Graduate School of Communication Entertainment Communication
mw. dr. J.M.F. Annemarie van Oosten MSc
Motivations for engaging with electronic dance
music festivals on social media
An analysis of hedonic and eudaimonic needs
29.06.2018
Petar Lazarevic 11599855
Abstract
Electronic dance music festivals have grown to become an important leisure activity for young adults. With that, social networking sites have given users the opportunity to search for, interact and engage with festival related online content. The outcome of such engagement is in the Web 2.0 era often pivotal for the success of a festival and the understanding of why users decide to engage with festival's posts is therefore indispensible. The aim of this study is to identify the motivations why users engage with dance festivals and by doing so, recognize not only hedonic needs as drivers of motivations, but also eudaimonic needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among a homogenous sample of festival-goers aged 19 and older (N=10). The results reveal that engagement is often triggered by motivations that cover meaningfulness and truth-seeking within the consumed festival content and therefore goes beyond the means of pure leisure-activity and hedonic interests such as entertainment. The combination of motivational concepts and the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic needs as drivers expand the current body of research within the uses & gratification framework and offer marketers within the dance festival branch a valuable understanding of consumer-behaviour online.
Introduction
The technologies that arose with the growth of the Web 2.0 have had an immense impact on the transformation of our society and economy. Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Youtube have not only revolutionized the way we connect and interact, they have simultaneously opened new gates and opportunities for brands to promote and market their products to a global audience (Zheng, Cheung, Lee & Liang, 2015). It is undeniable that this adaption has also changed the way we view, perceive and ultimately engage with brands. By using social networking sites, users can choose to engage with the displayed content the way they desire, which can have significant consequences for brands (Ashley & Tuten, 2015; Muntinga, Moorman & Smit, 2011). Because of the influence users have nowadays,
marketers and scholars need to keep up with the various forms of online behaviour that lead to engagement.
While a comprehensive body of literature has aimed to understand the motivations for brand-related online engagement in general, it hasn't examined how this applies to a
movement and culture like electronic dance music festivals. Given the steep rise of these festivals over the past years and the societal importance they bring along, it is important to understand what drives users' motivations to engage with dance music festivals online. Electronic music festivals serve as a playground, where not only dance music, but also the philosophy of rave culture manifests itself. What makes dance festivals so unique is the combination of dance music's cultural religion and the phenomenological dance experience it implies (John, 2007). The spiritual value of belongingness and lust within a technologically dominated environment distinguishes it from other genres and offers participants a product that not only entertains them, but also gives them a spiritual meaning (Takahashi & Olaveson, 2003). Its participation offline, and more recently online, can therefore reflect on both
eudaimonic motivations. This combination of hedonism and eudaimonia and motivations for online engagement in the context of dance music festivals has been given little to no attention within recent research. Consequently, the aim of this study is to provide a first understanding of why users engage with dance music festivals online and how this reflects on the
gratification of hedonic and eudaimonic needs. Scholars like Oliver and Raney (2011) have already applied motivations of pleasure- and truth-seeking within the concept of hedonic and eudaimonic needs, but failed to combine it with motivations that go beyond entertainment such as information, integration or identification. Therefore, the findings of the current study also attempt to contribute to the literature by closing this gap. The uses & gratification framework allows us to mutually examine both motivations and underlying hedonic and eudaimonic needs and place them into a collective context which so far has only been examined individually.
Theoretical framework Previous Research on Social Media Engagement
While research about the impact of social networking sites and consumers' engagement with online content is continually expanding, social media is still considered a reasonably young topic (Schivinski, Christodoulides, & Dabrowski, 2016; Wang, Kim, Xiao, & Jung, 2017). With social networking sites adding new features on a yearly basis, research has to keep up with those changes in order to explain interdependences that occur between users and the social media they consume. Because of this evolution, researchers began to examine why and how people engage with social media in the first place (Muntinga et al., 2011).
Scholars often distinguish between two different forms of engagement. While lower involvement levels such as reading or watching videos are important components of online brand awareness (Muntinga et al., 2011), consumer behaviour that involves an active
some users prefer to take part in online discussions or create their own content (Han, McCabe, Wang, & Chong, 2018), others favour passive behaviour such as reading or observing (Ashley & Tuten, 2015).
Nevertheless, both levels of activeness are forms of engagement, since lurking, such as solely watching online videos is also considered a form of consumption behaviour, because it still adds to the view count of the video and is in any way purposely selected (Khan, 2017). Consuming or simply viewing brand-related content is the most frequent form of online engagement (Lu, Hao, & Jing, 2016; Schivinski et al., 2016). Khan (2017) even argues that most of today's online communities are composed of 90% of passive users and only 10% of active participants. In the light of the current study, it is important to highlight that based on this theoretical knowledge, different types of motivations may result in different forms and intensity levels of engagement. Therefore, this study considers both active and passive behaviours with dance music festivals as engagement.
Uses & gratification theory
In order to understand why certain social media content is more appealing than other and ultimately, why users decide to engage with it, an audience-centric approach is necessary. In media research, the UGT is a commonly used paradigm that not only explains why specific media is selected, but also how (Ifinedo, 2016; Shao, 2009). In contrast to a media-effect-related approach, UGT does not examine what kind of influence media has on people, but rather assumes that users are proactively selective in their media use (Katz, Blumer, &
Gurevitch, 1973). Originally, UGT proved itself popular among traditional media researchers, who focused on television, newspapers and radio (Florenthal, 2015; Pai & Arnott, 2013; Shao, 2009). Since the rise of social media, UGT has become an important instrument for subjects like individual needs and gratifications in a computer generated environment (Ku, Chu, & Tseng, 2013; Oliveira, Huertas, & Lin, 2016). In UGT research, scholars often talk
about motivations in context of media selection (Muntinga et al., 2011). Motivations can be seen as drivers that make users actively choose the media they want to engage with (Bailey & Ivory, 2018; Hollebeek, 2011).
One of the earliest and most cited outlines of motivational concepts has been
introduced by McQuail (1983), presenting four core motivations for media use: entertainment, identification, integration and social interaction, and information. When it comes to
engagement with dance music festivals on social media, the current study argues that these motivations can be both hedonic and eudaimonic. This derives from the premise that dance music festivals or raves are a result of a cultural and spiritual movement, where participation is based on "truth, authenticity and self-realisation" (John, 2007). Therefore, this research also aims to expand the literature by showing that different motivations can interplay between hedonism and eudaimonia and may co-occur in both contexts.
