherlands also holds guidelines which festivals must follow in order to be able to receive financial help. These guidelines differ between the departments.
Not much is known about how live music is evaluated. The managers of music festivals are left with the question which performer will be able to meet the consumer needs and will be able to maximize corporate income (Hausman, 2011). The financial consequences of choosing the right program line-up are substantial (Areni, 2003). If visitors of music festival view the image and reputation in a positive way, this will be a good indicator that the music festival meets up to the consumers need and is maximizing their corporate income.
n this research different consumers of festivals will be questioned in order to acquire enough questionnaires from different types of music festivals. These consumers will be asked questions about how they perceive image and reputation during a music festival that is
subsidized and a festival that is not subsidized. These concepts will be explored in dept in the next chapters.
2.2 Theory on Reputation
According to Fobrum (1996) reputation embodies the history of other peoples experiences with that service provider. Good reputation is able to increase credibility and making people more confident that they will receive what they were promised. Building a good reputation is a process that is a central goal of marketing of everyday’s products (Fobrum, 1996). When we go to the store because we need to buy some toothpaste or a new shampoo for an example, we will be more likely to buy recognizable brands (Mudambi, 2001). The concept reputation is not just an useful tool for the individual but also for large or small organizations. Reputation plays an important role in marketing but also in other fields, such as; economics, and
organization theory. These different field all give a different definition to the concept reputation. One example is the following definition of corporate reputation: ´´A corporate reputation is a stakeholder’s overall evaluation of a company over time.This evaluation is based on the stakeholder’s direct experiences with the company, any other form of
communication and symbolism that provides information about the firm’s actions and or a comparison with the actions of other leading rivals´´(Fombrun, 1996). Fombrun and Stanley (1990) suggest in their study that creating a positive reputation can help a firm in attracting investors, having a lower cost of capital and enabling a strong competitive position. A positive reputation can also induce a consumer to pay a price premium (Monroe, 1996). If managers of festivals make sure that their festival has a positive reputation they might be able to increase their ticket price, which can increase their returns.
According to Fombrun and Van Riel (2000, 2004) there are six environmental trends that can explain why reputation has become more significant in the marketplace today. These trends are: globalization, information availability, product commodization, media mania, ad saturation and stakeholder analysis. Globalization can be explained as followed. National boundaries are disappearing and this means that rivalry amongst companies has expanded (Dussel, & Ibarra-Colado, 2006). For festivals this means that a lot of people are now
travelling to other countries in order to see other festivals. Some examples of festivals that are attracting a lot of people from other countries are sziget, the Glastonburry fetival and the Isle of Wight festival. If a festival manages to attract people from around the world that means that the profits are higher than if they would only attract people in their current country. This could make it more attractive for organizers of festivals to set a high reputation not only national but global. The next concept is information availability. Internet, facebook and other forms of broadcast media have created a new environment in the market (Clemons, et
word to mouth especially through facebook can make a festival more popular. If people see on facebook that a lot people are going to a specific festival this will give them the impression that the festival has a good reputation. Product Commodization means that globalization has increased homogeneity with products and services offered by different organizations
(Davenport, 2005). This means that organizations have more competitors when they offer the same product. This means that organizers of festivals should make sure that visitors
acknowledge their festival as a unique and positive experience. Media Mania means that the media has increased their influence in the market place and business world and that’s why organizations should secure their visibility and reputation. Ad saturation refers to the overload of advertisement. Organizations with a broad reputation building strategy can have an edge in influencing the perception of the consumer. Managers of festivals could try to put more effort into new adds in order to attract more visitors Fombrun and Van Riel (2000, 2004).
Stakeholder activity entails that corporate responsibility has become more important the last few years. There have been a lot of activist groups who have attacked some organizations because of their bad reputation. Festivals should try to keep their stakeholders happy and perhaps try to give something back to the environment. Al these factors are examples of why reputation has become more important and tries to give an explanation of why it is important that managers of festivals work on establishing a good reputation.
Weigelt & Camerer (1988), and Yoon et al. (1993) argue that reputation is created by economic and non-economic attributes and a company’s reputation is a reflection of the history of the firms past actions. Levitt (1965) also defined a firm’s reputation in terms of a different number of attributes. According to Levitt (1965) the attributes of reputation consists of the extent to which the firm is well-known, reliable, trustworthy, reputable and believable. These attributes will be important for this research. The consumers of festivals will have to answer questions about what their opinion is on these attributes. It is important for organizers of festivals to establish a positive reputation because it will help them attract more visitors, have a lower cost of capital and enable a strong competitive position (Forbum and Stanley, 1990).
How visitors view the reputation of festivals will be analyzed with the help of a questionnaire. The visitors will have to ask questions which are related to reputation in order to get an understanding about how they view this concept.
