An Exploratory Study of Stakeholders' Perspectives of A
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AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF STAKEHOLDERS’ PERSPECTIVES OF A MEGA EVENT IN BARBADOS – THE GOLF WORLD CUP 2006 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By WENDY SEALY Faculty of Enterprise and Innovation Buckinghamshire New University Brunel University April 2009 The copy of this thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author under the terms of the United Kingdom Copyright Acts. No quotation from this thesis and no information derived from it may be published without proper acknowledgement. I ABSTRACT Although much has been written on the benefits of hosting ‘mega events’ including the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup, smaller but still significant sport events of global significance such as the Golf World Cup have received hardly any attention by researchers. This dearth in knowledge has inspired the direction of this study, that is, to explore the stakeholder perspective of the Golf World Cup which was hosted in Barbados in 2006. This event was part of a national development strategy aimed at diversifying the tourism product in the light of the increasing competitiveness of the tourism industry. Consequently the research methodology adopted for this study was eclectic in nature as it sought to obtain a holistic understanding of the issues associated with hosting mega events on a small island microstate. An approach to data collection and analysis was therefore utilised including semi-structured interviews, participant observation and the examination of documents and promotional materials in order to understand the expectations and perceptions that specific stakeholder groups (including local tourism officials, international tourists and local residents) have of the Golf World Cup. The 85 participants in this study highlighted a diversity of views. From the tourism authorities’ perspective, the reasons for staging the Golf World Cup were rather clichéd. These included using the Golf World Cup as a tool to promote the island as an upmarket golfing destination. The authorities also expected that the Golf World Cup would stimulate tourism demand during a traditionally slow period and provide the island with much needed publicity in overseas tourism markets. However, the fieldwork revealed that the event was unsuccessful due to the poor attendance by both international tourists and local residents. From an international perspective many participants felt that the event was poorly attended due to a lack of awareness in overseas markets and the ‘lack of atmosphere’ and auxiliary attractions at the golf course. From the local perspective many participants felt that the event lacked appeal and cultural relevance to the host society. Locally, a significant finding is that the event projected an image of catering to an elitist clientele. This image created the perception among local residents that the event was socially exclusive and only served to perpetuate social divisions in society rather than to ameliorate them. Furthermore, many felt that the failure of the event authorities to solicit local participation was because local residents were not part of the decision-making process. This finding further augments the argument that events cannot be successful without local support and participation. The findings in this study can make a worthwhile contribution to the marketing, management and design of future events and the direction of policy formulation for sport events on the island of Barbados. It has illuminated many issues that direct the perceptions, expectations and subsequent purchase behaviour of international tourists and local visitors regarding a mega event on the island of Barbados. II LIST OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT................................................................................................................ 11 LIST OF CONTENTS............................................................................................... 111 LIST OF APPENDICES .......................................................................................... V11 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS...................................................................................V111 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................ 1X AUTHORS DECLARATION ...................................................................................... X 1 -CHAPTER ONE: .................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION, OBJECTIVES AND RATIONALE OF STUDY........................... 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION AND AIMS ........................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Aims and Objectives..................................................................................... 3 1.2 BACKGROUND TO MEGA EVENTS............................................................... 5 1.3 LOCATING THIS STUDY................................................................................. 7 1.4 RATIONALE FOR THIS STUDY .................................................................... 10 1.5 ORGANISATION OF THE THESIS................................................................. 12 2 -CHAPTER TWO .................................................................................................. 15 METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS ............................................................ 15 2.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 15 2.2 RESEARCH AND THE PARADIGM DEBATE............................................... 15 2.2.1 The Positivist Paradigm .............................................................................. 16 2.2.1.1 Advantages and Limitations of Quantitative Methods........................... 17 2.3 THE INTERPRETIVE APPROACH................................................................. 21 2.3.1 Limitations of the Qualitative Approach...................................................... 22 2.4 RESEARCH STRATEGIES ADOPTED........................................................... 24 2.4.1 The Case Study........................................................................................... 24 2.4.1.1 Advantages of Case Studies ................................................................. 25 2.4.1.2 Limitations of Case Studies.................................................................. 26 2.5 DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES EMPLOYED ........................................ 27 2.5.1 Participant Observation............................................................................... 28 2.5.1.1 Limitations of Participant Observation ................................................. 30 2.5.2 Conducting Interviews ................................................................................ 32 2.5.2.1 Disadvantages of Semi-Structured Interviews....................................... 33 2.6 OTHER DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES ................................................ 35 2.7 PREPARING THE INTERVIEW SCHEDULE................................................. 35 2.7.1 Testing the Interview Guide. ....................................................................... 35 2.8 ETHICAL ISSUES............................................................................................ 37 2.9 CARRYING OUT THE FIELDWORK............................................................. 37 2.9.1 From Observation to Semi-Structured Interviews........................................ 38 2.9.2 Recording the Data ..................................................................................... 41 2.10 SELECTION OF INFORMANTS ................................................................... 43 2.10.1.1 Trustworthiness in Qualitative Tourism Research............................... 45 III 2.11 REFLEXIVITY AND RESEARCHER DECLARATION................................ 47 2.11.1 Objectivity versus Subjectivity.................................................................. 49 2.12 DATA ANALYSIS ......................................................................................... 52 2.13 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................... 56 3 -CHAPTER THREE .............................................................................................. 58 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON MEGA EVENTS......................................... 58 3.1 INTRODUCTION............................................................................................. 58 3.2 THE EVENTS INDUSTRY .............................................................................. 59 3.3 THE NATURE OF MEGA EVENTS................................................................ 64 3.4 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON MEGA SPORT EVENTS..................... 66 3.4.1 Economic and Tourism Perspectives of Mega Sport Events ........................ 68 3.4.2 The Legacy Perspective .............................................................................. 73 3.4.3 Social and Cultural Perspectives of Mega Sport Events............................... 75 3.4.4 The Socio-Political Perspective................................................................... 78 3.4.5 Place Marketing, Media and Image Perspective .......................................... 81 3.4.6 Mega Events as Image-Makers.................................................................... 85 3.5 MEGA EVENTS AS TOURIST ATTRACTIONS ...........................................