Entertainment
Seeking entertainment derives from the need to escape from everyday routines or relax (Muntinga et al., 2011). Individuals might feel the urge to engage with online content because they perceive a feeling of enjoyment when interacting peers online (Pai & Arnott, 2013). Scholars often compare entertainment motivations with content that is fun, emotionally
relaxing, sexually arousing or simply aesthetically pleasing (Odag, Hofer, Schneider, & Knop, 2015; Oliveira et al., 2016). For instance, Alhabash and McAlister (2014) found out that engaging with viral content on Twitter is mainly motivated by the need to be entertained. More recently, Khan (2017) discovered that people watch Youtube videos to pass time or make it a hub for escapism. In the context of dance music festivals, consumers might watch an aftermovie for amusement purposes or browse festival channels in order to pass time. It is expected that the entertainment motivation is a crucial motivation when engaging with dance festivals online.
Identification
The identification motivation comprises several values that associate with one's self-being. Individuals often feel the need to express themselves or gain acceptance and recognition from online peers (Muntinga et al., 2011). Identification is often related to self-awareness of
belonging or identifying oneself with a certain online community, which can result in an emotional satisfaction (Cheung, Chiu, & Lee, 2011). Malik, Dhir and Nieminen (2016) found out that people often decide to share photos on Facebook to express themselves and nurture the image others perceive from them. Muntinga et al. (2011) found that individuals engage with brands' social media pages to partly classify themselves with the companies identity or ethics. This can certainly mean that users classify themselves not only with the dance festivals they engage with, but also with the artists who perform. Identification with an artist or the theme of a festival can therefore be a possible cause for attendance.
Integration
The integration motivation puts other people in the centre of attention. Many individuals might feel gratified from belonging to a certain group or scene based on common interests. This often entails a feeling of connectivity or support from peers or various online
communities (Muntinga et al., 2011). Especially social networking sites serve as a melting pot for like-minded people to socialize and interact with each other. Engaging with online users or brand-related online content can therefore be a motivation to satisfy the need of integration into a certain scene or community. For instance, Brodie, Ilic, Juric & Hollebeek (2013) found that when it comes to brand-related online communities, users often engage with them to show connectivity with the brand as well as to satisfy their need to meet other users who share same interests. More specifically, Stragier, Evens and Mechant (2015) discovered that sharing pictures of physical activity such as running or weight-lifting is often motivated by the desire to show a belonging to online fitness communities. Especially the dance music scene is
known for its distinct message and community aspect of unity and respect and is therefore expected to be an important driver for online engagement and attendance.
Information
The information value refers to the intrinsic need of being up to date or monitoring one's closer online environment. This also includes the surveillance of friend's latest activities as well as the observation of other people's opinions that they express online (Muntinga et al., 2011). Shao (2009) lists the information value, next to the entertainment value, as one of the core motivations within the UGT. In a broader sense, information seeking is viewed as a cognitive need that also entails the desire to inform oneself on topics that are of interest (Cheung et al., 2011). Sheldon and Bryant (2016) found out that the use of Instagram is dominantly driven by the need to monitor friends and peers. Similarly, Khan (2017)
concluded that Youtube videos serve as a prime source of information in today's digital age. Similarly, dance festival pages contain important information related to the event that are either published by the festival itself, or can be found through proactive search on the appropriate channels.
Self-actualization
The self-actualization motivation is described as a reason to engage with social media content in order to demonstrate its own knowledge and showcase its influence related to a certain topic. Shao (2009) looks at it as a psychological motive that drives towards the realization of recognition, fame or even power. Contributing in online communities can satisfy the desire to impact or influence other people (Chiu, Hsu, & Wang, 2006). Muntinga et al. (2011) found that online contributions from brand ambassadors have an impact on customers' buying decisions. Further, Ko, Yin and Kuo (2008) discovered that opinion leaders have the power to diffuse mass media content, spreading it throughout relevant blog communities. Based on this knowledge, this study is expected to identify self-actualization by those users who aim to
impact their fellow peers and by doing so, showcase their knowledge related to a dance music festival. Sharing information that the festival itself has not officially released yet could be one of the possible ways of demonstrating influence within the community.
Motivations for Engaging with Social Media Content
Nowadays, a vast amount of research can be found that tries to understand these motivations of online engagement with brand-related content (Krause, North & Heritage, 2014; Mull & Lee, 2014; Sheldon & Bryant, 2016). The majority of these contributions have particularly shown how motivations can have an influence on users' brand perceptions or purchase intentions (Muntinga et al., 2011). Similarly, research that looks at engagement as a hedonic form of gratification has been studied over the past years and mainly highlighted the
importance of entertainment needs users attach to the consumed content (Oliver & Raney, 2011; Reinecke, Vorderer & Knop, 2014). In light of entertainment motivations, Whiting and Williams (2013) found that entertainment is one of the main motivations for using social media in general. At the same time, Oliver and Raney (2011) have shown that movies such as tear-jerkers and other media is consumed for entertainment purposes but also for the
gratification of pondering life's meanings, which is referred to as eudaimonic needs. The distinction between these hedonic and eudaimonic needs is often what determines the purposeful selection of media (Rieger, Reinecke, Frischlich, & Bente, 2014). Although current research has provided a broad understanding of media motivations within the uses & gratification framework and has shown that different content satisfies different needs, it underemphasized the combination of intrinsic motivations for online engagement in the light of hedonic and eudaimonic needs. Research by Best, Manktelow and Taylor (2014) on well-being in a computer-generated environment suggests that both hedonic and eudaimonic needs can be found on social media. This study therefore attempts to fill this gap and combine motivations for online engagement with hedonic and eudaimonic needs.