2.3 Theory on image
‘’If an organization wants to be favourably differentiated from its competitors their brand image must be positively positioned in the minds of their consumers’’ (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003). In the previous section of this research a festival was defined as a cultural tourism (Gretz, 2008). The study of image has been recently added to the field of tourist research (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003). Numerous studies have measured how consumers and employees perceive image in large corporations but it has not been addressed how consumers perceive the image of music festivals. Reynolds (1965) describes image as a mental construct based upon impressions drawn from a flow of information. This flow of information can be derived from different sources. Echtner & Richie (2003) did a research about destination image within travelling and analyzed how the concept of image can be measured and defined effectively with the help of appropriate and rigorous techniques. According to Echtner and Richie (2003) the flow of information can be divided into promotional literature (travel brochures, posters), opinions of others (family and friends), and media (facebook, newspapers, magazines, television, books and movies). They also state that by actually visiting the destination its image will be affected and modified. A lot of literature has been written about the concept image and a lot of other different definitions have been given to image Martineau (1958) considered the term image as a sum of functional qualities and psychological characteristics that has its existence in the mind of the consumer. Fakeye and Crompton (1991) regarded image as a mental construct developed by a consumer on the basis of a few selected impressions among the flood of total impressions
Numerous researchers across different fields and disciplines agreed that image is mainly caused by two major forces; stimulus factors and personal factors (Baloglu &
McCleary, 1999). Baloglu and McCleary (1999) constructed a model where they present what the antecedents of image are. According to them image is caused by two major forces;
stimulus factors and personal factors. Personal factors are the social and psychological characteristics of the consumer. Some examples of social factors include age, education, marital status. Examples of psychological factors are values, motivations and personality. Stimulus factors are characterized by the physical object as well as previous experiences. These factors can be divided into previous experience, distribution and information source (promotional literature, opinions of others, and media). Image is a direct antecedent of perceived quality and satisfaction and also influences the intention for a consumer to return and if they will recommend it to others (Sanchez et al, 2001). Mudambi et al (1997), found that image plays an important role especially when the products or services are not based on
tangible quality features. Because festivals offer an intangible service it will be easier to analyze its image. Managers of festivals should take a serious approach to their brand image. If managers really understand the motivations of visitors of music festival, they can increase the enjoyment of visitors and attract and retain more visitors (Dewar, Meyer, & Wen, 2001).
For these reasons the image of music festivals which are subsidized and music festivals which are not subsidized will be analyzed. Also the concept image will be analyzed with the help of a questionnaire with specific questions related to image.
2.4 Conclusion
The arts and crafts industry have been booming since several years (Korantang, 2004). In this research the definition given to a festival is that of a cultural tourism, related to a particular time and space (McDowall, 2008, & Gretz, 2008). Festival will be divided into festivals that receive a subsidy and festivals that do not receive a subsidy. The government has established particular guidelines, that organizers of festivals must follow in order to receive a subsidy. The composition is one of the most important aspects of these guidelines. The program must have a high quality and if a festival is fused with other partners, this should result to a surplus for the festival. This year at least 35 festivals of the 46 that applied for a subsidy received one. Some festivals receive financial help from their local department. It’s getting more difficult for festivals to receive a subsidy and it will probably get more difficult in the future. For this reason it is important that organizers of festivals establish a good image and a strong
reputation. Reputation embodies the history of other peoples experience with that service provider (Fobrum, 1996). In able to get an understanding of how visitors of festivals value the reputation of a festival, questions will be asked about their experience with this festival and how they value the festival. Reputation is not the only concept that will be analyzed. If an organization wants to be favorable differentiated from its competitors their image must also be positively positioned in the mind of their consumers (Echtner & Richie, 2003). Baloglu and McCleary (1999) argue that image is caused by two major forces; stimulus factors and personal factors. For this reason questions will be asked about what kind of image they have on different aspects of the festival and visitors will also be asked some questions about their demographic characteristics such as age, gender and education.
Previous literature has addressed the importance of image and reputation within organizations, but nothing has been written about image and reputation of music festivals and if there is an difference in festivals who receive a subsidy and festivals that do not receive any
subsidy. This thesis will combine all the variables that have been discussed in the previous parts in order to give an answer to the proposed research questions.
3. Conceptual framework
In the previous chapters previous literature on the concept festivals, image and reputation was discussed. This chapter will define the conceptual framework on which the research is based. In this section the hypotheses will be stated which will be tested with the help of a
questionnaire.
3.1 Reputation versus subsidized festivals
Extent research on music festivals focuses on which determinants influence the fact that a festival is successful (Leenders, 2005). Because festivals are a experimental product it’s hard to capture what exactly makes a music festival attractive to visitors. These past few years there have been a lot of new festivals and, some have made a profit and some were not able to attract enough visitors. The government has built a safety net for some festivals in order to make sure that some festivals are able to stand ground against the competition of all the different festivals. Some festivals receive a large amount of money from the government or from their local department and some receive smaller amounts, but this is only possible if they are able to meet the governments requirements. The research question for this research stated before questions if consumers who visit a music festival that is subsidized have a different perception on reputation and image than consumers who visit festivals that are not subsidized. ` Reputation has received different definitions over the last couple of years. (Berens, & Van Riel, 2004) did a research about how different studies have measured reputation and several methods were stated. Fombrun (1996) wrote in his book, that reputation can enhance a company’s competitive advantage. If an organization has a good reputation it can increase its profitability and can attract more consumers. Because festivals are a growing industry it is important for them to establish a good reputation and maintain it. Levitt (1965) established that the attributes of reputation consists of the extent to which the firm is well-known, reliable, trustworthy, reputable and believable. These attributes will be important for this research. These attributes will be questioned in the questionnaire. This research will try to find results for the relationship between reputation and subsidized festivals. Festivals that receive a festival will probably have a better reputation, because in order to receive a subsidy they have to meet up to certain guidelines form the government or local department and festivals who are subsidized have a higher budget. In order to analyze the relationship between subsidized festivals and reputation the following hypothesis is formulated.
