Understanding Thangka: an Explanation of Tourists’ Interest and Desire of Purchasing Thangka

UNDERSTANDING THANGKA: AN EXPLANATION OF TOURISTS’ INTEREST AND DESIRE OF PURCHASING THANGKA

A thesis submitted to the Kent State University College of Education, Health, and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science

XXX LUOBUSANGZHU

August 2016

Thesis written by Xxx Luobusangzhu

B.S., Tibet University, 2011

M.S., Kent State University, 2016

Approved by ______, Director, Master’s Thesis Committee Philip Wang ______, Member, Master’s Thesis Committee Barbara Scheule ______, Member, Master’s Thesis Committee Vilma Seeberg Accepted by ______, Director, School of Foundations, Kimberly Schimmel Leadership and Administration ______, Dean, College and Graduate School of Mark Kretovics Education, Health, and Human Services

XXX LUOBUSANGZHU, M.S., August, 2016 Hospitality and Tourism Management

UNDERSTANDING THANGKA: AN EXPLANATION OF TOURISTS’ INTEREST AND DESIRE OF PURCHASING THANGKA (103 pp.)

Director of Thesis: Philip Wang, Ph.D.

Thangka is one of the most famous traditional arts in Tibet, and originally it is a religious art. Later since tourism became the main industry in Tibet, Thangka slowly became a tourism product. This study applied well-known model AIDA to explore tourists’ interest and desire of purchase Thangka. In addition, it is examining the

Thangka values affecting on their purchasing behaviors. Present research also used

Aaker’s (1997) brand personality (BP) and Sirgy’s (1982) self-image/product-image congruity (SC) theories to explore tourists’ desire to purchase Thangka. The result supported the AIDA theory that there is an association between interest in purchasing

Thangka and desire to purchase Thangka. In addition, the findings indicated that the tourists who had visited Tibet before, Buddhists tourists, and tourists with higher income showed interest in purchasing Thangka. The results revealed high congruity levels between desire to purchase Thangka and gender, and between desire and occupation.

Implications of results will be discussed.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank my committee members Barbara Schedule and Vilma

Seeberg for their advice and expertise. The insight and knowledge they generously shared with me were critical to making this research study a success.

My sincere gratitude goes out to Philip Wang, my thesis advisor and committee chair, for his guidance and expertise in this study. His patience and encouragements gave me the strength to focus on the research that I personally find interesting. This project would not have been possible without his assistance. His willingness to give his time so generously has been very much appreciated.

I extend my sincerest thanks and appreciation to my representative ( Dorlma

Tseren). Her generous support for collecting the data greatly helped to keep the research on schedule. I would also like to extended my appreciation to Han Zhang, staff of research and evaluation bureau, for her helping in doing meteorological data analysis.

I would like to give my thanks to all the tourists that took the time to participate in this research. Thank for their trust in me and their dedication to this study.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………...………………iii

LIST OF TABLES ...... VI

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ...... 1 Brief Introduction to Thangka ...... 1 Cultural Heritage Conservation ...... 4 Impact of Cultural Heritage Tourism on Thangka ...... 6 Thangka As a Tourism Product ...... 8 Tourists As Thangka Buyers ...... 10 Types of Tourists in Tibet ...... 11 AIDA and Conspicous Consumption ...... 12 Research Purpose ...... 15

II. LITERATURE REVIEW ...... 16 The Role of Crafts in Tourism ...... 16 The Values of Crafts...... 19 Tourist Typology in Tibet ...... 22 AIDA ...... 25 Brand Personality and Self-congruence ...... 31 Conspicous Consumption ...... 38

III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...... 41 Interview ...... 41 Questionnaire ...... 42 Data Collection ...... 45 Data Analysis ...... 46

IV. RESULTS ...... 48 Description of the Sample ...... 50 Brand Personality of Thangka...... 52

Perceived Image of Thangka Buyer ...... 52 Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Desire to Purchase Thangka ...... 53 Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Participants' Background...... 55 Desire to Purchase Thangka and Participants' Background ...... 58 Thangka's Value and Participants' Background ...... 60 Thangka's Personality and Participants' Background ...... 65 Conspicuous Consumption and Participants' Background ...... 68 Thangka's Religious Value and Thangka's Brand Personality ...... 72

V. DISCUSSION ...... 74 Implications ...... 82 Limitations ...... 83 Future Research ...... 84

APPENDIXES...... 86 APPENDIX A REPRESENTATIVE TRAINING ...... 87 APPENDIX B CONSENT FORM ...... 89 APPENDIX C QUESTIONNAIRE IN ENGLISH ...... 91 APPENDIX D QUESTIONNAIRE IN CHINESE ...... 95

REFERENCES ...... 99

LIST OF TABLES

Table Page 1. Description of the Sample ...... 51 2. Brand Personality of Thangka ...... 52 3. Perceived Image of Thangka Buyer ...... 53 4. Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Desire to Purchase Thangka ...... 54 5. Relationship Between Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Visited Before ...... 56 6. Relationship Between Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Religion ...... 56 7. Relationship Between Desire to Purchase Thangka and Gender ...... 58 8. Relationship Between Desire to Purchase Thangka and Occupation ...... 60 9. Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Gender ...... 61 10. Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Tourist Type ...... 62 11. Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Trip Motivation ...... 63 12. Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Religion ...... 63 13. Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Occupation ...... 64 14. Relationship Between Thangka’s Personality and Tourist Type ...... 66 15. Relationship Between Thangka’s Personality and Trip Motivation ...... 67 16. Relationship Between Thangka’s Personality and Occupation ...... 68 17. Relationship Between Conspicuous Consumption and Gender ...... 70 18. Relationship Between Conspicuous Consumption and Tourist Type...... 70 19. Relationship Between Conspicuous Consumption and Occupation ...... 72 20. Relationship Between Religious Value and Thangka’s Personality ...... 73

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Brief Introduction to Thangka

One of the most beautiful places on this Earth is known by many people as the roof of the world. “Crisp clean air, blue skies, snowy mountains and incense infused

Buddhist temples. These are the images most people have of Tibet” (Zan, 2007, p. 42).

This is exactly like the accounts in Hilton’s (1960) book, which describe sacred mountains, deep gorges, green lakes surrounded by forests, and magnificent Tibetan

Buddhist temples in breathtaking beauty. Tibet has a very rich cultural heritage, and its most famous landmarks include Mountain Everest, is the tallest mountain on the world; the epic King Gesar, which is the longest epic in the world; and the world’s highest palace, Potala Palace. Assuredly, since Tibet has a very long history and unique culture, many special art forms have been developed, such as Tibetan architecture, carpets,

Tibetan opera, knives, and Tibetan clothing. According to Ning (2008), Tibetan clothing and adornments demonstrate the distinction of local ethnicities and artistic styles.

There are also many religious arts in Tibet such as Thangka, Sand Mandala, and Tibetan butter sculpture. Gordon (2003) indicated that Tibetan butter sculpture is a great religious art, and it is used to celebration the fifteenth day of the Tibetan lunar New Year.

Among all these unique crafts and artistic practices, Thangka is one of the most famous 1 2

arts in Tibet that represents its very special and rich cultural heritage. According to

Cotte (2005), Thangka is one of the best known examples of the rich cultural heritage of the Himalayan region, which thus bolsters proof of the Thangka’s irreplaceable status in

Tibetan cultural heritage.

According to Li (2008), the documentary of Jokhang monastery in Lhasa, Tibet mentioned that in the early seventh century, the 33rd Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo painted a “goddess” using the blood that had fallen from his nose; thus, this formed the first record of Tibetan traditional Thangka painting. Later, from thirteenth century onwards, Thangka became even more popular in Tibet and spread further afield in terms of its popularity. Thangka differs from other paintings in that it is painted on the cloth or cotton using natural minerals and plant material. Thangka can be dubbed a “Tibetan encyclopedia” as the contents of Thangka typically include medical science, astronomy, and Tibetan history; however, Thangka is predominantly used as a religious object. In light of this, Thangka painters will usually draw the Buddha, Lamas, protectors, or mandala. Thangka is a Tibetan word that means a big, flat space. Although this does not mean that all Thangka paintings are large in size, it does mean that a single Thangka can include more than one depiction of the Buddha, in addition to mountains, rivers, and skies, thereby rendering the Thangka as a cosmos. In addition, since a statue of the

Buddha is not always easy to carry when people are going somewhere to pray, the

Buddha can be painted on a flat surface, which can then be rolled up so that it can be easily carried to the site of worship. For that reason, Thangka is also called scroll painting. According to Cotte (2005), Thangka performs several different functions, including its use as a religious meditation tool to help a religious person further down the path to enlightenment. In addition, Thangka functions to protect a house or person, while it is also used as a material for religious teaching and for different kinds of religious events. Thangka exists in the daily life of Tibetans, and are used in temples and in almost every local person’s home. In addition, they are also used when someone dies in a family, or when someone gets married. Local people order Thangka from painters, and then after the Thangka has been completed, the painter will write three

Sanskrit letters on the back of the Thangka, which represent body, language, and mind; following this, the painting is then consecrated by a monastery. The meaning of doing this is because Thangka by itself is just a painting, in the same way as a body without a soul. Similarly, all the Buddha statues in the monasteries are not just stones, there are

Buddhist scripture inside the statues. After they have been consecrated, the statues have been embellished with power. Since Thangka is a form of painting, Buddhist scripture cannot be placed inside a Thangka; because of this, consecration is a way to give life to the painting, so people can pray for it.

Due to the fact that the content of Thangka paintings can include so many

objects, such as Buddhas, skies, rivers, and fire, Thangka paintings are usually very colorful by nature, yet at the same time, Thangka can also be painted in only black and white, or could be gilded and silvered; thus, Thangka can be sometimes considered monotone. On the other hand, according to Wang and He (2011), large-sized Thangka can be tens of square meters, while small Thangkas can be less than one square meter; hence, Thangka can be painted in a wide range of sizes. In the materials, purposes, and colors used, these elements have caused Thangka to become one of the most famous

Tibetan art treasures and perhaps the best known example of the rich cultural heritage of

Tibet.