Hedonic and Eudaimonic Needs
UGT becomes especially important when hedonic and eudaimonic needs are applied in the context of media selection and media use. Based on previous research on hedonism and eudaimonia within media consumption (Best et al., 2014; Oliver & Bartsch, 2011; Oliver & Raney, 2011), this study argues that in the context of dance music festivals, the motivations introduced above can be both hedonic and eudaimonic. Particularly within the entertainment motivation, Oliver and Raney (2011) distinguish between hedonism and eudaimonia and argue that media can reflect on more than just entertainment purposes. While hedonic motives are driven by joyful and pleasurable characteristics, such as seeking amusement or fun,
eudaimonic motivations are related to meaningfulness (Rieger et al., 2014). Individuals can indeed consume certain media in order to get to know themselves better, answer questions about life's meaning or search for truthfulness (Oliver & Raney, 2011). How this applies to dance music festivals is the subject of this study. To date, dance music fan's motivations to engage with dance music festivals online has not been explored yet. As a consequence, research doesn't offer an overview how hedonic and eudaimonic needs reflect on peoples motivations to engage with such content. From a marketers' perspective, however, such a combination and overview is necessary to trigger and evoke consumers' engagement more effectively (Cvijikj & Michahelles, 2013).
Methods Research Design
While this study attempts to identify individual motivations of online engagement with electronic dance music festivals, it also tries to place those motivations in the context of hedonic and eudaimonic needs. Based on this precondition, a research method was required that first, enables the researcher to extract these motivations in an exploratory manner and second, offers the researcher an instrument of measurement that is explicitly built upon the
preconceived theoretical concept. This is particularly important because motivations and behavioural patterns are most effectively identified by an open-minded, flexible and interpretive approach (Hennink, Hutter & Bailey, 2011).
Semi-structured interviews meet the requirements of an open-ended conversation, but are still tied to an interview guide, which leads the interviewer through the interview. An interview guide usually consists of several key questions that cover the most essential subjects of the research topic (Gill et al., 2008). Because of its open-ended nature, however, semi-structured interviews leave space for additional and more detailed follow-up questions, that don't necessarily appear in the interview guide. This allows the researcher to identify deeper meanings, ask for further clarifications and dig into the context where motivations of online engagement reveal themselves (Brennen, 2012). Moreover, semi-structured interviews can be embedded into the user-centric approach of the UGT. Ifinedo (2015) stresses out that within the UGT framework, individuals are well aware of their needs and are therefore able to stress out their motivations of selecting a specific media. Since the prospective participants are able to report on their online habits and explain their motivations, and hedonic and eudaimonic frameworks are being used as a directory within the interview guide, interviewing people in form of semi-structured interviews appeared to be the most effective method.
Participants and Procedure
In order to recruit the suitable participants, the researcher looked within his personal social environment for candidates who met the criteria for this study, meaning that a purposive and convenience sampling method was used (Hennink et al., 2011). The main requirements that marked a participant as suitable were age, knowledge of the electronic dance music scene as well as reported activity and engagement with festival pages on social networking sites. Since the majority of dance music festivals today have a restricted minimum age policy of 18 years, the age limit for this study was accordingly set to 18 years and higher as well. To ensure that
the participants had not only a knowledge about the dance music scene in general, but are also aware of various dance music festivals on social media, potential participants were asked to elaborate their familiarity with these festivals in the initial recruiting request. As a result, the researcher was able to recruit only participants who offer information that was necessary to answer the leading research question.
Before the interviews had taken place, however, a comprehensive interview guide was created (appendix), which consisted of three main parts: 1) asking about participants' own media selection and proactive behaviour on social media related to dance music festivals, 2) asking about participants' social media environment and reactive behaviour related to dance music festivals, and 3) an interactive part, where the interviewee was shown various examples of social media posts from dance music festivals and was asked to elaborate engagement behaviours based on personal motivations. After conducting the first two interviews, the researcher realised that several questions were too limited and focused primarily on the participation aspect of engaging, rather than including both consuming and participating activities. As explained above, consuming online content passively has to be viewed as engagement behaviour as well (Khan, 2017). Consequently, the interview guide was matched more accurately with the theoretical framework of the UGT during the data collection
process.
As aforementioned, one part of the interview procedure consisted of examples of actual social media posts by dance music festivals. In total, eight posts were chosen across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. While six of the posts were images, two of them were videos. Altogether they represented six different dance music festivals. The selection criteria for the examples was derived from the necessity to only reveal motivations that result in the most recent forms of consumer engagement. Therefore, a festival related social media post was only used as an example if it was published within the last six months prior to the start of
the data collection, and displayed clear signs of active engagement by the festivals' online followers. The interviewees were asked to share their opinion on 1) why the presented posts might have performed better than others and 2) how they would personally react to the examples. This enabled the imitation of users engaging with a wide variety of dance music festivals, where depending on the type of content, the individuals would show different motivations and intensity levels of engagement.
The majority of the interviews were conducted through the online communication software Skype. Many researchers view Skype as a viable and beneficial research method for qualitative interviews (Deakin & Wakefield, 2014; LoIacono, Symonds, & Brown, 2016; Seitz, 2016). Since most of the participants were living in different parts of the world, the use of a software like Skype was inevitable. Skype provides not only a tool to overcome remote access to potential interviewee's and possible distance barriers, it also solves the problem of visual and interpersonal communication, which comes very close to the traditional face-to-face conversation (Hanna, 2012). One of the advantages of Skype interviews is the ease of use and the comfort for both the researcher and the interviewee to not be required to leave their home (Muntinga et al., 2011), while possible audio problems or the inability to detect non-verbal references are seen as some of the disadvantages (Seitz, 2016). According to Gruber, Szmigin, Reppel and Voss (2008), however, individuals involved in a computer-mediated interview unveil more personal information and are ready to emphasise deeper feelings than in a common face-to-face interview. Because of the physical distance that a Skype interview creates, both parties feel a sense of anonymity and self-awareness, which implies that the participant is less influenced "by the interviewers' appearance, tone of voice and body
language (Gruber et al., 2008)." Next to Skype interviews, traditional face-to-face interviews were used whenever participants were recruited from the same geographical area. While the
face-to-face participants were compensated with various snacks during the interview, Skype participants were given a formal promise of the very same during the next mutual encounter.