Hypothesis 1a: Festivals that are subsidized will have a positive effect on reputation.
3.2 Image versus subsidized festivals
There are many different Dutch festivals and they are increasingly seen as a tourist attraction and as image makers (Getz, 1991). Just like reputation image is also a concept that can be found in a lot of previous literature. There are many different definitions attached to this concept. Image can be described as a mental construct based upon impressions drawn from a flow of information (Reynolds 1965). Image can also be described as a direct antecedent of perceived quality and satisfaction of consumers (Sanchez et al, 2001). Image can influence the intention for a consumer to return (Sanchez et al, 2001). This means that image can be an important component for organizers of festivals. Creating a positive brand image might induce customers to visit the festival for a second time and maybe for a third and fourth time. A positive brand image can also enable a organization to be favorable differentiated from its competitors (Echtner & Ritchie, 2003). Because of the high competition between festivals this could also count for a reason for organizers of festival to put effort into realizing a positive image. Image can also influence the intention for a consumer to recommend it to others (Sanchez et al, 2001). This also generates another reason why organizers of festivals would like to establish a strong image. If organizers of festival are able to really understand the motivations of their visitors they could increase the enjoyment of the visitors and retain more visitors (Dewar, Meyer, & Wen, 2001).
All these arguments give a reason why image is an important concept which managers of festivals should hold account with. One of the goals of this research is to find out what kind of relationship exists between subsidized festivals and image. Festivals that receive a subsidy will probably have a better image, because just like with reputation they will have a higher budget and because of the guidelines which festivals have to follow in order to obtain a subsidy. To get an understanding of this relationship the following hypothesis is defined.
Hypothesis 1b: Festivals that are subsidized will have a positive effect on image.
3.3 Image versus reputation
Al lot of festivals have set their own image and reputation throughout a couple of years. There are now also some ‘younger’ festivals which are now making their own brand image and reputation. All of these different festivals have their own image and reputation and some even
attract visitors from around the world. According to Cretu & Brodie (2007) the company’s reputation is likely to have an important influence on the buying processes that is different to the product specific influence of the brand’s image. There has been considerable research about an organizations reputation and image, but in previous research image and reputation has been largely independent from each other. Previous literature have examined the relationship between reputation and image. Some literature proposed that a good reputation can help a company in building an innovative image in the industry (Porter, 1985). Porter (1985) states that a good reputation might help a firm in building a corporate image in order to be successful. Some literature have argued stated that image and reputation are identical concepts and can be used interchangeable (Fobrum, 1996).
According to Kennedy (1977) image is synonymous with corporate reputation. Others believe that image and reputation are two different concepts but that these concept can help each other especially for a firm to gain a competitive advantage.
This paper argues that image and reputation are two different concepts but that there might be a relationship between them. In order to analyze what kind of relationship exists between these two variables the next hypotheses are stated.
Hypothesis 1c: Image has a positive effect on reputation
Hypothesis 1d:Without the variable image the effect of subsidized festivals on reputation should not be significant.
3.5 Conclusion
With all these hypotheses a model can be constructed. All the lines in the model represent a hypothesis that will be tested. This model contains 3 different variables; image, reputation and subsidized festivals. The first hypothesis states that subsidized will have an effect on
reputation. In this hypothesis reputation is the dependent variable and reputation is the independent variable. The relationship between reputation and subsidized festivals will probably be significant, because festivals have to follow certain guidelines if they want to receive a subsidy so this means that these festivals will probably have a better reputation and image than festival that do not receive a subsidy. The second hypothesis contains two
variables; image and subsidized festivals. The relationship between these two variables will also probably will positive, because just as with reputation festivals who receive a subsidy have to follow certain strict guidelines in order to receive a subsidy. This means that
able to receive the subsidy the next year. In the second hypothesis subsidized festivals are the independent variable and image is the dependent variable. Hypothesis c also contains two variables. In this hypotheses image plays the independent variable and reputation plays the dependent variable. Porter (1985) found that a good reputation can help a company in building an innovative image in the industry. Therefore, image will also probably have a significant effect on reputation. The last hypotheses puts all the different variables together into one model, in order to find the relationship between the variables. Image will probably play the role of a mediator variable, this is because image will probably play an important role between subsidized festivals and reputation. The model for these hypotheses is situated
below. The three arrows represent the first three parts of the hypotheses. Hypothesis 1d represents the model as a whole.
Image
4. Methodology
In this section the methods will be discussed which will be used to try to reach for an answer to the research question and the propositions. This part will be divided into five parts. The first part will consist of an explanation of the research design that is used for this thesis. The next part will give a further analysis of what kind of sample will be used in this research. The third part will give a information about the variables that are used in this thesis. After this the methods of data collection will be discussed and at last the measures that were used in the questionnaire will be discussed.