Cultural Heritage Conservation

Although Thangka is one of the most significant art treasures in Tibet, it is an artform of a minority ethnic group that is quite unknown to many. Art treasures are just like animals, plant, and languages, when they become a minority, there is a chance that they can soon become endangered or even extinct. If more and more people are aware of such endangered things, they could thus be preserved, conserved, or revitalized. For example, the panda is one of the most famous endangered animals. According to the

World Wildlife Fund (2014), there were only 1,864 wild living pandas in this world; however, since the panda has been exposed as an endangered animal to the wider world, they are now receiving much more attention and support.

Language plays a significant part in cultural heritage, which is a major reason as to why Germany decided to stop teaching French at school after the 1870

Franco-Prussian War. The reason for this can be explained as when an ethnicity is endangered, the first element that is lost is the native language. For instance, the

Manchu language is an endangered minority language in China. According to Cao

(2007), there are only a few people who speak Manchu. The reason is that all the people are learning Mandarin at school in China, and no longer see a functional use of the Manchu language. Now there are fewer than twenty elderly people using Manchu as their native language, and when the last generation passes away, this language might disappear.

The Roman Catholic Church has one of the most well-known religious heritage arts in the western culture, and it is famous for its elaborate architecture, sculptures, paintings, and mosaics. There are numerous Roman Catholic religious art treasures in the world that are instantly recognizable, including Da Vinci’s The Last Supper,

Michelangelo’s Genesis, and Raphael’s The School of Atenas. Among these three

Roman Catholic religious art treasures, two of them are preserved in The Vatican

Museum. People from all over the world travel there to see these precious masterpieces.

Tourists indirectly contribute to the conservation of the artworks, and further help to increase the value of the works, which makes them even more precious as a consequence.

These examples lead to a very important question of how we preserve cultural heritage, especially regarding ethnic minorities. The answer is generate attention and awareness, so cultural heritage tourism plays an important role in the conservation of cultural heritage.

Impact of Cultural Heritage Tourism on Thangka

According to the Cultural Tourism Statistics (2011), cultural heritage tourists are the people who travel more than 40 kilometers away from their home, and then stay in the location for at least one night to experience the location and culture. Cultural tourists can also be defined as those who attend some activities, and through those activities experience a different life in a different place; as a result, this helps them to understand the customs, traditions, physical environment, intellectual ideas and architectural design of that particular place. In addition, cultural heritage tourists can experience the historic, archaeological, or cultural heritage that has been preserved from earlier times. Cultural heritage tourism is the fastest growing tourism theme among the tourism markets. According to the Austin Creative Sector Economic Impact UPDATE

(2012), on an average trip, the money that cultural tourists spent was $623, while other tourists typically spent $457; the percentage of cultural tourists using hotels, motels, or bed and breakfasts was 62%, while other tourists totaled 55%; moreover, cultural heritage tourists travelled longer than other tourists. In Austin 2010, creative industry-related

cultural heritage tourism represented over $1.4 billion in economic activities, contributed over $50 million in city tax revenue, and 18,000 people gained employment. The

Austin Creative Sector Economic Impact UPDATE (2012) also indicated that among all the leisure travelers, 78 percent of the travelers were cultural heritage tourists, it proves that cultural heritage tourism is a strong market, and contributes to communities during these challenging economic times.

Since cultural heritage tourism is the fastest growing industry among the tourism themes, and also due to the beauty and unequal cultural heritage of Tibet; Tibet has become a famous tourism destination. Cultural heritage tourism is the main economic industry in Tibet. According to Xin Hua news (2014), Tibet hosted 12 million tourists from all over the world in 2013, and for 2015, it was predicted that the number would increase to 15 million tourists. Tourism has a significant impact on traditional art forms such as Thangka. For example, in comparison to before Tourism was developed in Tibet, there were less Thangka painters, particularly young painters, and very few tourists; thus, there were no Thangka painting shops in Tibet. When local people needed a Thangka painting for a specific occasion, they would usually order a Thangka from a specific painter, and the painter would paint the Thangka at home. Later tourism is getting more and more popular in Tibet, so the awareness of Thangka has increased. Tourists’ awareness of Thangka leads to an increasing interest and desire to purchase them.

Nowadays, many young painters are beginning to see the importance of this traditional art, not only because of the economic benefits, but also due to the cultural value of

Thangka itself. They know this kind of traditional art is something that they need to preserve, and now most of the Thangka painters are living economically stable lives.

Even though tourism has many positive impacts on Thangka, Thangka remains a religious art; this means that if Thangka becomes too commercialized, it will also bring negative impacts. According to Dong (2014), when Thangka becomes commercialized, the economic value of Thangka replaces the original religious value. On the other hand, some businessmen, especially those who are non-local are using inferior quality colors instead of natural mineral colors in order to cut down their expenses. By cutting such corners, Thangka’s sanctity becomes vilified, and many local people worry about

Thangka’s future. Thangka is a religious art, but when it becomes too commercialized, it loses its intrinsic value. Using the artist as an example, an artist should respect his possession and contribute to art; however, when an artist becomes too commercialized, people do not see them as artists anymore. Since tourism has both positive and negative impacts on Thangka, it is important to find out the balance between the two.

Thangka As a Tourism Product

Thangka is one of the most famous arts in Tibet, and when more and more people know about Tangka, the value of Thangka increases. Zan (2007) indicated that

1994 in New York at Christie’s Auction House, a large Thangka dating back to the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was sold for $1 million. The same Thangka was sold again at around $3.6 million at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2002. Since tourism is the foremost economical industry in Tibet, and Thangka is one of the most famous traditional art forms, people started to increase the business of producing and selling Thangka paintings. According to China Tibet news (2008) in 1996, Testen Namgyal, who is a famous Thangka painter, opened the first painting and selling shop in Barkhor Street,

Lhasa, Tibet. The idea of his shop moved the back stage of Thangka to the front stage, so that tourists could see the real authentic Thangka paintings in production. Thangka painting shops are attracting increasing numbers of tourists because there were tourists who previously did not have any knowledge about Thangka, or those who did know something had never seen how painters were making it. In this particular Thangka painting shop, the tourists got the chance to see all the making processes. Recently, more and more people are creating Thangka businesses, and there are more and more

Thangka shops opening up in Tibet. Thangka paintings not only hang on the temple or are ordered by local people, they are becoming a tourism product.

Since Thangka is becoming a tourism product, it attracts all kinds of tourists.

For example, Thangka is attracting the attention of many Buddhist tourists because it is a very important tool to practice their religion. Each Thangka has a different meaning or

feature; for example, a particular painting can be for those who wish to have good health, or if there is someone who is sick, a family member will typically buy Green Tara (a green color goddess). In addition, if a person is seeking money or hoping for a successful business, they will buy Dzambala (the god of wealth). For that reason,

Thangka is used for many different occasions and purposes. Conversely, Thangka also attracts tourists who are non-Buddhist. As the present study mentioned before, without giving life to Thangka, it is just a normal painting. If there are tourists who do not believe in the Buddha, or are non-religious, they can still buy Thangka as a normal traditional art.

Tourists As Thangka Buyers

Since the awareness of Thangka is increasing and many people are feeling the benefits of selling Thangka, the Thangka industry is getting steadily popular in Tibet, and the market is focusing on tourists. According to The World Bank IBRD-IDA (2014), since 1978 Chinese GDP has grown ten percent every year, helping to bring 500 million people out of poverty. When the Chinese economy is increasing, people are willing to travel more, and they also intent to purchase more local products at travel destinations.

According to Wang (2013), in the next couple of years, Chinese tourists will still form the primary market in Tibetan tourism. As a result of the shorter travel distance compared to foreign tourists, especially after the railroad was built in 2006, Chinese

tourists are visiting in greater numbers. Among all the tourists from all over the world,

Chinese tourists have become the biggest Thangka buyers, and the Thangka business is mainly focused on Chinese tourists.

Types of Tourists in Tibet

Due to the fact that Tibet has so many beautiful natural sights, clean air, and dense religious atmosphere, the perspective many tourists have of Tibet is that it is a divine and mysterious place; therefore, tourists are finding all kinds of methods to reach this destination. Recently, there are two types of travel that are popular in Tibet: the self-driving tour and budget travel. According to the Tibet High Land Expedition

(2015), a significant number of self-driving tourists have been attracted to Tibet in recent years. Although this type of tourists have more freedom and flexibility, due to the changeable weather, complex roads, and high elevation, it could also be dangerous for self-driving tourists. On the other hand, the Tibet High Land Expedition (2015) indicated that another popular mode of travel is called “poor traveling,” which means travelling on a budget. Chen and Weiler (2014) indicated that this type of tourists mainly constitute the younger generations who were born in 1980s and 1990s. Budget travelling gives more freedom and flexibility to a tourist’s travel plan; in order to save money, a lot of budget travelers ask for rides on the road, ask for lodging from local people, and they ask for food from local people as well. Even though this type of

traveling can save money, it can also be quite risky, and could leave a bad impression on local people.

Tibet is attracting so many different types of tourists, especially Chinese tourists from all backgrounds and for different purposes. For instance, some reasons to travel to

Tibet can be to explore its long history and unique culture, to attend special festivals, adventurism, being away from crowded and pressured life, or just to buy Tibetan traditional art crafts. From these reasons, Wang (2013) indicated that there are three types of motivation as to why Chinese tourists travel to Tibet. Pilgrims are the type of tourists who are mainly Buddhists, and they basically come to worship; however, the number of this type of tourist is low. It might be due to the fact that there are more non-religious tourists than Buddhist tourists. The second type is the sightseeing traveler, while the third type of tourist is the traveler in search of in-depth experiences.

According to Wang (2013), for all these types of tourist, traditional art crafts and local products are easy to promote to tourists, and tourists have a deep impression on them.

AIDA and Conspicuous Consumption

Since Thangka has become a famous tourism product in Tibet, many tourists have become interest in this kind of traditional and unique art. For Thangka to flourish and to better promote Thangka in tourism, it is necessary to understand the question as to which types of tourists have interest and desire to purchase Thangka. Due to the fact

that there is a lack of research on the tourist’s interest and desire to purchase Thangka, introducing the well-known model AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) could be the best way of doing this research. According to Wijaya (2012), AIDA was originally introduced by Elmo St. J. Lewis in 1898, and was used in the marketing and advertising literature by Strong in 1925. In addition, it is the process a product goes through, which spans from getting a customer’s attention until making final purchasing action.