Participants were added to the study until theoretical saturation occurred. Theoretical saturation occurs when the researcher is not able to extract any new information from further participants (Boddy, 2016). Scholars often use theoretical saturation to justify the sample size of their study (Robinson, 2014). For this research, a preliminary number of 15 participants was estimated to ensure a rich data set. However, throughout the research process, the researcher discovered that after seven interviews, the data collected so far showed first signs of saturation. As Boddy (2016) states, however, it is desirable to go over that first threshold in order to assure definite evidence of data saturation. While Hennink, Kaiser and Marconi (2017) found out that data saturation for a subsequent coding analysis occurs on average after nine interviews, Boddy (2016) argues that a sample size of ten is enough if the sample is composed of a homogenous group of individuals like the one in the current study. Based on these preliminary considerations, for this study, a total of ten people between the ages of 19 and 27 were interviewed from April 20th until May 30th 2018. The individual interviews lasted from 40 min to 56 minutes.
Analysis
After the interviews were audio-recorded, the files were then transcribed and anonymised. The transcripts were then analysed using the coding software Atlas.ti. What the researcher was looking for were statements made by the participants that reflect on the motivational concepts based on the theoretical framework: entertainment, identification, integration, information and self-actualization. Since almost every single interviewee expressed various forms of motivations depending on different types of content, some of their statements were given two, sometimes even three codes. For example, one of the contestants explained that he commented on a social media post of a festival page because he wanted to find out about the
set-times, stating that "if people in their social media team will know that if enough people keep pestering them, they will almost feel the need to give something." A message like this contains both the information seeking and the self-actualization motivation and was therefore coded twice. Similarly, if the participant revealed a motivation that was not in accordance with the theoretical concepts, the motivation was added as an indicator for engagement and was titled "new". In order to bundle the codes and the thereby arising dimensions of user engagement, coding categories were created based on the theoretical concepts that derived from the literature. As Hennink et al. (2011) state, "a category may be spurred by concepts from research literature or from the original conceptual framework of the study."
Results
Based on the theoretical framework introducing the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic needs, this study found that dance music festival content on social media is not only consumed for hedonistic purposes, but can rather be used for the exploration of life's meanings, where dance music festival's online content often offers a first junction into the dance music scene as a whole. During the analysis process of the interviews, a structure of motivations and sub-motivations emerged, which could either be identified as hedonic or eudaimonic motivations for online engagement with dance music festivals. The analysis also showed that individual sub-motivations can interplay between hedonic and eudaimonic needs, meaning that the same motivation can arise for the gratification of both hedonic and
eudaimonic needs, depending on the interviewee's personal perception of the displayed content. Therefore, the distinction between hedonic and eudaimonic motivations formed the basis of the results presented below.
Engagement Based on Hedonic Motivations
As explained above, hedonic motivations are calling for actions and behaviours that result in emotional states of well-being such as joy, amusement or pleasure (Oliver & Raney, 2011).
Participants reported different motivations within their behavioural patterns in order to gratify hedonic needs. The analysis showed, that a state of well-being is not only induced by actions covering the entertainment motivation, but is also derived from other three motivations: information, self-actualization and a newly found motivations labelled as compensation, which all individually cover certain sub-motivations as well.
Entertainment motivation
As opposed to the information and self-actualization motivation, the entertainment motivation was only found in the context of hedonic needs. The analysis showed that different content covers different sub-motivations of entertainment such as escapism, excitement and aesthetic pleasure. The entertainment motivation was found to be an important motivation when it comes to engaging with dance music festivals on social media and was present in all ten interviews.
People often visit festival pages in order to escape from everyday routines. One of the participants (male, 21) explained that watching DJ sets from past festivals is a common activity within his friend group: "We'd gather together, we'd go to one's friend house and we'd stream the Ultra Miami and we'd just like have our own party in his basement". Furthermore, the enjoyment motivation explains engagement simply because users "really like the EDM scene" (female 21), have in light of a specific festival previously "been there and [...] enjoyed it" (male, 27), or just "really enjoy having festivals appear on the main feed" (male, 21).
For one participant, the escapism sub-motivation became apparent through feelings of nostalgia connected to the displayed festival content. After stating that he proactively searches for DJ sets from a festival he attended in the past, he explained that he'll engage with the videos in order to relive his experience and memories: "I'll then have an interest in every aspect, I kinda wanna see when I'm not there, what I'm missing out on" (male, 27). This
example suggests that engagement occurs in order to minimize the sadness of physically abstaining from the event and maximize the feeling of joy through reliving the event online.
For a majority of the interviewee's, actions of engagement were a result of sheer excitement in anticipation of the forthcoming festival. Surprisingly, excitement was not limited to participants who physically attend a festival, but is shared by the non-attendees as well. One participant stressed out, that even if he wasn't attending a festival, social media posts would excite him and engaging with such content demonstrates "the feeling like you're involved within the festival somehow" (male, 27). After all, social media enables him to attend the festival virtually, which as we've seen above, is a mean to gratify entertainment needs. Another contestant stated that she would tag her friends in a countdown post because "this is what we're gonna be doing soon, like this is so exciting" (female, 20). A third
contestant (male, 22) explained that he eagerly awaits and checks festival's social media pages for any teasers and shares them in order to get himself and his friends "hyped up".
Aesthetic pleasure was prominent in statements like "what I like is the use of bold colours" (male, 27) or "It's cool visuals, they made it like exciting to look at" (female, 21). One participant explained that he didn't like the displayed content in one of the examples, but he would still like the post because of the design, stating that "even if it's, you know,
aesthetically pleasing, that's a really big thing" (male, 19). Contrary, one interviewee (male, 26) highlighted that even though being a fan of Creamfields, the weak arrangement of the headliners on a post made him abstain from engaging: "I would probably not engage with it because I don't really like the design of it" This shows that aesthetics play a crucial role in consumers perception of not only the presented content, but the festival in general. Information motivation
As mentioned before, certain motivations were found to cover both hedonic and eudaimonic needs. The information motivation falls under this category. This means that information can
seek for actions that result in both a meaningful or an enjoyable outcome, whereas the latter is discussed in this section in the context of hedonic needs.
People who are seeking information within the hedonic motivation, are doing so as a mean of indulgence, and not for a meaningful insight. For instance, one of the contestants (male, 21) explained that he is happy whenever a festival includes unreleased music in their videos, because that gives him the opportunity to research it himself. In a quest to find out which DJ produced a particular track, he "will listen to that over again and over again". Seeking information by deliberately selecting and consuming festival content in such a manner, in this case labelling unknown music, can therefore be seen as a fun activity that gratifies hedonic needs. Another participant (female, 21) stressed out that she enjoys reading through the comment section of line-up announcements in order to find out what other people like or dislike: "I like to see honestly people's opinions on that [...] and it's interesting to see the different like tastes everyone has".