4.1 Research design
A first concern in deciding what sample to use in this thesis was selecting which events should be studied. In the Netherlands there has been a significant increase of number and types of music festivals during the last couple of years (Koranteng, 2004). All these different types of festivals have a different target group, a different line up and different performances. The target group will probably have a different view on image and reputation. This thesis will analyze if visitors perceive a difference in the image and reputation between music festivals that are subsidized and music festivals that do not receive a subsidy. The focus will be on music festivals that will take place in the last two years. The reason for this is because
reputation is a stakeholder’s overall evaluation of a company over time which is based on the stakeholder’s direct experiences with the company (Fombrun, 1996). This means that in order to get an understanding of how consumers perceive the reputation of a festival it is important to analyze festival where they have been to. And only festivals will be chosen up to two years ago, to make sure that people still have a good memory of the festival. The antecedents of their created image and reputation might not only be because they already have visited this music festivals in previous years, but perhaps also because of what they have heard from others and what they expect the image and reputation have because of the characteristics of a specific festival. For this research a questionnaire based survey will be used in order to collect enough information to give an answer to the hypotheses that were stated previously in the third chapter. In this research a survey strategy is the best option because it saves a lot of time and the use of a questionnaire makes it easier to compare answers of a large amount of people (Saunders et al., 2012, p. 177). Another benefit of using a survey strategy is that it can suggest possible reasons for particular relationships between variables and to produce a model of these variables (Saunders et al., 2012, p. 177). This means it will be a good method to
analyze the relationship between image, reputation and festivals. Due to the fact that this research must be done in a short time period, this method will yield the best option (Saunders et al., 2012, p. 178) . Using a survey also increases the reliability of the results, because the surveys are answered anonymously. This will reduce participant bias. Another reason for an higher reliability than with the use of interviews is that questionnaires can be easily more standardized and consistent (Saunders et al. 2012, p. 192). Unfortunately there are also some drawbacks in using a questionnaire. One example of a drawback is that the questionnaire should not include too many questions or else the readers will not be willing to fill in the whole questionnaire. This is not a enormous drawback for this study because the concepts image and reputation do not require the use of a lot questions to be able to get an overview on the thoughts of the visitors of festivals. Another drawback of a questionnaire might be that a person does not fully understand a question and might just choose an option instead of acquiring information about what the question really entails (Saunders et al. 2012, p. 192). The questions used in this questionnaire will not be difficult questions and the respondents should understand them without further problems. The questionnaire will be self-administered because in this way the questions can be completed faster if respondents can answer it
themselves (Saunders, 2012, 178). The content of the questionnaire will consist of some open questions in order to acquire some background information and close ended questions to get an overview of their thoughts about reputation and image. The close ended questions about image and reputation will be based on a 7-point likert-style rating. The benefit of using these types of questions is because it makes it easy to collect opinion data (Saunders et al. 2012, p. 436). The questions from 9 to 23 in the questionnaires are questions regarding image and the questions from 23 to 36 are questions regarding reputation.
4.2 Sample
The focus of this study will be on Dutch consumers who have visited a Dutch music festival. In order to draw a reliable sample from the population respondents with different types of characteristics will be used to acquire a sample that is a good representation of the Dutch population (Saunders et al., 2012, p. 178). This study will try to strive to have respondents of different ages and differences in gender. The Dutch population consists of 49.5 % male and 50.5 % female inhabitants (CBS, bevolking; kerncijfers, 2013). This study will also try to reach a sample with respondents with different age groups. The Dutch population consists of 23.1% of people who are below the 20 years old. Cconsumers below the age of 18 will not be questioned because consumers of festival must have a minimum age of 18 to be able to visit a
festival. The Dutch population consists of 24.5% of people are between the 20 and 40 years old, 35.5% is between 40 and 65 years old, 12.6% is between 65 and 80 and a small
percentage of 4.2 of the population is older than 80 (CBS, bevolking; kerncijfers, 2013). The sample that will be used for this research consists of respondents who have visited a festival in the last two years. Music festivals will probably not attract a lot of elderly people. It will be difficult to attract visitors from the age of 65 and above, because probably not a lot of people from that age will visit a music festival but there will not be a maximum age of consumers who visited a music festival.
This study will strive to match the distribution of age and gender of the sample used in this research with the Dutch sample, to be able to use a sample that is a good representation of the Dutch population. It will be important to strive for a sample that is as large as possible, because if the sample is larger than more results can be generalized and therefore this research will give a better representation of the Dutch population. (Saunders et al., 2012, p.178). Because of the time constraints and money constraints a very large sample will be difficult to acquire. The requirements for this research are a minimum of 30 respondents that have visited a festival that receives a subsidy and 30 respondents that have visited a festival that does receive any subsidy. Respondents will be asked what the last festival was that they visited. The reason for the use of this question is because image and reputation are two concepts that are related to previous experiences of a consumer with a certain product or service (Yoon et al., 1993). This means that it is important to analyze festivals that consumers visited in order to get an understanding about their view about their image and reputation.
It will also be required to have at least 30 respondents who are male and at least 30 respondents who are female in order to have an equal part of respondents who are male and female. The sample used in this study consists of 83 respondents. The respondents who were questioned was a total of 101 respondents. The problem was unfortunately that not all of the respondents filled in the questionnaire and some respondents had never visited a festival before. The sample consists of 43 male respondents and 40 were female respondents. This means that the minimum requirement for 30 male and 30 female respondents was achieved. The total sample consists of 36 respondents that went to a festival that received a festival and 47 respondents who went to festival that did not receive a subsidy.This means that the minimum requirement of 30 respondents that visited a festival that is subsidized and 30 respondents who visited a festival that is not subsidized are also met.