It is possible to apply the AIDA frame work to the Thangka business in Tibet as follows:

1. Attention: when people are selling their products, getting a customer’s attention is

the first step. In Tibet, a lot of Thangka shops are trying many ways to get tourist’s

attention, such as by displaying all kinds of colorful Thangka on the wall with light,

and displaying them on the street. Some shops also play traditional music loudly to

get a tourist’s attention, so that they can see their shops.

2. Interest: after getting a tourist’s attention, it is important to understand whether they

will be interested in product’s values. For example, Thangka paintings can help

them practice religion, acquire a famous painter’s autograph on the painting, or to

show off to other people their collection.

3. Desire: although tourists have an interest in Thangka, it may not lead them to a

desire to buy it. In order to arouse desire to buy a painting, they need to have some

kind of emotional contact with the product. For example, a tourist might have a

desire to buy a Thangka because the tourist is a Buddhist, or if the tourist is an art

collector. The painting would therefore satisfy their needs and could make them be

more willing to buy it; thus, it is an important factor.

4. Action: Conatively (doing) is the last stage that the hierarchy framework suggested,

and that a conative action can be a doing of purchase. That is the purpose of selling

a product. During this section of the process, salesperson sometimes try to make

customers take action faster.

Tourists have interest in Thangka maybe because it can provide some kinds of values for them. There are tourists who would purchase Thangka in order to get famous painter’s autograph. Conspicuous value is considered as an important factor that influences consumer’s purchasing behavior, especially when the product is a treasured art such as Thangka. According to Veblen (2007), customers sometimes purchase some products or services for the purpose of displaying their wealth to other people, or to improve their social status. Factors such as this, which can change a customer’s behavior are called conspicuous consumption. Tourists could purchase Thangka in order to show off their special collection to other social members. For that reason, conspicuous value could be an important reason that affects tourists to buy Thangka.

Research Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine tourist’s interest and desire to purchase

Thangka. Furthermore, it is examining the Thangka values affecting on their purchasing behaviors.

Research Questions

1. What kind of tourists have an interest in Thangka?

2. How desirable is Thangka to tourists?

3. What value does Thangka possess to buyer?

Hypotheses

1. There is no relationship between interest and desire.

2. There is no relationship between interest and participant’s background.

3. There is no relationship between desire and participant’s background.

4. There is no relationship between Thangka’s values and participant’s background

5. There is no relationship between Thangka’s personality and participant’s background.

CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

The Role of Crafts in Tourism

Why do people travel? It is because they want to see something different, something famous, or something they have never experienced. Each place has its own cultural identity; even in a different area, there can be a unique culture to be discovered.

In light of this, it can be said that culture makes them special and brings tourists to their place. Bagul and Liu (2011) indicated that cultural identity makes a country different, and normally the culture in a specific country is distinguished by their heritage, people, art, and architecture. To provide further information, “cultural tourism includes visiting archaeological sites, being involved in community festivals, watching traditional dances and ceremonies, or merely shopping for handcrafted art” (Besculides, Lee & McCormick,

2002, p. 303). Thus, just as Bagul and Liu (2011) mentioned these elements not only have the ability to make a specific place unique, they can also generate interest in the place from people all over the world, while also giving pride to the local community.

The aforementioned elements of cultural attraction show that art can be a very important factor that attracts tourists. There are so many famous art attractions all over the world, and these attractions could even represent the country or the specific place itself, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a Broadway musical in New York City, or the traditional

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painting Thangka in Tibet, to give a few examples. For that reason, it can be said that art plays a significant role in cultural heritage tourism. Art itself is a very wide ranging media, and there are many components that comprise artistic attractions. King and

Wilder (2003) and Picard (1997) pointed out that cultural arts include architecture, costumes, music, dance, and handicrafts. To be even more specific, Awangku, Hassanal and Hao (2011) said that the factor of art and art-based tourism experiences can be categorized as theater, music, cinema, dance, design and architecture, photography and digital media, public art, visual arts, and crafts.

The term “craft” covers so many areas around world, including paintings, ceramics, textiles, and so on. Mason (2005) expressed that the concept of crafts is hard to define; however, the Crafts Council (2005) define it as “the act of making, manipulating, and the sensory experience of materials, the acquisition of practical forms of knowledge that are tactile, intuitive and skills-based and involve aesthetic qualities such as craftspersonship.” Mason (2005) said that there were four significant processes and construct to craftwork. First, the activity of making; second, knowledge of the specific skill; third, craftspersonship, which plays a very important role in judgment of aesthetic; and finally, apprenticeship, which a form of gaining knowledge and skills through practicing and modeling. Containing all these processes and constructs, a completed crafts can represent a particular area’s unique culture, gives pride to the local

community, and more importantly, attract tourism. Cole (2007) indicated that culture could be sold if it is objectified. Therefore, due to the significant impact of tourism development, nowadays crafts are becoming a tourism product. For example, as this study discussed, there were very few Thangka painters, especially young painters, and there previously were no painting shops as compared to now. Most of the time, local people order Thangka from painters they know, and painters would typically paint

Thangkas at either their homes or at their teacher’s house. Later, tourism became more and more popular in Tibet, and local painters started selling paintings to the tourists.

Wallendorf and Arnould (1988) indicated that usually travelers think of crafts and other objects as their most valuable possessions they acquire while traveling. Gesang

Namgyal is a Tibetan local Thangka businessman, who in 2014, acquired 600,000

Chinese Yuan in revenue from his shop, (G.Namgyal, personal communication, March 25,

2015). G. Namgyal stated around 80% of his paintings were sold to tourists. In addition, Gyal Num mentioned that due to the fact that people are now seeing the benefits of this traditional craft, there are more and more painters and shops cropping up; thus, this also leads to greater competition. For that reason, nowadays many of the painters are much better than before tourism was developed.

In summary, among so many art forms, crafts significantly represent the unique culture of a particular place. By gaining influence from tourism, craftwork provides the

economic benefits and pride for the local community. Therefore, crafts play an important role in tourism, and tourism has a significant impact on the craft industry.

However, these are the values from a local community’s perspective. In order to understand the reasons why tourists have so much interest in crafts, and also to know more about the values they obtain from crafts, more research is required.

The Values of Crafts

Many people find things interesting because they know they can benefit from them. It is a fact that tourists have an interest in craft objects because they can provide different kinds of values for them. As the present study mentioned before, King and

Wilder (2003) and Picard (1997) indicated that the cultural arts include architecture, costumes, music, dance, and handicrafts. Due to the fact that crafts are one of the most important components of the cultural arts, it definitely has an artistic value. Liebl and

Roy (2003- 2004) defined the meaning of the craft as the items which have a clear artistic value. Moreover, a simple definition of the term “crafts” was given by The Office of the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts (1989), in that crafts are items which are made by hand, usually made by simple tools, and generally traditional and/ or artistic in nature. Thus, crafts have artistic value in nature. Using the Thangka as an example, tourists have interest in the color, style, or natural beauty, which can all be interpreted as factors of artistic value. Moving on to the next value, as this study mentioned that

crafts were a part of cultural art. In addition, Besculides, Lee, and McCormick (2002) pointed out that cultural tourism includes visiting heritage sites, participating in community festivals, watching traditional ceremonies, music, or dances, or only shopping for art crafts. It indicated that crafts are usually a cultural and ethnic artform.

Further, Liebl and Roy (2003-2004) expressed that in a non-government community, crafts intrinsically represent a valuable experience of culture; therefore, it proves that one of the reasons why tourists are interested in Thangka is because it represents the unique culture of Tibet, and this unique culture of art belongs to the ethnicity of Tibetans. On the other hand, Thangka is a very special craft as compared to many other crafts due to its religious purposes. According to Cotte (2005), Thangka performs several different functions, including its use as a religious meditation tool to help a religious person further down the path to enlightenment. It is also used for different kinds of religious events, functions as a protector of a house or person, and it is also used as a form of religious teaching; thus, Thangka is used during many occasions in a Buddhist’s daily life.

It shows that crafts such as Thangka have a religious value to them, and there are many tourists who are interested in Thangka because of such values. The above three values: artistic value, cultural value, and religious value are the values in itself and in their nature.

(Rønnow-Rasmussen & Zimmerman, 2006) “The intrinsic value of something is said to be the value that that thing has ‘in itself’ or ‘for its own sake’ or ‘as such’ or ‘in its own

right’ Extrinsic value is a value that is not intrinsic;” thereby, it can be said that the artistic value, cultural value, and religious value make up the intrinsic value.

On the other hand, just as Rønnow-Rasmussen and Zimmerman (2006) expressed that the extrinsic value is contrary to intrinsic value. In art crafts, if intrinsic value is value that lies within itself and in its nature, the extrinsic values are the values that are not in their nature, such as the financial value of a craft and its status value.

Zan (2007) indicated that in 1994, at Christie’s Auction House in New York, a large

Thangka from the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) was sold for $1 million. The same Thangka was sold again for around $3.6 million at Christie’s Hong Kong in 2002.

In addition, Jinghua news (2009) reported that although now there are not many ancient

Thangkas, such as those from the Ming Dynasty, many contemporary Thangka artists have very good financial value due to their rich painting skills; examples of such artists include Tseten namgyal and Gulmei Nyima. For that reason, many tourists have developed an interest in the financial value of these crafts; however, there are some tourists who are interested in those special crafts not because of their financial value, but due to the fact that those special crafts, expensive crafts, or crafts from famous artists can provide them status value. For example, after buying Thangka from famous painters, many tourists will ask for the painter’s autograph on the paintings, so that they can show their collection off to other people.

In summary, tourists retain a great interest in crafts while they travel because they are interested in acquiring different kinds of values from the crafts. From the present study, five different values can be seen regarding exactly what crafts provide.