Self-actualization motivation
The self-actualization motivation is the second motivation that can be embedded in the context of both hedonic and eudaimonic needs. In the context of hedonic motivations, users simply enjoy displaying their knowledge or demonstrating their power within a niche subject. One participant explained that he likes to be the first one to share a newly released aftermovie because "you get a nice feeling of almost power in a weird way, knowing that your voice is being spread" (male, 27). In similar fashion, another interviewee stated that he shares certain festival posts because "it gives me attention, and attention is always good" (male, 22).
Opposed to eudaimonic needs, here meaningfulness is not what the individuals are ultimately striving for. While such engagement might indeed drive for acceptance, its realization is rather joyful than meaningful.
Compensation motivation
The compensation motivation is a newly found motivation for engaging with dance music festival content and was not derived from the conceptual framework. It mainly explains forms of engagement based on possible future economic or social rewards and was found within six of the interviews. Within this motivation, participants explained that they would only engage with a festival post if their engagement is compensated. For instance, one of the contestants made clear that whenever he has the chance to win a meet-and-greet with a DJ he "will be doing all the sharing" (male, 21) and whatever is necessary to win. Another participant said she would only engage with a ticket giveaway if she saw a financial benefit from it: "If I won it I'll be like ok I'll go obviously cause I won, but I'd never pay" (female, 21). Yet another participant said that she loves ticket giveaways and that "if they're giving me free tickets, I'll definitely pay for the flights" (female, 20). This shows that people are engaging with contests as a mean of entertainment similar to lotteries.
Engagement Based on Eudaimonic Motivations
Engagement based on eudaimonic needs was found to be covered by four of the
conceptualized motivations: identification, integration, information and self-actualization. Contrary to hedonic needs, however, eudaimonia occurs whenever engagement is a result of individuals seeking deeper meanings or answers related to life-related topics.
Identification motivation
The analysis revealed that identification only occurs in the context of eudaimonic
motivations, whereas two sub-motivations emerged: personal identification and displaying identification.
Personal identification occurs whenever users identify themselves with certain content on a personal level. In general, this sub-motivation was apparent in nine out of the ten
favourite artists are mentioned: "those are my favourite guys and when I see them on a post, I'm liking it" (male, 21). Discussing an example of a promotional video by Tomorrowland, another participant said that he "would definitely engage with this because it's Axwell & Ingrosso, not so much Tomorrowland" (male, 21). A third interviewee went as far and said when looking to attend festivals: "I think the most important thing [...] for a lot of people is the line-up" (male, 27). This means that the readiness to attend festivals is often determined by the calibre of artists that the visitor identifies themselves with, rather than the theme or organizational prowess of the festival. Dance music fans often identify themselves with an artists' music, characteristics or expressionism. Engaging with festival posts DJs are mentioned in gratifies fans on a personal level and solidifies the significance and meaning certain artists have on their musical taste or lifestyle.
Displaying identification occurs when users engage with festival content in order to display their personality or affinity for a certain subject to others. They are doing so to seek gratification on a personal level, and not to gain any power or influence by their peers. The analysis showed that six out of ten interviewees engaged with dance music festival content because they wanted their online friends to know that they are into dance music festivals. Displaying identification occurred in statements like: "if you're a fan of the scene anyway, [...] you wanna show that off" (male, 20) or "like you're going to this festival next week, you're so excited about it you wanna show people that you're going" (male, 21), by which users often try to enunciate that this is a part of their personality and this is what they want to be recognized for.
Integration motivation
Like identification, integration was found to only cover eudaimonic needs. The integration motivation often covers online actions that reinforce users identities within certain
that touches upon topics like belongingness or fellowship. "I'd say that the unity element of the social media community now when it comes to dance music festivals is a very pivotal part of why people go to festivals" (male, 27) - this is a statement that exemplifies this idea. Another participant (male, 21) explained that in retrospect, watching the Tomorrowland 2011 aftermovie "was like my entry". In other words, the aftermovie made him realize that he not only wanted to attend the festival, but furthermore become a part of the scene that surrounds it. Another examples shows that engaging with dance music festivals goes far beyond the mean of hedonism: "I'm literally part of certain groups within social media [...] that I devoted just to certain festivals, [...] because you're like-minded people and you got something in common" (male, 19). By engaging with such content, users also showcase their belongingness to the dance scene.
Self-actualization motivation
As aforementioned, self-actualization covers hedonic and eudaimonic needs, depending on the context it's embedded in. Opposed to a hedonistic motif, however, the self-actualization motivation in a eudaimonic context triggers people's engagement because they think it's necessary or the right thing to do and not because it gives them a kick. However, they are still subconsciously driving toward the realization of recognition. On a mission to find out about a festival's set times, one participant (male, 26) explained that he would leave a comment because of a possible snowball-effect: "if I comment and ask for them, other people will see that and other people will follow". He thought that the revelation of the set-times would be considerably important for people who want to plan their individual festival schedules. Another interviewee (male, 21) highlighted that he would share posts that contain important information related to the festival in order to help: "Sometimes you wanna be like, you wanna share the information for others [...] just to be nice you know". Yet another participant (male, 27) created a collage of various images of a festival's construction site and posted it on his
own account in order to make people aware that the event is coming: "I know a lot of people [...] might not even follow that page, hence they won't see it, so it's my way of sharing that information". This example shows that next to spreading that information to people who don't know about the matter, he also wants to make sure that people receive that information at first-hand from him.
Information motivation
Opposed to a hedonistic motif, the information motivation within a eudaimonic context refers to sub-motivations that don't drive towards an enjoyable outcome, but rather a meaningful.