4.3. Data collection
The participants for this sample were found using two different methods. One method was used for this research was a internet-mediated method. In order to develop the questionnaire the website www.thesistools.nl was used. The benefit of this website is that it was easy to develop different types of questions and also easy to send out the link for the questionnaire to people online. Another benefit of using this website is that the respondents were collected in a database and this saved a lot of time because the data did not have to be entered manually. A third benefit of this site is that you do not have to pay any costs unless you achieve to reach a sample of at least 500 respondents, but this was not the case for this research. Another benefit of using a questionnaire online is that a lot of respondents can be reached in a short amount of time. The respondents were approached by mail and facebook. within my network. A problem with collecting the data trough mail and facebook is that the people who fill in the
questionnaire will probably have similar demographic characteristics. Another problem with collecting data with questionnaires is that it can lead to a systematic bias (Saunders et al., 2012, p. 178). The respondents will have to fill in a self-completion questionnaire, and this means that the respondents have the option to fill in the questionnaire if they want to, but they also have the possibility to ignore the invitation. For these reasons another approach was used in order to collect enough data.
The second method that was used to collect respondents for this research was handing out the questionnaire on paper. The questionnaires were handed out at my workplace a gym called Sports World in order to attract respondents with different backgrounds. These two methods helped in attracting enough respondents for this research.
The questionnaire is written in Dutch, because this study has a focus on Dutch consumers who visit Dutch festivals. The questionnaire starts with an introduction letter, which explains the purpose of the study, to inform the respondents why their participation is important. The introduction letter will also state that they this research will guard they anonymity and that no personal information will be tracked to them. At last the questionnaire will be closed with a short thank you text. At the end of the questionnaire my email will be stated, if any
respondents have some questions regarding the questionnaire.
4.4 Measures
In the questionnaire some demographic attributes were questioned and also some opinion variables. The demographic variables were used in order to be sure that the respondents used in this research are a good representation of the Dutch population. Another benefit of using
demographic variables is that it could show a correlation between a demographic attribute and a valuation of an answer. The opinion variables were used to analyze how the respondents feel about the two variables reputation and image. This section will describe the measures used in the questionnaire. First of all the demographic variables will be discussed, after this the variable reputation will be discussed and after this the variable image will be discussed. The final version of the questionnaire will be found in the appendix of this thesis. The theories used to form the questionnaire was the Reputation Quotient (Fombrun
4.4.1 Reputation
The first dimension is distinctiveness. Distinctiveness is an important dimension because strong reputation results with a company’s distinctive position in the minds of the consumers of the product or the service. The second dimension is authenticity. A organization is able to set a strong reputation when this company is genuine. If organizations make sure that their strategy is
authentic they will be able to gain a strong competitive position in the market. Another dimension is transparency. Organizations are able to develop a strong reputation when they are transparent in their business affairs. The fourth dimension is consistency. Organizations are able to set a strong reputation if they are able to focus their actions and communicate around a core theme. The last dimension of the Reputation Quotient is visibility. Companies are able to establish a strong reputation when they are able to convey a clear and visible image with their consumers The Reputation Quotient is one instrument to measure reputation. Fombrun (2000) and Van Riel (2004) also developed the Roots of Fame and the Expressiveness Quotient. This model includes emotional appeal, products and services, financial performance, vision and leadership, workplace environment and social responsibility. In order to understand the concept reputation the
respondents will have to answer questions related with the Reputation Quotient. The first question in the questionnaire will be if the ticket of the festival were worth the price. The reason for this question is because a positive reputation can induce consumers to pay a price premium (Monroe, 1996). A company can set a positive reputation when the company is genuine and has an authentic reputation, that’s the reason that consumers will be asked if the festival has
developed a unique concept and if that concept is different from other festivals (Fombrun and Van Riel, Schultz 2000, 2004). Another question in the questionnaire is if the festival supports a good cause, this is because social responsibility is another factor that can increase
reputation. Because it is important that the producer is consistent in his strategy, consumers are asked if the festival was well organized and if they enjoyed the line-up. A good reputation can help organizations to make enough profit and stay a success in the future (Fombrun and
Van Riel, Schultz 2000, 2004). Consumers will be asked if they think the festival will stay a success and if they think the festivals generates enough money. The consumers will also directly be asked if they think the festival has a good reputation. At last the respondents will have to mention if they would like to come back to the festival. This is also an important factor because if the consumers would like to come back that means that they really enjoyed the festival and that the festival has a good reputation in their eyes.
4.4.2 Image
A lot of literature has been written about the concept image, but not much can be found about what kind of questions were used to analyze this concept within organizations. Echtner & Richie (2003) did a research in traveling and they analyzed what kind of image they attached to their travelling experience. They found that image was affected by promotional literature, (travel brochures, posters), opinions of others (family and friends), and media (facebook,
newspapers, magazines, television, books and movies). Baloglu and McCleary (1999) also did a research about vacation destination and they constructed a model which presents the
antecedents of image. In this model image is cause by two major forces. These two forces are stimulus factors and personal factors. Personal factors are the social and psychological characteristics of the consumer. Some examples of social factors include age, and education. This means that it will be important to ask some questions regarding the characteristics of the consumers. The respondents that will fill in the questionnaire will have to information about their age, their gender, and education. Stimulus factors are characterized by the physical object as well as previous experiences. These factors can be divided into previous experience, distribution and information source (promotional literature, opinions of others, and media).