Artistic value, cultural value, and religious value are considered as intrinsic value, while financial value and status value are categorized as the extrinsic value. Since the present study indicated the values that crafts have, it is important to understand the kinds of tourists who have interests in those values. For example, before solving the question as to which types of tourists are interested in Thangka, the tourist typology in Tibet should be first understood.

Tourist Typology in Tibet

Cohen (1972) indicated that a lot of tourists want to see something that they are familiar with when they travel; however, nowadays many tourists are enjoying novelty and strangeness. Cohen (1972) identified four different tourist typologies. The first one is organized mass tourists. This type of tourist wants to travel in an “environmental bubble” and seeks the largest amount of familiarity. For instance, the country to which they travel should have the same language or same religion as their own country. In addition, organized mass tourists are the least adventurous, and mostly attend package tours. Second, individual mass tourists are similar to the organized mass tourists, although they want to experience more novelty; therefore, the author categorized

organized mass tourists and individual mass tourists as an institutionalized tourist type.

They are highly dependent on tour guides and travel agencies, and other kinds of touristic establishments. The third type of tourists are explorers. Explorers seek a greater amount of novelty than the institutionalized tourists, though they do not want to be completely out of the “environmental bubble.” Drifters are the last type of tourists identified by Cohen. This type of tourist likes to experience novelty and adventure at the highest level, while they also have very little contact with touristic establishments.

In light of this, the author described the explorers and drifters as a non- institutionalized tourist type.

Plog (1974) identified tourist typology as allocentric, mid-centric, and psychocentric. The allocentric is similar to Cohen’s non- institutionalized tourists, such as explorers and drifters. This type of tourist seeks new experiences and adventures.

In addition, allocentric tourists like to be out of the “environmental bubble” and make their own travel arrangements. On the contrary, psychocentric tourists are same as

Cohen’s institutionalized tourists, such as organized mass tourists and individual mass tourists. They seek familiarity and highly rely on touristic establishments.

Nevertheless, Plog indicated that most of the tourists are between the allocentric and psychocentric, which is therefore the mid-centric. The mid-centric type of tourist is not particularly adventurous; however, they are not averse to new experiences.

By understanding Cohen and Plog’s tourist typology, it is now easy to understand the findings regarding tourist types in Tibet, as mentioned in the introduction.

There are many tourists who are attracted by Tibet’s clean air, beautiful natural sights, and dense religious atmosphere. According to the Lhasa night newspaper (2015), the capital city of Tibet, Lhasa, hosted 2,431 different tour teams through travel agencies during the “winter Tibet traveling” season in October 2014. Due to its high altitude and the presence of some undeveloped areas or roads, in addition to the tourist’s impression of Tibet being a divine and mysterious place, many tourists are afraid to travel by themselves. For that reason, there are many organized mass tourists and psychocentric type of tourists in Tibet. As a result, these tourism need to be highly dependent on touristic establishments, so that they can travel to Tibet. On the other hand, the Tibet

High Land Expedition (2015) indicated that at this current time, there are a significant number of self-driving tourists in Tibet. This type of tourist usually rents or drives their own car and travels with their friends or family. They make travel plans by themselves, but they may look for comfortable accommodations; therefore, these tourists are similar to Cohen’s individual mass tourists and Plog’s mid-centric type of tourists. There is also another popular traveling style called “poor traveling,” which means travel on a budget. Chen and Weiler (2014) expressed that this type of tourist also makes travel plans on their own, and usually they ask for rides, lodging, and even food from local

people; in addition; in some tourists spots in Lhasa, people can see many budget travelers selling souvenirs or some wares to keep themselves going. From these viewpoints, budget travelers are matched with Cohen’s non-institutionalized tourists and Plog’s allocentric.

In summary, by reviewing Cohen’s (1972) and Plog’s (1974) classification of tourists and connecting that to the tourism in Tibet, the tourist topology in Tibet also can be described as institutionalized and non-institutionalized tourists; allocentric, mid-centric, and psychosentric type of tourists.

AIDA

After knowing about the tourist typology in Tibet, this study explores which types of tourists with different backgrounds have a greater interest in Thangka. The theory of AIDA includes the process of a product getting a customer’s attention until taking the final purchasing action. For that reason, introducing the well-known model

AIDA could be the best way to do this research.

AIDA stands for attention, interest, desire, and action; also, Aryal (2005) indicated that this kind of model is called a “hierarchy of effects” model. According to

Belch and Belch (2009), the model of AIDA was originally introduced to represent the stages a salesperson must take for a customer to successively pass the process of personal-selling through attention, interest, desire, and action. In detail, first of all, the

salesperson must get the customer’s attention or awareness, and then cause some interests in the company’s service or product. Furthermore, a higher degree of interest creates a stronger desire to own or use the product or the service. After generating the interest and desire, the action is the final stage in the AIDA model, and thus getting the customer to make a purchase commitment closes a sale.

According to Strong (1925), AIDA was originally introduced by Elmo St. J.

Lewis in 1898, at which time only the AID model existed. AID stands for attention, interests, and desire, so the stage of action was not included at that time. Wijaya (2012) stated that in 1898, the model of AID was developed as a sales guide for salesmen to be successful in moving a prospect to buy. In order to convince a salesperson to move the prospects of a buyer through a complete selling process, later in 1900, Elmo St. J. Lewis added a new final stage: “action.” For a necessary part of the persuasive and long-run selling process, Arthur F. Sheldon added “satisfaction” after the action stage in 1911.

Strong (1925) expressed that due to the fact that at that time there was no clear and definite formulation of what was implied in selling, Lewis and Sheldon’s formulation had a significant effect upon the selling world. Nevertheless, Strong (1925) indicated that the stage of satisfaction was not always included in the formula. The author explained the word “satisfaction” was added in the year after Lewis' formula, and at that time the purpose of selling was only seen as to secure a sale. For that reason, Strong (1925)

suggested the stage of satisfaction should be included in order to emphasize this new purpose. Wijaya (2012) also indicated that after Lewis introduced the complete AIDA model, it was generally attributed in the advertising and marketing literature by Strong

(1925). Strong (1925) estimated that 90 percent of the literature regarding the sales process, in addition to the majority of the selling and advertising textbooks fully supported the Lewis and Sheldon’s hierarchical framework. Since Lewis introduced

AIDA that was later developed by Sheldon, after a century, it is still widely used; in conclusion, it has proved the importance of this hierarchical model.

Attention

Wijaya’s (2012) “hierarchy framework suggested that audiences respond to messages in a very ordered way that is firstly cognitively (thinking), then affectively

(feeling), and thirdly conatively (doing)” (Wijaya, 2012, p. 76). Wijaya (2012) indicated that cognition is defined as “mental activity,” and that it is reflected in the thoughts, beliefs, or knowledge that a person has about some aspects of their world.

Attention is the first step of AIDA. When people are selling their products, getting a customer’s attention is the first step, and the reason why customers are attracted by the product can be due to their thoughts, beliefs, or knowledge. Using a Thankga shop as an example, the reason why people are attracted to a Thangka shop may be because they see the attractive colors of Thangka painting. It may be because they have previous

knowledge about Thangka, knowledge about art, or because of their beliefs such as their religion. For that reason, cognition can be an important factor to focus a customer’s attention to an object.

Interest

After the first stage: attention, the process then moves to the second stage: interest. Similar to how a tourist is attracted by Thangka shop before going inside, the next step is to understand whether he or she has an interest in Thangka or not. Strong

(1925) stated that usually people have an interest in a product or service because of some kind of profits they get through the things. In addition, according to Petit, Dubois,

Harand, and Quazzotti (2011), interest is characterized by the interest of a customer paying attention to a product’s benefits, with the customer also becoming aware of its advantages. In the previous section, the present study concluded by stating the five different values of art crafts: artistic value, cultural value, religious value, financial value, and status value. These five values that art crafts provide can be the factors that make tourists generate an interest in Thangka. For example, tourists are interested in Thangka because it can help them practice religion, and that is the religious value they get from

Thangka. Moreover, another reason as to why a tourist is interested in Thangka may be due to the fact that he can get a famous painter’s autograph on the painting, or can show off their collection to other people; thus, this can form the financial value and status

value he gets from Thangka.

Desire

Although a product gets people’s attention and generates an interest, they still may not have a desire to purchase that particular item. Strong (1925) expressed that attention and interest have to be present whenever a potential customer does buy; however, for the seller, this is not the final objective in his sale. In order to allow customers have a desire toward the product, the seller should aim to establish certain ideas and feelings relative to what the buyer can get from the goods. “Affection refers to both emotional and attitudinal aspects of meaning, liking, and disliking” (Li &

Leckenby, 2004 p. 5). In addition, according to Wijaya (2012), in a general sense, the affective component is the certain level of emotion or feeling, and that can be attributed to the brand, while conation refers to the intention to perform a behavior, such as purchasing behavior. For that reason, after attention and interest, the customer needs a certain level of feeling and emotional contact with the product in order to have desire in the product.

Action

Wijaya (2012) mentioned that people respond to messages in a very ordered way.

Conatively (doing) is the last stage that the hierarchy framework suggested, and that a conative action can be a doing of purchase. In AIDA, action is the final stage. Rawal

(2013) stated that after the interest has been established, a salesman has to make potential customers desire the product enough to take action, which is commonly in the form of buying the product. In general sales, that is the purpose of selling a product, and this stage will close the sale. Belch and Belch (2009) indicated that to the marketers, the final stage is the most important stage among the selling process, and it also can be the hardest one. Therefore, companies will usually make efforts to train their salespersons on closing techniques to help them complete the selling process. During this section, sellers even try to make customers take purchasing actions faster. For example, a salesman will typically say that the particular painting the customer wants is the last one, and if customer do not take action faster, it will soon be purchased by other tourists.

For summary, a product that grabs a customer’s attention could be due to their thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs; due to this, some of the benefits they can get from the product could make them generate an interest in that product; moreover, after having some degrees of feeling or emotional contact with the product, people are usually willing to purchase that product. In the present study, in order to see whether or not the tourist’s interest of Thangka can lead the desire to purchase it, the well-known methods of AIDA will be used to examine the relationship between the interests and desire in Thangka.