One interviewee explained that whenever he plans to attend a festival where an unfamiliar DJ is playing, he informs himself in advance in order to plan his visit more
effectively: "I'm gonna see maybe his Miami set to see what kind of music he plays, what can I expect" (male, 21). Similarly, another contestant said that prior to every festival she's
interested in, she would watch the aftermovies of the previous years in order to see if the festival appeals to her on a personal level: "If I watch an aftermovie which fits what I go for at a festival, I'm like ok yeah" (female, 21). A third interviewee said that the decision to even follow a festival online is determined by the desire "to just stay informed [...] with the news" (male, 26). All of these examples imply authenticity regarding the festivals, reflecting on the cultural significance a festival may have and therefore indicating whether a festival
attendance is worthwhile or not.
Discussion
The current study provides a first comprehension of why people engage with dance festival-related online content and how this reflects on the gratification of their hedonic and
eudaimonic needs. The main findings show that next to sole pleasure and entertainment, festival-related online content gives users meaningfulness, which answers important life-altering questions and often guides them through the process of identifying themselves with
the cultural religion of the dance music scene. It is the need of belonging that often drivers people's motivations for engaging and expressing themselves online. Other motivations such as entertainment and information were found to be important drivers of online engagement as well, but they have also been identified in previous research in the context of brand-related online engagement (Muntinga et al., 2011; Khan, 2017).
Implications for Research on Social Media Gratifications
What the body of literature hasn't been able to show so far is that within dance music festivals' online environment next to entertainment, information, self-actualization and compensation are motivations that gratify hedonic needs as well. While scholars like Muntinga et al. (2011) or Khan (2017) were successful in identifying different motivations for different forms of engagement, they lack placing these motivations in a distinct gratification framework like hedonic or eudaimonic needs. Vice versa, Reinecke at al. (2014) or Oliver and Raney (2011) address the distinction of hedonic and eudaimonic needs, but fail to go beyond the
entertainment motivation. This study shows how hedonic and eudaimonic needs drive peoples motivation for engaging with dance music festivals online.
When addressing hedonic needs, this study found that entertainment, information, self-actualization and compensation are important drivers of online engagement. It seems obvious that an entertainment offering like dance music festivals would be driven by entertainment motivations, but the identified sub-motivations excitement, escapism and aesthetic pleasure eventually answer the important question why they do so. We learned from the findings that motivations like information-seeking and self-actualization-seeking can also be seen as pleasurable activities that users incorporate in their online behaviour. With this knowledge, marketers could for example run campaigns that determine those followers with the broadest knowledge about a certain festival as future festival ambassadors. Like that, users can
continue to pursue their hobby of spreading festival-relevant information themselves and face the possibility to enhance the enjoyment they perceive from influencing others.
When addressing eudaimonic needs, the motivations integration, identification, information and self-actualization were discovered to drive engagement. Users often seek integration within the dance music scene. By engaging with festival content, they display their belonging to that scene which mediates a life philosophy that they can adapt to their own personality and use to answer profound, life-altering questions. Research by Muntinga et al. (2011) or Shao (2009) has shown that communities add to the value of certain brands and the desire to be a part of them is a driver of engagement. This study adds that integration is a mean to gratify eudaimonic needs and is not only the reason why users engage with it online, but also end up attending dance music festivals. Similarly, the identification motivation is driven by the need to display one's affinity towards an artist, festival or niche subject, reflecting on its own self-being. From a marketing perspective, it can be combined with hedonic motivations for even more effective engagement. Knowing that people view festival-related competitions as a form of enjoyment, marketers could set them up in a way where motivations are combined. For instance, setting up a quiz where participants can win tickets, but first have to answer questions related to one of the performing artist, marketers not only provoke the entertainment motivation, but also the identification motivations by targeting the entire fanbase of said artist.
While information-seeking has earlier been found to drive consumption of news sites that are of interest (Cheung et al., 2011), the current study shows that people also engage with online content because the information they are pursuing further gratifies them on an
eudaimonic level and answers meaningful questions related to one's self.
Similarly, self-actualization sees engagement as a result of power-attainment, but in contrast to hedonic needs, reflects on truthfulness in light of the public discussion. Muntinga
et al. (2011) argue that this motivation can only be found in literature, but this study found that when it comes to dance music festivals, an important aspect of engagement is the display of already existing knowledge.
Practical Implications
These findings can serve as a beneficial aid for marketers and practitioners operating in the electronic dance event branch to more accurately and effectively tickle engagement when targeting festival-goers. This practically implies that once marketers have this knowledge, they can create their online content based on the here presented blueprint and purposely provoke these motivations that are gratifying users' specific needs. For example, festivals can aim to create promotional videos that not only depict the event itself, but also how the
attending artists view the dance music scene and the community aspect of it, combining both motivations of identification and integration in a context that addresses not only hedonic, but simultaneously eudaimonic needs. Based on these practical implications, the current study is also able to expand the current literature on social media engagement.
Limitations and Future Research
A first limitation of this study is that the participants were chosen by purpose and convenience and therefore represent various countries across the world. Some of these countries might have a different approach to dance music festivals and its scene than others. In order to increase trustworthiness, future research needs to contemplate sampling from individual countries only or consider a large-scale study with key countries where dance music festivals are predominant.
Secondly, knowing that the researcher is positioned within the dance music industry himself, some of the answers might have been provided on the basis of practical desirability. This could affect the results negatively (Galdas, 2017). However, the sample was purposely created to be homogenous, meaning that all the participants view themselves as part of the
dance music scene and share a similar philosophy in regards to it. Third, participants used for this study did not exceed the age of 27. As Oliver and Raney (2011) suggest, people in this stage of life prefer to explore life's pleasures rather than its meaningfulness. The current study, however, was still able to show how different motivations can derive from both hedonic and eudaimonic needs.
As far as future research goes, a pivotal question that stays unanswered is how consumers engage with festival related online content. Is a line-up announcement in video format more appealing that an image? Does a collage trigger more engagement than a standalone picture? Does content tailored specifically for mobile devices result in a bigger reach? To measure the effects and significance these different types of media have on followers when contemplating about dance festival attendance, quantitative research is necessary.