Respondents will also have to answer questions regarding what kind of stimulus factors make up their image of the specific festival they visited. In order to analyze the stimulus factors the respondents will have to answer questions about what kind of
promotional literature had an influence on visiting the festival. The respondents will also have to answer questions about if they have a positive image of the festival. Nagashima (1977) did a research about Japanese businessman and how they perceived the brand image of products from different countries. In order to analyze the brand image they asked them questions about advertisement, how they valued the product and how creative the products are. Therefore respondents will have to answer questions about if the festival and the line-up met up to their expectations and if they think the festival is creative. In order to analyze the image of the festival visitors will be asked if the festival put effort into advertisement and if the festival
met up to their expectations. Fakeye and Crompton (1991) regarded image as a mental construct developed by a consumer on the basis of a few selected impressions among the flood of total impressions. For this reason the questionnaire will also consist of questions about how consumers feel about the hygiene, if the festival was situated in a appealing environment, how good the service was and the quality of the food. According to Baloglu & McCleary (1999) other people who attend the festival can also influence the image of a person, that’s why respondents will have to give an answer about if they feel related with the people at the festival. At last the respondents will have to give their opinion about if they have a good image of the festival.
5. Results
The previous section discussed the measurements and the design of the research. In this section the results will be discussed. First of all the descriptive statistics will be discussed. The descriptive statistics will be a summary of the characteristics of the sample. After this the reliability will be measured with calculating the Cronbach's Alpha. At last the hypothesis will be tested with regression tests.
5.1. Sample characteristics
The total number of respondents who started answering the questionnaire was 101, however some questionnaires were not completed and were excluded from the sample. Another problem was that some people who tried to fill in the questionnaire had never visited a music festival before. For this reason these respondents were also excluded from the sample. The final sample for this research covered 83 respondents. It was strived to reach a sample of at least 30 respondents who visited a music festival that receives a subsidy and at least 30 respondents who visited a music festival that does not receive a subsidy. The questionnaire was completed by 43 (51.8%) male respondents and 40 (48.2%) female respondents. In the previous section, the method section was indicated that this research strived to reach a sample that could represent the Dutch population. The Dutch population consists of 49.5 % male and 50.5 % female inhabitants. This means that the research consists of a slightly higher male percentage than the Dutch population.
Another attribute that was measured within the sample was age. The sample consisted of 3.6 % of respondents below the age of 20, 73.6% of the respondents are between 20 and 30 years old, 13.3% are between 30 and 40 years old, 6% is between 40 and 50 years old and at last 2.4 of the sample is older than 50 years old. This means that the percentage of age of the respondents of the sample does not fit the age groups within the Dutch population. The reason that the age groups are not the same as the Dutch population, because as predicted there are more younger people in the sample, and also because festivals usually attract more younger people.
The spread of education in the sample also differs from the Dutch population. The reason that there is a difference in spread between this sample and the Dutch population is because the sample is small. The network used in this sample also consists of a lot of students, therefore the percentage of high education is relatively high. Within this sample 34.9 % finished high school (middelbare school), 10.8% finished a MBO education, 20.5% finished a
HBO education and 33.7% finished a WO education. This gives a total of 100 percent so nobody who filled in the form followed another type of education.
Another important sample characteristic is if the consumer already visited the festival before. Of the total sample 33 (39.8%) said they have already visited the festival before and 50 (60.2%) said they have not visited the festival before. This means that in this sample there were less respondents that have already visited the festival than respondents that had not visited the festival. There is a relatively high amount of people that have already visited the festival before. This could influence the results, because if these respondents already have visited the festival before they will probably have a more positive view on image and
reputation, because they would have probably not have visited the festival again if they didn’t have a positive view on reputation and image.
It is also interesting to look at what influenced the choice of the consumers of the festival, because there are questions in the questionnaire that asks the respondent if their choice to go to the festival was influenced by family, friends and acquaintances or by social media. The results show that 65 (78.3%) of the respondents were influenced by friends, family and acquaintances, 9 (10.8%) of the visitors were influenced by Facebook, only 1 (1,2%) respondent was influenced by the tv, and 8 (9,6%) respondents were influenced by something else.
The variables age, gender and if they already have visited the festival before will also be taking into account into the regression model in order to analyze if they have an influence on the variables image, reputation and subsidized festivals.
5.2 Data descriptions
In this section the descriptive statistics regarding the variables will be presented. Not only is it important to get some information about the sample characteristics, but it is also important to know the average ranking position of reputation, subsidized festivals and reputation. This information is provided in Table 1. The questions from 9 to 23 in the questionnaires were questions regarding image and the questions from 23 to 36 are questions regarding reputation. In order to analyze the two variables first a new variable must be constructed to be able to interpret the data. For the variable image a new value image_bp was created, which is the mean if the sum of the questions from 9 to 23. For reputation the new value reputation_bp was created also to give the mean of the sum of the questions from 23 to 36. Table 1 shows that image is overall ranked highest, with M=5.378. This means that the respondents valued the overall image higher than the reputation. Another thing that can be noticed is that the
standard deviation is high for age. This is because there is a big difference between the
minimum age and the maximum age for festivals. As expected the average age for the visitors of festivals is relatively low (M=26.17). This is because the sample consisted of a lot of students.