Brand Personality and Self-congruence

In the previous section, the study mentioned that after attention and interest, the customer needs a certain level of feeling or emotional contact with the product, so that the customer will get desire on the product, and this affective component will foster an intention to purchase. In order to test the relationship between desire and tourists with different backgrounds, the present study will introduce the theory of brand personality and self-congruity.

Aaker (1996) indicated that brand is not only for passing a product’s functional benefits, such as scope, quality, and use; it also includes the information of the brand’s own personality, the relationship between the user, the image of the user, the emotional benefits, and the benefits of self-expression. The author also suggested that if we see different brands as different people, they all have different personalities; thereby, Aaker

(1997) defined brand personality as “the set of human characteristics associated with a brand.” Moreover, Murphy, Benckendorff, and Moscardo (2007) expressed that when a person agrees that a brand has a personality, the consumer has a clear perception of which kind of person would use the brand. According to Aaker (1996) and Kolter

(1999), the impact on brand personality has on consumers is more direct and in-depth.

For that reason, a company makes a brand personification and builds personality for the brand in order to allow consumers to link the brand personality with people or things that

have a certain symbolism in order to form a clear impression. It showed that a brand personality that is well established can influence consumer preference.

Ekinici and Hosany (2006) mentioned that study, which applied brand personality theory could be traced back to the early 1960s. Birdwell (1964) first studied the personality and the way it influences a consumer’s choice of automobiles. Dolich

(1969) studied the effects of a perceived car’s personality on consumers’ self-image.

Later, the theory of brand personality was used in many products; however, there were no clear dimensions about brand personality. Aaker (1997) noticed this limitation and identified five dimensions of brand personality, which are sincerity, excitement, competence, sophistication, and ruggedness. Based on the five dimensions, Aaker invented the 42-item Brand Personality Scale (BPS). BPS provided more support for the stability of the five dimensions. Many researchers supported BPS later, and it was widely used in many products. There were researchers who even used it in the hospitality area. Siguaw, Mattila, and Austin (1999) applied the brand personality scale to measure quick service, casual, and also upscale restaurant’s brand personality. The results also proved the possibility of Aaker’s brand personality scale in different areas.

In addition, Ekinici and Hosany (2006) first discussed brand personality in the tourism area. Their study indicated that similar to products, a distinctive destination personality that is emotionally attractive can also influence a tourist’s choice behavior by

perceiving the image of that place. The objective of Ekinici and Hosany’s (2006) study was to extend Aaker’s (1997) brand personality scale to investigate the dimensions of the destination personality for tourism destinations. The findings of this research expressed that tourists ascribe personality characteristics to destinations. Three destination personality dimensions were described: sincerity, excitement, and conviviality.

According to Ekinici and Hosany (2006) it may be due to the fact that the Aaker’s scale did not fit into the destination personality; as a result, they reduced the brand personality items. As the three dimensions were reliable and valid, it therefore showed that brand personality could be used in tourism research, and a destination can also be seen as a brand or a product.

On the other hand, self-concept also influences people’s choice behavior and has a close connection with brand personality. Grubb and Grathwohl (1967) defined self-concept or self-image as “what one is aware of, one’s attitude, feelings, perceptions and evaluations of oneself as an object” (p. 24). The author indicated that stores, brands, and products have a symbolic value for consumers, and the purchase behavior of a consumer is strongly connected to an increase of their self-concept through the symbolic item. In addition, according to Grubb and Grathwohl (1967), due to the fact that the self-concept has a significant value to the individual, he will lead his behavior to preserve and raise his self-concept; thus, an individual’s behavior is greatly influenced by the way

the individual assesses himself, so the more valued self, the more consistent and organized becomes his behavior.

The next year, Birdwell (1968) used self-concept to study the impact of image congruence on consumer choice of automobile, and the author stated that the cars usually extent the owner's self-image. The research indicated that an individual’s environment, his self-image, and the cognitive structure of individual are the main effects on his perception of automobiles. Dolich (1969) used the self-concept in four products (beer, cigarettes, bar soap, and toothpaste) and studied their relationships with the consumers’ actual and ideal self-image. The author expressed that many researchers were interested in studying the different perceptions of two important self-concepts; namely, the actual self-concept and the ideal self-concept. The author defined actual self-concept as the perception of how he actually is, while the ideal self-concept is the individual’s perception of how he would like to be. Based on the actual self-concept and ideal self-concept, Sirgy (1979) identified two more self-concepts: social self-concept (the perception of how an individual believes others perceive him or her), and the ideal social self-concept (the perception of how an individual would like others to perceive him or her). Sirgy (1982) developed a theory of self-image/product-image congruity. The author indicated that the congruity states of self-image/product-image will affect the motivation of purchase differently, and a positive self-congruity will result in the highest

level of purchase motivation. For that reason, Sirgy (1982) summarized the four kinds of self-concept/product-image congruities: self-congruity (the actual self-concept and product image congruity), ideal self-congruity (the ideal self-concept and product-image congruity), social self-congruity (the social self-concept and product-image congruity), and ideal social self-congruity (the ideal social self-concept and product-image congruity). Malhotra (1988) and Sirgy (1982) have stated that the bigger the congruity between the human characteristics that describe an individual's actual or ideal self-image through a brand, the higher the desire they get for the brand. For instance, people who buy Marlboro cigarettes tend to be perceived as masculine, and the more the actual or ideal self-image they receive from smoking Marlboro, the more desire of purchasing they have.

More recently, Usakli and Baloglu (2011) applied brand personality and the self-congruity theory to examine the perception of the Las Vegas destination personality, while also investigating the relationships between destination personality, self-congruity, and a tourist’s behavioral intentions. The results of this study proved that self-congruity has a positive influence on a tourist’s behavioral intentions, and the more the match between the destination personality and self-concept of tourists leads to a greater intention to return to the destination. In addition, the findings showed that self-congruity functions as a partial mediator between behavioral intentions and destination personality. Through self-congruity, the destination personality has a

positive, indirect effect for intention to return.

Ekinici and Hosany (2006) indicated that after Aaker (1990) had developed the brand personality scale, brand personality was used in many different kinds of settings across different cultures to evaluate the symbolic consumption of the consumer and their impacts on behavior; moreover, the authors expressed that the brand personality scale was reliable, and had been used most widely to measure a product’s personality in different kinds of contexts and cultures.

The reason of the present study could apply these theories into Thangka is because according to Besculides, Lee, and McCormick (2002), cultural tourism includes being involved in community festivals, watching traditional dances or ceremonies, visiting archaeological sites, or merely shopping for handcrafted art.” Art crafts as a part of one destination’s culture plays an important role in local cultural tourism. Cole

(2007) stated that if culture is being objectified, it could be sold; thus, the significant impact of tourism development, art crafts are becoming tourism products. Wallendorf and Arnould (1988) expressed that travelers often think of crafts and other objects as their most valuable possessions they get during traveling; thereby, many crafts are also becoming souvenirs, Littrell (1994) also classified art crafts as souvenirs. Love and

Sheldon (1998) indicated that tourists purchase souvenirs in order to use the souvenirs to

represent the destination and their own self-congruity, and it could also be a motivation for traveling. In the same way as a tourism destination, the souvenir also has both tangible and intangible components. Gordon (1986) identified that a souvenir is a tangible symbol which can be reminiscent of things that are different from the daily life experience; in contrast, it also can preserve intangible experiences, such as memories of people, things, or objects. Nevertheless, there is lack of research studying the relationships between art crafts or souvenirs personality, self-congruity, and tourist’s behavioral intentions. In the present study, Thangka is one of the most famous traditional art crafts in Tibet, so Thangka has become the symbol of Tibet and the brand of Tibet.

In summary, this study will investigate the brand personalities of Thangka and the self-congruity between tourists in Tibet and Thangka. Due to the fact that, Ekinici and Hosany (2006) stated the feasibility of the brand personality scale and indicated that it has the possibility to measure a product’s personality in different kinds of contexts and cultures. In addition, art crafts such as Thangka are a part of Tibetan culture, and

Thangka is a brand product of Tibet; moreover, as a souvenir, Thangka has both tangible and intangible symbolic meanings. For that reason, it was appropriate to use the brand personality and self-congruity theories to investigate the relationship between tourists and Thangka.

Conspicuous Consumption

The present study indicated that when people purchase something, there are all kinds of values or advantages that can allow them to generate interest in the object and get desire to buy it. The values people get from the object could be artistic value, cultural value, religious value, financial value, or status value. “In many circumstances the decision of consumers to purchase a good can not adequately be explained by the intrinsic utility derived from consuming it. Rather, its rationale may be found in what the purchase of the good symbolizes to others” (Corneo & Jeanne, 1997). Their study showed that people who have this kind of purchasing behavior care more about how other people see them through their purchase. Goldsmith et al (1996) expressed that desire to win status or social prestige by purchasing something is one of the most important motivations that consequently explains much about consumer behavior. For that reason, status value as an extrinsic value plays an important role in people’s purchasing decisions, and this kind of purchasing factor which changes consumer’s behavior is also called conspicuous consumption.

Conspicuous consumption was first introduced by Veblen (1922). He indicated that conspicuous consumption is how a consumer shows their wealth to others in order to achieve better social status by purchasing something. Veblen (1922) stated two ways the people can identify their wealth: through the consumption of expensive products or

services and through activities. He indicated that conspicuous consumption is the most important factor that can influence consumer behavior. It is not only for the rich and upper classes, but also for all social classes. The thing that helps consumers get better social status could be a product or a service such as buying a beautiful big house, staying in a luxury hotel, or purchasing a nice piece of artwork. According to Mandel (2009), the values of art works are not like “pure” financial instruments, and also differ from equities or other investment, it is also a consumption good. Owners of art crafts enjoy their intrinsic value; for example: as a "storehouse" of an artist's deftness, or as aesthetic pleasure; in addition, the owner enjoys them because they are luxury items, and thus can give other people a signal of the owner’s wealth. It can support that conspicuous consumption is an important motivation for art buyers or art collectors. As an example, many tourists had an interest in a famous painter’s Thangka, and subsequently possessed the desire to buy it, even though the paintings were very expensive. After buying the

Thangka from the famous painters, they would ask the painter’s autograph on the paintings; however, people who did not have interest in that kind of artwork might think about why those paintings could sell for that high a price. Mandel (2009) explained that it is the mixture of moneyed and non-moneyed payoffs to ownership which makes art crafts both difficult to value and compelling to purchase. Veblen (2007) stated that when a consumer seeks for the product’s conspicuous value, sometimes they may be

willing to pay a higher price for a similar, functionally good item. It is because the good has the status value that they are interested in. These statements explained that the example, the famous painter’s Thangka has the same functions as the comparatively unknown painter’s Thangka, these include the practicing of religion, the material used, or the same Buddha they depicted in the paintings. Furthermore, due to the status value the buyer could gain from the famous painter’s painting, sometimes people do not really care about the price that much.