References
Alhabash, S., & McAllister, A. (2014). Redefining virality in less broad strokes: Predicting viral behavioral intentions from motivations and uses of Facebook and Twitter. New Media & Society, 17(8), 1317-1339. doi: 10.1177/1461444814523726
Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social media content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27. doi: 10.1002/mar.20761
Bailey, E.J., & Ivory, J.D. (2018). The moods meaningful media create: Effects of hedonic and eudaimonic television clips on viewers’ affective states and subsequent program selection. Psychology of Popular Media Culture, 7(2), 130-145. doi:
Best, P., Manktelow, R., & Taylor, B. (2014). Online communication, social media and adolescent wellbeing: A systematic narrative review. Children and Youth Services Review, 41(1), 27-36. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2014.03.001
Boddy, C.R. (2016). Sample size for qualitative research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 19(4), 429-432. doi: 10.1108/QMR-06-2016-0053
Brennen, B.S. (2012). Qualitative research methods for media studies. New York: Routledge. Brodie, R.J., Ilic, A., Juric, B., & Hollebeek, L. (2013). Consumer engagement in a virtual
brand community: An exploratory analysis. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), 105-114. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.07.029
Cheung, C.M.K., Chiu, P.Y., Lee, M.K.O. (2011). Online social networks: Why do students use Facebook? Computers in Human Behaviour, 27(4), 1337-1343. doi:
10.1016/j.chb.2010.07.028
Chiu, C.M., Hsu, M.H., & Wang, E.T.G. (2006). Understanding knowledge sharing in virtual communities: An integration of social capital and social cognitive theories. Decision Support System, 42(3), 1872-1888. doi: 10.1016/j.dss.2006.04.001
Cvijikj, I.P., & Michahelles, F. (2013). Online engagement factors on Facebook brand pages. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 3(4), 843-861. doi: 10.1007/s13278-013-0098-8 Deakin, H., & Wakefield, K. (2014). Skype interviewing: reflections of two PhD researchers.
Qualitative Research, 14(5), 603-616. doi: 10.1177/1468794113488126
Florenthal, B. (2015). Applying uses and gratification theory to students' LinkedIn usage. Young Consumers, 16(1), 17-35. doi: 10.1108/YC-12-2013-00416
Galdas, P. (2017). Revisiting bias in qualitative research: Reflections on its relationship with funding and impact. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1), 1-2. doi: 10.1177/1609406917748992
Gruber, T., Szmigin, I., Reppel, A.E., & Voss, R. (2008). Designing and conducting online interviews to investigate interesting consumer phenomena. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 11(3), 256-274. doi:
10.1108/13522750810879002
Han, W., McCabe, S., Wang, Y., & Chong, A.Y.L. (2018). Evaluating user-generated content in social media: An effective approach to encourage greater pro-environmental
behavior in tourism? Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 26(4), 600-614. doi: 10.1080/09669582.2017.1372442
Hanna, P. (2012). Using internet technologies (such as Skype) as a research medium: a
research note. Qualitative Research, 12(2), 239-242. doi: 10.1177/1468794111426607 Hennink, M.M., Hutter, I., & Bailey, A. (2011). Qualitative research methods. London:
SAGE.
Hennink, M.M., Kaiser, B.N., & Marconi V.C. (2017). Code saturation versus meaning saturation: How many interviews are enough? Qualitative Health Research, 27(4), 591-608. doi: 10.1177/1049732316665344
Hollebeek, L. (2011). Exploring customer brand engagement: Definition and themes. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 9(7), 555-573. doi: 10.1080/0965254X.2011.599493
Ifinedo, P. (2016). Applying uses and gratifications theory and social influence processes to understand students' pervasive adoption of social networking sites: Perspectives from the Americas. International Journal of Information Management, 36(2), 192-206. doi: 10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2015.11.007
John, G.S., (2007). Electronic dance music culture and religion: An overview. Culture and Religion, 7(1), 1-25. doi: 10.1080/01438300600625259
Katz, E., Blumer, J.G., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). Uses and gratification research. The Public Opinion Quarterly 37(4), 509-523. doi: 10.1086/268109
Khan, M.L. (2017). Social media engagement: What motivates user participation and consumption on Youtube? Computers in Human Behaviour, 66(1), 236-247. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.024
Ko, H.C., Yin, C.P., & Kuo, F.Y. (2008). Exploring individual communication power in the blogosphere, Internet Research, 18(5), 541-561. doi: 10.1108/10662240810912774 Krause, A.E., North, A.C., & Heritage, B. (2014). The uses and gratifications of using
Facebook music listening applications. Computers in Human Behaviour, 39(1), 71-77. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.07.001
Ku, Y.C., Chu, T.H., & Tseng, C.H. (2013). Gratifications for using CMC technologies: A comparison among SNS, IM and e-mail. Computers in Human Behaviour, 29(1), 226-234. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2012.08.009
LoIacono, V., Symonds, P., Brown, D.H.K. (2016). Skype as a tool for qualitative research interviews. Sociological Research Online, 21(2), 1-15. doi: 10.5153/sro.3952 Lu, J., Hao, Q., & Jing, M. (2016). Consuming, sharing, and creating content: How young
students use new social media in and outside school. Computers in Human Behaviour, 64(1), 55-64. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.019
McQuail, D. (1983). Mass communication theory. London: Sage.
Mull, I.R., & Lee, S.E. (2014). “PIN” pointing the motivational dimensions behind Pinterest. Computers in Human Behaviour, 33, 192-200. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.01.011 Muntinga, D.G., Moorman, M., & Smit, E.G. (2011). Introducing COBRA's: Exploring
motivations for brand-related social media use. International Journal of Advertising, 30(1), 16-46. doi: 10.2501/IJA-30-1-013-046
Odag, O., Hofer, M., Schneider F.M., & Knop, K. (2015). Testing measurement equivalence of eudaimonic and hedonic entertainment motivations in a crosscultural comparison.
Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 45(2), 108-125. doi: 10.1080/17475759.2015.1108216
Oliveira, M.J., Huertas, M.K.Z., & Lin, Z. (2016). Factors driving young user's engagement with Facebook: Evidence from Brazil. Computers in Human Behaviour, 54(1), 54-61. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2015.07.038
Oliver, M.B., & Bartsch, A. (2011). Appreciation of Entertainment: The importance of meaningfulness via virtue and wisdom. Journal of Media Psychology, 23(1), 29-33. doi: 10.1027/1864-1105/a000029
Oliver, M.B., & Raney, A.A. (2011). Entertainment as pleasurable and meaningful: Identifying hedonic and eudaimonic motivations for entertainment consumption. Journal of Communication, 61(5), 984-1004. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2011.01585.x Pai, P., & Arnott, D.C. (2013). User adoption of social networking sites: Eliciting uses and
gratifications through a means-end approach. Computers in Human Behaviour, 29(3), 1039-1053. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2012.06.025
Reinecke, L., Vorderer, P., & Knop, K. (2014). Entertainment 2.0? The role of intrinsic and extrinsic need satisfaction for the enjoyment of Facebook use. Journal of
Communication, 64(3), 417-438. doi: 10.1111/jcom.12099
Rieger, D., Reinecke, L., Frischlich, L., & Bente, G. (2014). Media entertainment and
wellbeing: Liking hedonic and eudaimonic entertainment experience to media-induced recovery and vitality. Journal of Communication, 64(3), 456-478. doi:
10.1111/jcom.12097
Robinson, O.C. (2014). Sampling in interview-based qualitative research: A theoretical and practical guide. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 11(1), 25-41. doi:
Schivinski, B., Christodoulides, G., & Dabrowski, D. (2016). Measuring consumers'
engagement with brand-related social-media content: Development and validation of a scale that identifies levels of social-media engagement with brands. Journal of
Advertising Research, 56(1), 64-80. doi: 10.2501/JAR-2016-004
Seitz, S. (2016). Pixilated partnerships, overcoming obstacles in qualitative interviews via Skype: A research note. Qualitative Research, 16(2), 229-235. doi:
10.1177/1468794115577011
Shao, G. (2009). Understanding the appeal of user-generated media: A uses and gratification perspective. Internet Research, 19(1), 7-25. doi: 10.1108/10662240910927795 Stragier, J., Evens, T., & Mechant, P. (2015). Broadcast yourself: An exploratory study of
sharing physical activity on social networking sites. Media International Australia, 155(1), 120-129. doi: 10.1177/1329878X1515500114
Takahashi, M., & Olaveson, T. (2003). Music, dance and raving bodies: Raving as spirituality in the central Canadian rave scene. Journal of Ritual Studies, 17(2), 72-96. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/44368995
Wang, R., Kim, J., Xiao, A., & Jung, Y.J. (2017). Network narratives on humans of New York: A content analysis of social media engagement on Facebook. Computers In Human Behaviour, 66(1), 149-153. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.042
Whiting, A., & Williams, D. (2013). Why people use social media: A uses and gratification approach. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, 16(4), 362-369. doi: 10.1108/QMR-06-2013-0041
Zheng, X., Cheung, C.M.K., Lee, M.K.O., & Liang, L. (2015). Building brand loyalty through user engagement in online brand communities in social networking sites. Information Technology & People, 28(1), 90-106. doi: 10.1108/ITP-08-2013-0144
Appendix Interview Guide
Why do people engage with electronic music festival - related social media content?
A) Introduction
In the Introduction the participant will be informed about the objectives, goals and interview procedure. The participant should also be informed to be as open and honest as possible, since the interview will be held anonymously, he runs no risk of answering the questions right or wrong or having to fear that his identity would be revealed. The participant will be handed a consent letter that clarifies that. Furthermore, the participant has to be informed that the entire interview will be recorded and his data will be used for research purposes only. Only if he agrees to all the aforementioned criteria, the interview can be commenced.
B) General
1. Why do you use social media?
2. What was your entry ticket into the electronic dance music scene?
3. Which electronic music festival pages are you following on social media? 4.What is the main reason you decided to give them a follow?
C) Participants proactivity
In this part of the interview, I'd like to ask and find out about how the participants engages with social media content related to electronic music festivals and why he does so. Here, the 5 main concepts are being used as blueprints, whereas the interviewer is trying to categorize the participants answers into the concepts. If a participant is rarely or not engaging with such content at all, the interviewer will try and find out about their motivations why they do so. Ultimately, the questions aim to extract the reasons for the participant's behaviour towards electronic music festivals on social media.
1. When did you engage with social media content that had something to do with electronic music festivals for the last time? If possible, please give examples. (This could have happened in the form of liking, sharing, tagging, or commenting). 2. Why did you engage with this festival's online content? If possible, ask for a background story that led to the engagement.
3. In general, what is it that makes you come to the conclusion that you want to engage with a festival's post? What is it that you express?
4. Have you ever created a post by yourself related to an electronic music festival? If so, why/why not?
4a. Why did you post specifically about this festival?
5. Describe how you engage with a friends post related to a festival.
6. Is there something you expect after engaging with that content, especially when it comes to commenting, tagging, sharing or creating yourself?
7. How would you describe the correlation between the festivals that you follow on social media and a festival you would eventually attend?
8. How important is self-identification with a festival for you?
9. When does a festival page deserve your follow and your attention? How do you determine that?
10. What kind of content would you prefer to see on your feed released by a festival leading up to its event? How does it impact your behaviour?
D) Examples
In this section, the interviewer is shown examples of festival content that has been created by the festival page itself in order to promote the event. Such material includes line-up
announcements, aftermovies from previous years, general video and pictures as well as competitions. The participant is asked to comment on these types of promotional content and
reveal in what cases he or she would engage with it. Furthermore, the interviewer would like to know what they like/dislike about the displayed content, and if applicable, what the participant would expect as a festival attendee. The interviewer would also like to know if such content is actively seeking to trigger the participants engagement, meaning that the interview would like to find out if the promotional festival content triggers any of the motivations from the list of concepts in order for the viewer to engage with it.
E) Participants reactivity
In this part, I'd like to find out more how the participants social media environment looks like, how his online friends view festival content and how they eventually react to it. This
ultimately reflects on their own behaviour and influences their motivations on how to behave towards festival content.
1. What type of festival content have you noticed being displayed on your social media feed because your friends have engaged with it? If applicable, give examples. 2. Why do you think did your friends engage with it?
3. How does your opinion change towards a festival when several of your friends start talking about it?
4. What are the main reasons that make you engage with your friends posts related to festivals?
5. Under what circumstances would you only stay an observer of a friends discussion related to a festival?
6. What is your opinion about negative posts related to festivals? How do they affect your opinion about them?
After the interview
The participant is asked if he or she has any additional comment that could be added that relate to festival-related online engagement? If not, the participant is being thanked for the contribution and the interviewer makes sure one more time that the letter of consent is signed.