Table 1. Descriptive of the variables
Mean
Std. Error Mean
Min. Max. Std. deviation
Image 5.378 0.082 3.21 6.71 0.751 Reputation 5.285 0.110 2.00 6.93 1.001 Subsidized festivals Age Gender Visited before 1.57 26.17 1.48 1.60 0.055 0.878 0.055 0.054 1 19 1 1 2 0.499 63 8.000 2 0.503 1 0.492 Note. N=83 5.3 Reliability
Before the data is analyzed it is useful to check the reliability of the data. It is important to analyze the reliability of the data because this instrument can be used to analyze if the questionnaire consistently reflects the construct that it is measuring (Field, 200, p. 673). To measure the reliability of the data the Cronbach’s alpha has to be measured, because this is the most common measure of scale reliability (Field, 200, p. 674). Table 2 shows the results for the descriptive and reliability of the variables.
The table shows that there the Cronbach’s Alpha is high for the variables image and reputation. Items are accepted to be reliable if the Cronbach’s alpha is above 0.7 (Field, 2009, p. 675). The Cronbach’s alpha for image is 0.832, this means that the variable is accepted to be reliable. The Cronbach’s alpha for reputation is 0.924 and this means that this variable is also accepted to be reliable. The Cronbach’s alpha for reputation is a little bit higher than for image, but the numbers are both above 0.7 so this means that the questions are measuring the same thing.
Table 2a Descriptive and reliability of the variables Cronbach’s Alpha (α) Nr. Of items Image 0.832 14 Reputation 0.924 14 Note. N=83 5.4 Correlations
Before the hypotheses will be tested first the correlations between the variables must be explored. In table 3 the correlations are shown between the different variables that were used in the questionnaire. The most important variables in this research are image, reputation, and subsidized festivals. Age, gender and if a respondent has already visited the festival before, will be used as co variables. This will also be measured, but only to see if what kind of effect they have on the relationship between the variables stated in the hypotheses.
Age has a negative correlation with gender, and subsidized festivals and has a positive correlation with reputation and image, but they do not correlate significantly witch each other. Age only has a negative significant correlation with the variable visited before (r=-0.277, p<0.05). This means that as the age increases of the respondents the less respondents already have visited the festival before. The variable gender correlates negatively with subsidized festival and with the variable visited before and has a positive correlation with the other variables, but this correlation is also not significant. Furthermore the variable visited before does not have a significant correlation with the other variables. This means that visited before does not have a significant correlation with neither image or reputation. This means that the image and reputation of the respondents is not affected by the fact that the respondents have visited the festival before. Reputation has a significant correlation with image (r=0.872, p<0.01). The numbers show that the correlation between reputation and image is high. The correlation between the two variables is positive. This means that if a consumer values the image of a festival in a positive way, the respondent will also value the reputation in a positive way and vice versa. Reputation also has a significant correlation with subsidized festivals (r=-0.330, p<0.05). The correlation between reputation and subsidized festivals is negative. This means that if a festival is subsidized the higher the image will be. This is also the case for image. Image and subsidized festivals also have a negative significant correlation with each other (r=-0.273, p=0.05). This means that there is a positive correlation between image, reputation and subsidized festivals. This leads to evidence for the research question
and the model described in the previous chapter, but a further analysis must be made with a regression analysis to really understand the relationship between the variables. The other variables do not show a significant correlation with each other.
Table 3 Correlation matrix
M SD (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (1) Age 26.17 0.878 1.00 (2) Gender 1.48 0.055 -0.52 1.00 (0.500) (3) Visited before 1.60 0.054 -0.277* -0.020 1.00 (0.05) (0.965) (4) Image 5.378 0.082 0.155 0.032 -0.172 1.00 (0.162) (0.764) (1.128) (5) Reputation 5.285 0.110 0.189 0.047 -0.181 0.872** 1.00 (0.162) (0.681) (0.102) (0.00) (6) Subsidized 1.57 0.499 -0.289 -0.289 0.169 -0.273* -0.330* 1.00 festival (0.879) (0.879) (0.097) (0.05) (0.02) Note: N=138. * p<0.05. ** p<0.01. 5.5 Regression analysis
In order to analyze the relationship between the variables a regression analysis must be made. A regression analysis helps to understand how the typical value of the dependent variable changes when any one of the independent variable is varied, while the other independent variables are held fixed. The benefit of a regression analysis is that the relationship of multiple predictor variables of a continuous or categorical scale can be measured. The regression analysis will provide information to test the hypotheses regarding differences between image, reputation and subsidized festivals and finally for the control variables age, gender and if respondents visited the festival before.
5.4.1 Relationship between image, reputation and subsidized festivals
In this research four hypotheses were stated. Table 4a represents the results from the
regression analysis of these hypotheses. Model 1 stands for hypothesis 1a, model 2 stands for hypothesis 1b. model 3 represents hypothesis 1c and model 4 represents hypothesis 1d.