In summary, conspicuous consumption is one of the most important factors that affects a consumer’s purchasing decision. They display their wealth to others in order to achieve a better social status by purchasing services or products such as artworks like

Thangka. Thangka as an extrinsic value provides status value to a consumer; therefore, conspicuous consumption could be one of the most important motivations for tourists to have interest and get desire to buy it.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The purpose of the present research is to examine tourists’ interest and desire to purchase Thangka, as well as establish the Thangka values affecting purchasing behaviors. A questionnaire survey was designed for this study. The questionnaire comprises of five parts pertaining to (1) respondents’ interest in purchasing Thangka;

(2) important values that participants derive from Thangka; (3) measurement of desire to purchase Thangka; (4) measurement of conspicuous consumption; and (5) participants’ socio-demographic and behavioral background. The sections below describe the measurements and sampling procedures.

Interview

An interview was conducted to develop the scale pertaining to Thangka brand personality and image of a typical Thangka buyer. This scale was used in the questionnaire survey conducted in the main study. Five tourists who first entered the

Thangka shop in Lhasa, Tibet, participated in the interview. They were asked to indicate personality traits of Thangka, as well as those of a typical Thangka buyer.

In order to identify the personality traits most commonly associated with

Thangka, the interviewees were asked to think of Thangka as if it were a person and wrote down the personality traits they believed that person possesses. The same group of individuals subsequently took part in the brand personality scale content validity stage. For this purpose, Aaker’s (1997) brand personality scale was used, and the 42 items on the scale was translated into Chinese. The interviewees, once 41

again, were asked to think of Thangka as a person, and chose the personality traits from the 42-item list that best describe Thangka’s personality. Upon data analysis, the top five most frequently mentioned personality traits from the brand personality scale were included in the brand personality measurement.

The process described above resulted ten personality traits (five unique personalities yielded by responses to open-ended questions, and additional five derived from the brand personality scale validity step) that were used in the Thangka’s brand personality measurement.

For establishing the personality traits of a typical Thangka buyer, the interviewees were subjected to the same two-step process described above. By self-generation, the interviewees were asked to visualize and describe the personality of a typical Thangka buyer. The participants also selected the most suitable personality traits from Aaker’s brand personality scale. Once again, this resulted ten visitor personality traits, which were utilized in the Thangka buyer image measurement.

Questionnaire

A questionnaire was developed to examine tourists’ interest and desire to purchase Thangka. That was composed of five sections.

In Section A, participants were asked to rate their interest in purchasing

Thangka. They were given the following three statements: “Owing a Thangka is very meaningful for me;” “I can get different kinds of values from buying Thangka;” and “I am interested in buying Thangka.” Participants were asked to indicate their

level of agreement with these statements by selecting a corresponding number on a

7-point Likert scale, ranging from (1) “Strongly disagree” to (7) “Strongly agree.”

In Section B, the questionnaire items were aim to identify Thangka values that are important to the participants. The respondents were given five values associated with Thangka, namely artistic value, religion value, cultural value, financial value, and status value. Participants were asked to indicate the extent to which they associate these values with Thangka by selecting the corresponding number on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from (1) “Not important at all” to (7)

“Extremely important.”

In Section C, the aim was to elucidate traits that participants associate with

Thangka’s personality and typical Thangka buyer’s personality. Self-congruence was used to measure tourists desire to purchase Thangka. First, the respondents were presented with the ten brand personality traits associated with Thangka, and The ten Thangka’s brand personalities were developed from the interview. Participants were required to state their level of agreement by using the 7-point Likert scale, ranging from (1) “Not descriptive at all” to (7) “Extremely descriptive.” The results were used as a brand personality measurement for Thangka. At the end of the brand personality measurement, participants were asked to compare their self-image with the perceived Thangka brand personality.

In this section, the participants were requested to indicate their agreement or disagreement with the following statements related to the actual self-congruity and ideal self-congruity “I see my personality quite similar to the personality of Thangka.”

and “I would like to see myself as similar to the personality of Thangka.” As before, the respondents were instructed to indicate their level of agreement with the preceding statements using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from (1) “Strongly disagree” to (7)

“Strongly agree.”

For the measurement of typical Thangka buyer’s personality, participants were asked to indicate their agreement with the ten perceived character traits of

Thangka buyer, which were also developed from the interview, by using a 7-point

Likert scale, ranging from (1) “Not descriptive at all” to (7) “Extremely descriptive.”

The results were used as a measurement of Thangka buyer traits in the main study.

Finally, participants were asked to compare their self-image with the perceived Thangka buyer’s image, indicating congruity on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from (1) “Strongly disagree” to (7) “Strongly agree.” The actual-congruity statement is worded as “I see myself quite similar to that of a Thangka buyer” whereas the ideal-congruity statement is “I would like to see myself similar to that of a Thangka buyer.” The results were used to illustrate the degree of self-image/visitor image congruity.

Section D measured motivation of conspicuous consumption for Thangka.

As discussed in Chapter II, Goldsmith et al. (1996) indicated that desire to win status or social prestige by purchasing something is one of the most important motivations that can influence consumer behavior. Perceived status as an extrinsic value plays an important role in people’s purchasing decisions; therefore, conspicuous consumption is one of the five values of Thangka. In this section, three statements

are presented in order to test participants’ opinions toward this value: “The ability to purchase a Thangka positively reflects my social status;” “If I purchase Thangka, others may think that I have very good taste in art;” and “I am interested in purchasing

Thangka in order to get a famous painter’s signature.” Participants were asked to rate these statements by choosing one number on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from

(1) “Strongly disagree” to (7) “Strongly agree.”

In Section E, the participants were first asked four questions pertaining to their socio-demographic status (gender, religion, occupation, and income level). The subsequent four questions probed into their traveling behavior, such as what type of tourist they are, whether they have visited Tibet before or not, what is their main motivation of this trip, and whether or not they have interest in buying souvenirs during their travel.

The questionnaires were translated from English into Chinese, to ensure participant understanding. Three Chinese experts reviewed the translated version of the questionnaire prior to its use. The questionnaire survey was distributed when all three reviewers agreed that it is not misleading or ambiguous, and did not contain hard-to-understand questions.

Data Collection

All participants for this research were Chinese tourists visiting Tangka shop in Lhasa, Tibet. Since this questionnaire was conducted in Tibet, the researcher had one representative there, who was responsible for data collection. The representative printed out the questionnaires and presented them to tourists visiting the Thangka

shop individually. All completed questionnaires were collected by the representative on site and e-mailed back to the researcher. Overall, the target sample size was 150 tourists. The study participants were asked to fill a 3-page questionnaire survey, which should take less than 15 minutes to complete. There were no anticipated risks to the survey respondents beyond those encountered in everyday life. The representative in charge of data collection did not have the right to review the completed questionnaires. After participants completed the questionnaires, the representative was instructed to place it in an envelope, to ensure anonymity of the respondents.

Data Analysis

Three types of analyses were used in the present study:

Hypothesis 1: There is no relationship between interest and desire.

Correlation was used to analyze the relationship between interest and desire.

Questionnaire section A is the question of interest in purchasing Thangka, and the data is interval. Section C-2 and 4 are the questions of self-congruity level between participants and Thangka’s personality, and between participants and Thangka shop visitor’s personality. The data was interval.

Hypothesis 2: There is no relationship between interest and participant’s background.

The relationship between interest in purchasing and participant’s background were tested by t-test and ANOVA. The participant’s socio-background and behavioral background are presented in the questionnaire section E, (from gender to

tourists’ interest in local souvenirs), and the data was nominal.

Hypothesis 3: There is no relationship between desire and participant’s background.

t-test and ANOVA were used to analyze the relationship between desire and participant’s background. The data of desire was interval, and the data of participant’s background was nominal.

Hypothesis 4: There is no relationship between Thangka’s values and participant’s background.

t-test and ANOVA were used to analyze the relationship between Thangka’s values and participant’s background. Thangka’s values were presented in the questionnaire section B. The five values are artistic value, religious value, cultural value, financial value, and status value. The data was interval.

Hypothesis 5: There is no relationship between Thangka’s personality and participant’s background.

The relationship between Thangka’s personality and participant’s background were tested by t-test and ANOVA. Section C-1 is the Thangka’s personality variable, and there are ten Thangka’s personalities (from 1. Mysterious to 10.Charming). The data was interval.

CHAPTER IV

RESULTS

The researcher conducted interview five Chinese tourists who visited a

Thangka shop in Lhasa, Tibet in order to determine 10 personality traits of Thangka and Thangka buyer. The five Thangka shop visitors included three male and two female tourists. That was a one-time interview, and they all were age from 18 to 50.

First, the Thangka shop visitors were asked to think of the Thangka as if it were a person, and to write down no more than five personality traits they believe that person possessed. The top five most frequently mentioned personality traits were used in the brand personality measurement. The personality traits of Thangka that shop visitors listed included: holy, mysterious, auspicious, gentle, peaceful, nice looking, sweet smile, outgoing, optimistic, kind, friendly, generous, powerful, beautiful, and calm. Among those personality traits, mysterious appeared three times, gentle was also mentioned three times, kind appeared two times, two people wrote peaceful as one of Thangka’s personality traits, and beautiful was mentioned two times as well.

Aaker’s (1997) 42-item BPS was used to determine the other five personality traits of Thangka. The Thangka shop visitors were again asked to think of the

Thangka as a person, and chose the personality traits from the 42-item list that best describe the Thangka’s personality. The five selected personality traits were sincere, imaginative, glamorous, friendly, and charming. Therefore, a total of ten personality traits including (1) Mysterious, (2) Gentle, (3) Kind, (4) Peaceful, (5) Beautiful, (6)

Sincere, (7) Imaginative, (8) Glamorous, (9) Friendly, and (10) Charming were used for the Thangka brand personality measurement.

Ten Thangka buyers’ images were identified using the same process. The personality traits of Thangka buyers that interviewees provided were: curious, religious, friendly, patient, minded, wise, enthusiastic, reverence, kind, cute, cautious, excited, and happy. The personality trait of curious was mentioned four times, and reverence, religious, minded, and wise appeared two times. On the other hand, the other five Thangka buyer’s personality traits that interviewees chose from the 42-item

BPS were: small-town, sincere, imaginative, glamorous, and friendly. For that reason, total ten of the Thangka buyer’s images included (1) Curious, (2) Reverence,

(3) Religious, (4) Minded, (5) Wise, (6) Small-town, (7) Sincere, (8) Imaginative, (9)

Glamorous, and (10) Friendly.

In this study, we aimed to answer three research questions:

RQ 1: What kind of tourists have an interest in Thangka?

RQ 2: How desirable is Thangka to tourists?

RQ 3: What value dose Thangka possess to buyer?

Five hypotheses were presented:

Hypothesis 1: There is no relationship between interest and desire.

Hypothesis 2: There is no relationship between interest and participant’s background.

Hypothesis 3: There is no relationship between desire and participant’s background.

Hypothesis 4: There is no relationship between Thangka’s values and participant’s background.

Hypothesis 5: There is no relationship between Thangka’s personality and participant’s background.

Description of the Sample

Following approval of the study by IRB, data were collected at a Thangka painting shop in the Lhasa, Tibet during the spring semester of 2016. The Thangka shop where the research was conducted is the first Thangka shop and the one of the most famous Thangka shop in the famous tourists spot Barkhor Street. A convenience sample was used in the present study, and the participants were voluntarily completed the questionnaire.

In total, 160 questionnaires were distributed and 150 were completed for an effective return rate of (91.5%). The sample included all Chinese tourists of which

78 (52.0%) were male and 72 (48.0%) were female. Of the participants, 82 (57.7%) tourists had visited Tibet before, and 60 (42.3%) participants had not; however, 8 of them did not answered the question. Regarding interest in souvenirs, most the participants which (81.5%) had interest in local souvenirs during their trip, while 24

(18.5%) participants answered no. Of the sample, 27 (18.4%) participants were package tourists; most of them (41.5%) were self-driving tourists; 22 (15%) were budget travelers; and 37 (25.2%) participants selected other. For the trip motivation,

43 (27.3%) tourists chose pilgrimage; 57 (39.9%) selected sightseeing; and 50 (32.9%) of them came to experience local life. The sample included 63 (43.4%) non-religion,

60 (41.4%) Buddhists, and 22 (15.2%) other religion; however, 5 participants did not answer the question. Among the tourists, there were 31 (14.5%) civil servant, 33

(15.9%) artist, 47 (25.5%) business person, only 19 (6.2%), and most of them (37.9%) selected other. Regarding income level per month, 23 (12.1%) participants’ income level were below 3000 Chinese Yuan (CNY); the majority of participants (38.3%) were between 3000 to 6000 CNY; 47 (28.2%) were between 6000 to 10000 CNY; and

37 (21.5%) were above 10000 CNY. (3000 CNY≈500 USD, 6000 CNY≈1000 USD, and 10000 CNY≈1650 USD) (see Table 1).

Table 1

Description of the Sample Variable N % Gender: male 78 52.0 female 72 48.0 Visited Before: yes 82 57.7 no 60 42.3 Interest in Souvernir: yes 106 81.5 no 24 18.5 Tourist Type: package tourists 27 18.4 self-driving tourists 61 41.5 budget travelers 22 15 other 37 25.2 Trip Motivation: pigrimage 43 27.3 sightseeing 57 39.9 experience local life 50 32.9 Religion: non-religion 63 43.4 Buddhism 60 41.4 other religion 22 15.2 Occupation: civil servant 31 14.5 artist 33 15.9 business person 47 25.5 student 19 6.2

Variable N % other 55 37.9 Income Level per month: below 3000 ≈ 500 USD 23 12.1 3000 - 6000 ≈ 1000 USD 57 38.3 6000 - 10000 ≈ 1650 USD 47 28.2 above 10000 37 21.5 Brand Personality of Thangka

Ten brand personality traits of Thangka were generated from the interview:

(1) Mysterious, (2) Gentle, (3) Kind, (4) Peaceful, (5) Beautiful, (6) Sincere, (7)

Imaginative, (8) Glamorous, (9) Friendly, and (10) Charming. One question in the questionnaire asked participants to measure these brand personality traits of the

Thangka on a 7-point Likert scale (1=not descriptive at all, 7=extremely descriptive).

Results showed that the highest rated Thangka’s brand personality traits by the participants were beautiful (M = 5.81, SD = 1.167), sincere (M = 5.69, SD = 1.126), and

Charming (M = 5.66, SD = 1.380) (see Table 2).

Table 2

Brand Personality of Thangka Brand personality N M SD Beautiful 150 5.81 1.167 Sincere 149 5.69 1.126 Charming 150 5.66 1.380 Imaginative 147 5.54 1.126 Glamorous 149 5.53 1.233 Mysterious 150 5.52 1.241 Kind 147 5.42 1.182 Peaceful 146 5.36 1.113 Gentle 148 5.27 1.187 Friendly 149 5.18 1.186 Note: 7-point Likert Scale (1) “Not descriptive at all” (7) “Extremely descriptive” Perceived Image of Thangka Buyer

Similar analyses were used in examining the image of Thangka buyer. The 10

personality traits of typical Thangka buyer were (1) Curious, (2) Reverence, (3)

Religious, (4) Minded, (5) Wise, (6) Small-town, (7) Sincere, (8) Imaginative, (9)

Glamorous, and (10) Friendly. They were also measured by 7-point Likert scale.

Table 3 shows the mean score and standard deviation of these 10 traits by descending order of mean score. The top three personality traits were reverence (M

= 5.79, SD = 1.017), sincere (M = 5.60, SD = 1.268), and minded (M = 5.59, SD =

1.216).

Table 3

Perceived Image of Thangka Buyer Brand personality N M SD Reverence 149 5.79 1.017 Sincere 146 5.60 1.268 Minded 150 5.59 1.216 Wise 150 5.57 1.206 Imaginative 147 5.48 1.241 Religious 149 5.46 1.183 Glamorous 149 5.42 1.336 Small-town 149 5.39 1.172 Friendly 150 5.30 1.246 Curious 149 5.28 1.150 Note: 7-point Likert Scale (1) “Not descriptive at all” (7) “Extremely descriptive” Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Desire to Purchase Thangka

Three statements in the survey were used to ask participants to measure the interest in purchasing Thangka. These statements were: “Owning a Thangka is very meaningful for me;” “I can get different kinds of values from buying Thangka;” and

“I am interested in buying Thangka.” Participants were asked to indicate their level of agreement with these statements by selecting a corresponding number on a 7-point

Likert scale, ranging from (1) “strongly disagree” to (7) “strongly agree.”

Self-congruity was used to examine participants’ self-congruity with

Thangka. The statement, “I see myself as quite similar to the personality of

Thangka” was used to measure the congruity level of participants’ actual self-image and brand personality (Actual SI/BP). The statement, “I would like to see myself as similar to the personality of Thangka” was used to measure the congruity level of the participants’ ideal self-image and brand personality (Ideal SI/BP). The statement, “I see myself quite similar to that of a Thangka buyer” was used to measure the congruity level of the participants’ actual self-image and perceived image of Thangka buyer (Actual SI/BI). The statement, “I would like to see myself similar to that of a

Thangka buyer” was used to measure the congruity level of the participants’ ideal self-image and perceived image of Thangka buyer (Ideal SI/BI). All statements were measured by 7-point Likert scale. (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree).

The researcher adopted a correlation analysis to investigate the relationship between interest in purchasing Thangka and desire to purchase Thangka. As Table 4 shows, they were all correlated, so the hypothesis 1 there is no relationship between interest in purchasing Thangka and desire to purchase Thangka, was rejected.

Table 4

Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Desire to Purchase Thangka

Self-congruity Pearson r p Owing a Thangka Actual SI/BP .330** .000 is meaningful Ideal SI/BP .329** .000 to me Actual SI/BI .242** .003 Ideal SI/BI .319** .000

Self-congruity Pearson r p I can get different Actual SI/BP .342** .000 kinds of values Ideal SI/BP .396** .000 from Thangka Actual SI/BI .321** .000 Ideal SI/BI .180* .027 I am interested Actual SI/BP .316** .000 in buying Ideal SI/BP .338** .000 Thangka Actual SI/BI .229** .005 Ideal SI/BI .292** .000 Note 1: SI=Self-image; BP=Brand personality; BI= Thangka Buyer image Note 2: 7-point Likert Scale (1) “Strongly Disagree” (7) “Strongly Agree” ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Participants’ Background

Participants were asked to measure the interest in purchasing Thangka by responding to three statements, selecting a number on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree) for each item. The three statements were:

“Owing a Thangka is very meaningful for me;” “I can get different kinds of values from buying Thangka;” and “I am interested in buying Thangka.”

Independent t-test and one-way ANOVA were used to examine the relationship between interest in purchasing Thangka and participant’s background.

The results showed that there were no statistically significant relationships between interest in purchasing Thangka and gender, between interest in purchasing Thangka and interest in souvenir, between interest in purchasing Thangka and tourist type, and between interest in purchasing Thangka and trip motivation.

An independent-sample t-test comparing the mean scores of the interest in purchasing Thangka and tourists who had visited Tibet before found a significant difference only for the statement of I am interested in buying Thangka: t(139) = 3.968, p < .05. Tourists who had visited Tibet before had more interests in buying Thangka

(M = 5.85, SD = 1.001) than the tourists who had not visited Tibet before (M = 5.15,

SD = 1.087) (see Table 5).