The first hypothesis stated that there would be a significant relationship between festivals that are subsidized and reputation. In this model reputation is the dependent variable and subsidized festivals play the independent variable. The results show that the relationship between the variables is significant p<0.005 (F=9.812, p=0.002). This means that hypothesis 1a is supported by the results. R² shows how much of the variances is explained by the model. For H1a R²=0.108. This is not a very high.
Hypothesis 1b stated that here would be a significant effect of subsidized festivals on image. In this model subsidized festivals plays the independent variable and image plays the dependent variable. The relationship between these two variables also show a significant relationship with p<0.05 (F=6.320, p=0.014). This means that hypothesis 1b is also supported by the results. The relationship in this model is strong, but not as strong in model 1. The results show that the p-value is smaller and also the F-value are smaller. R² is 0.072. This amount is even smaller than in model 1, this means that for only 7.2% of the variances is
explained by the model.
The third model shows the relationship between image and reputation. Image played the independent variable in this model and reputation played the dependent variable. This model shows that there is a significant effect between the two variables, because p<0.001 (F=255.969,p=0.000). This means that also hypothesis 1c is supported. The significance of the relationship in this model is higher than in model 1 and 2 with also a higher F-value, and with a higher R². The relationship between image and reputation show that R²=0.763. This is a high amount and means that 76.3% of the variances is explained by the model.
The last model shows the relationship for the moderating effect of image on the relationship between subsidized festivals and reputation. This model does not show that the relationship between subsidized festival is less significant when image was also added to the model p-value>0.05 (F=133.304, p=0.072). The sig. for R² does show a significant
relationship between the three variables p-value<0.001 (F=133.303, p=0.000). This means that hypothesis 1d is also supported. The R² is also higher than in the other models, this means that 76.3% of the variances can be explained by the model. Because model 4 shows that the
when image enters the model the significant relationship between subsidized festivals and image becomes less significant. This means that image works are a partial mediator and model 4 is partial mediated.
Table 4a. Results of the regression analyses for the moderating effect of image on the relationship between subsidized festivals and reputation
Variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4
Dependent variable B (3) Sig. B (2) Sig. B (3) Sig. B Sig. (3) (Constant) 6.319 0.000 6.012 0.000 -0.969 0.016 -0.453 0.349 Subsidized festival (1) -0.660 0.002 -0.405 0.014 -0.204 0.072 Image (2) 1.163 0.000 1.126 0.000 Reputation (3) F 9.812 6.320 255.969 133.304 R R²
Sig. for R² change N 0.329 0.108 0.002 83 0.269 0.072 0.014 83 0.872 0.760 0.000 83 0.877 0.763 0.000 83
5.4.2 Relationship between all the variables
The previous results showed the results for the hypotheses. In this part the same hypotheses will be tested, but with some added variables to see what kind of effect other variables have on the models. The variables that will be added in this part are gender, age and if the respondent visited the festival before. Table 4b shows the results for these variables.
Model 1 shows that there still is a significant effect between subsidized festivals and reputation p<0.05 (F= 2.944, p=0.011), but this effect is not as strong as in the previous model p<0.005 (F=9.812, p=0.002). The sig. for R² is p<0.05 (F=2.944, p=0.027). This means that in this part hypothesis 1a is also supported. The sig. for R² is smaller in this model, this can be explained by the variables which are now added in the model. There is not a significant effect between age and reputation p<0.05 (F=2.944, p=0.500). There is also not a significant effect between gender and reputation P<0.05 (F=2.944, p=0.640). At last there is also not a significant effect between visited before and reputation and this effect is also negative with p-value=0.324. This means that the variables age, gender and visited before do not add any value to the model.
The variables age, gender and visited before in model 2 also do not have a significant effect on image with p>0.05 (p=0.580, p=0.755 and p=0.320). The sig. for R² is also not significant anymore with p>0.05 (F=2.029, p=0.111). This means that in this table hypothesis 1b is not supported. In table 4b the variables did show a significant effect in model 2. This means that the variables age, gender and visited before also do not add any value in this model. Subsidized festivals and image still have a significant relationship between each other with p<0.05 (F=2.029, p=0.042), but this effect is not as strong as in table 4a.
In model 3 age, gender and visited before do not have a significant effect on reputation with p>0.05 (p=0.415, p=0.710 and p=0.711). This means that the variables also do not add any value in this model. The sig. for R² does show a significant relationship between the variables with p<0.001 (F=62.828, p=0.000). These results show that Hypothesis 1c is supported This is because of the strong significant effect between image and reputation with p<0.001 (F=62.828, p=0.000).
In this model 4 the variables age, gender and visited before also do not have a significant effect on reputation with p>0.05 (p=0.685, p=0.700, p=0.795). The relationship between image and reputation is still significant as in table 4a with p<0.001 (F=51.698, p=0.000). The relationship between subsidized festival and reputation is not significant anymore with p>0.05 (F=51.698, p=0.121). The relationship between these two variables was also not significant in table 4a but now the p-value is even higher. The sig. for R² is significant with p<0.001 (F=51.698, p=0.000).
All these results explain that age, gender and visited before do not have to be taken into account into the model. This could perhaps be because they do not have a significant effect on the main variables, but this could also be because of the small sample that was used in this research. The R² also show very small numbers in table 4b with all the models. This means that there is a very small change that the variances can be explained by the model.