Table 5

Relationship Between Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Visited Before

Visited before N M SD t df p I am interested in Yes 81 5.85 1.001 3.968 139 .000* buying Thangka No 60 5.15 1.087 Note: 7-point Likert Scale (1) “Strongly Disagree” (7) “Strongly Agree” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). A one-way ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between interest in purchasing Thangka and religion. A statistically significant difference was found only for the statement of I can get different kinds of values from buying Thangka: F(2,

142) = 3.094, p < .05. This results revealed that tourists who are Buddhists rated the statement the highest (M = 5.73, SD = 1.039), and the non-religious tourists rated the statement the lowest (M = 5.30, SD = 1.026). Tukey’s HSD post hoc test was used to determine the nature of the differences between the religions. The results also indicated that the non-religious tourists and tourists who are Buddhists shown the mean difference were significant at the 0.05 level (see Table 6).

Table 6

Relationship Between Interest in Purchasing Thangka and Religion Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Religion N M SD F(2, 142) p I can get different Buddhism 60 5.73 1.039 NR vs B: -.432* .049* kinds of values from Other 22 5.68 .839 buying Thangka Non-religion 63 5.30 1.026 Note 1: NR=Non-religion; B=Buddhism Note 2: 7-point Likert Scale (1) “Strongly Disagree” (7) “Strongly Agree” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level.

The relationship between interest in purchasing Thangka and occupation were investigated by one-way ANOVA. The results showed that there was a statistically significant relationships between the statement I am interested in buying

Thangka and occupation, F(4, 139) = 2.658, p < .05. Tourists who are artist had the highest interest in buying Thangka (M = 6.13, SD = .815), and tourists who are civil servant had the lowest interest (M = 5.29, SD = .784). However, Tukey’s HSD post hoc test indicated that there were no significant mean difference between the different occupations.

A one-way ANOVA was used to test the relationship between interest in purchasing Thangka and income level. The results showed that there were statistically significant relationship between the statement of I am interested in buying

Thangka and income level, F(3, 144) = 2.756, p < .05. The analysis revealed that tourists whose income level is above 10000 CNY have the highest interest in buying

Thangka (M = 6.00, SD = .950), while the tourists who have income lower than 3000

CNY have the lowest interests (M = 5.18, SD = 1.380). Tukey’s HSD post hoc test indicated that there were no significant mean difference between the different income levels.

For the summary, the results showed that there were some statistically significant relationships between interest in purchasing Thangka and participant’s background. Therefore, the hypothesis 2: There is no relationship between interest in purchasing Thangka and participant, was partially rejected.

Desire to Purchase Thangka and Participants’ Background

Self-congruity was used to examine the relationship between participants and desire to purchase Thangka. The statement, “I see myself as quite similar to the personality of Thangka” was used to measure the congruity level of participants’ actual self-image and brand personality (Actual SI/BP). The statement, “I would like to see myself as similar to the personality of Thangka” was used to measure the congruity level of the participants’ ideal self-image and brand personality (Ideal

SI/BP). The statement, “I see myself quite similar to that of a Thangka buyer” was used to measure the congruity level of the participants’ actual self-image and perceived image of Thangka buyer (Actual SI/BI). The statement, “I would like to see myself similar to that of a Thangka buyer” was used to measure the congruity level of the participants’ ideal self-image and perceived image of Thangka buyer

(Ideal SI/BI). All statements were measured by 7-point Likert scale. (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree).

An independent-sample t-test comparing the mean scores of the desire to purchase Thangka and gender found a significant difference only for the Ideal SI/BI: t(148) = 2.430, p < .05. Male tourists had significantly higher desire to purchase

Thangka (M = 5.28, SD = 1.258) than the female tourists (M = 4.81, SD = 1.134) (see

Table 7).

Table 7

Relationship Between Desire to Purchase Thangka and Gender

Gender N M SD t df p

Ideal SI/BI Male 78 5.28 1.258 2.403 148 .016* Female 72 4.81 1.134 Note 1: SI=Self-image; BP=Brand personality; BI= Thangka buyer image Note 2: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Strongly Disagree” to (7) “Strongly Agree” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) The relationships between desire and visited before, and between desire and interest in souvenir were examined by t-test. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between these groups. One-way ANOVA was conducted comparing the relationships between desire and tourists type, between desire and trip motivation, between desire and religion, and between desire and income level. There were no statistically significant relationships between these groups.

The relationship between desire to purchase Thangka and occupation were examined by one-way ANOVA. A statistically significant difference was found for the Ideal SI/BP: F(4, 139) = 5.312, p < .05. This analysis revealed that tourists who were artists rated the Ideal SI/BP significantly the highest (M = 5.48, SD = 1.310), while tourists whose job was civil servant rated the Ideal SI/BP the lowest (M = 4.00,

SD = .894). Another statistically significance was found for the Ideal SI/BI: F(4,

140) = 4.347, p < .05. The result showed that tourists who were students rated the

Ideal SI/BI significantly the highest (m = 5.89, sd = .782), while tourists whose job was civil servant also rated the Ideal SI/BI the lowest (m = 4.57, sd = 1.028).

Tukey’s HSD post hoc test indicated that the tourists who were civil servants had significant relationship with tourists who were students, and artists; moreover, tourists who were artists had significant relationship with those who had other occupations

(see Table 8).

Table 8

Relationship Between Desire to Purchase Thangka and Occupation Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Occupation N M SD F(4, 139) p Ideal SI/BP Artist 23 5.48 1.130 CS vs S: -1444* .017 Student 9 5.44 1.130 CS vs A: -1478* .000 Business person 36 4.97 1.298 CS vs B: -.972* .021 Other 55 4.78 1.066 Civil Servant 21 4.00 .894 Ideal SI/BI Student 9 5.89 .782 CS vs S: -1.317* .045 Artist 23 5.65 1.191 CS vs A: -1.081* .023 Business person 37 5.19 1.126 A vs O: -870* .028 Other 55 4.78 1.301 Civil Servant 21 4.57 1.028 Note 1: SI=Self-image; BP=Brand personality; BI= Thangka buyer image Note 2: CS=Civil Servant; S=Student; B=Business person; A=Artist; O=Other Note 3: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Strongly Disagree” to (7) “Strongly Agree” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) In summary, the hypothesis 3: There is no relationship between desire to purchase Thangka and participant’s background, was partially rejected because there were some statistically significant relationships.

Thangka’s Value and Participants’ Background

Five statements in the survey asked participants to rate a Thangka’s artistic value, religious value, cultural value, financial value, and status value on a 7-point

Likert scale (1 = not important at all, 7 = extremely important). The five statements were: “Thangka is a beautiful art;” “Thangka has religious meaning;” “Thangka represents Tibetan culture;” “Thangka is a valuable product;” and “Thangka can display my social status.”

An independent-sample t-test comparing the mean scores of the Thangka’s value and gender found a significant difference only for the status value: t(148)

=2.033, p < .05. Male tourists perceived Thangka’s status value higher (M = 4.71,

SD = 1.286) than the female tourists (M = 4.25, SD = 1.286) (see Table 9).

Table 9

Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Gender

Gender N M SD t df p Status value Male 78 4.71 1.442 2.033 148 .044* Female 72 4.25 1.286 Note: 7-point Likert Scale (1) “Not important at all” (7) “Extremely important” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). The relationships between Thangka’s value and visited before, and between

Thangka’s value and interest in souvenir were tested by t-test. The results showed that there were no statistically significant relationships between these groups.

A one-way ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between

Thangka’s value and tourist type. A statistically significant difference was found between the artistic value and tourist type: F(3, 143) = 3.152, p < .05. The results revealed that package tourists perceived the Thangka’s artistic value the highest (M =

5.96, SD = 1.192), and budget travelers perceived artistic value the lowest (M = 5.18,

SD = 1.296). Another statistically significant difference was also found between the cultural value tourist type: F(3, 140) = 4.286, p < .05. The result stated that the package tourists rated the cultural value the highest (M = 6.30, SD = .724), and budget travelers rated the cultural value the lowest (M = 5.41, SD = 1.297). In addition,

Tukey’s HSD post hoc test indicated that there were significant differences between package tourists and budget traveler, also between self-driving tourist and budget travelers (see Table 10).

Table 10

Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Tourist Type Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Tourist type N M SD F(3, 143) F(3, 140) p Artistic value Package tourist 27 5.96 1.192 PT vs BT: .781* .046 Self-driving tourist 61 5.92 .971 ST vs BT: .736* .025 Other type 37 5.86 .822 Budget traveler 22 5.18 1.296 Cultural value Package tourist 21 6.30 .724 PT vs BT: .887* .008 Self-driving tourist 9 6.18 .983 ST vs BT: .774* .008 Other type 55 6.06 .802 Budget traveler 23 5.41 1.297 Note 1: PT=package tourists; ST=Self-driving tourists; BT=Budget traveler Note 2: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Not important at all” (7) “Extremely important” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) The relationship between the Thangka’s value and trip motivation were tested by ANOVA. The results indicated that there were statistically significant was found for the artistic value: F(2, 140) = 4.376, p < .05. Tukey’s HSD post hoc test revealed that sightseeing tourists perceived Thangka’s artistic value the highest (M =

6.04, SD = 1.149) and ordered by pilgrimage (M = 5.85, SD = .988); tourists who came to Tibet to experience local life perceived Thangka’s artistic value the lowest (M

= 5.43, SD = .994). The results indicated that sightseeing was significantly different at the .05 level than experiences local life. Moreover, another statistically significant relationship was also found between the cultural value and trip motivation: F(2, 137)

= 3.391, p < .05. Pilgrimage (M = 6.18, SD = 1.010) and sightseeing (M = 6.18, SD

= .884) both rated the Thangka’s cultural value significantly the highest, and they were higher than experience local life (M = 5.70, SD = 1.196); however, Tukey’s HSD post hoc test revealed the means were not significant (see Table 11).

Table 11

Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Trip Motivation Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Trip motivation N M SD F(3, 143) F(3, 140) p Artistic value Sightseeing 57 6.04 1.149 S vs E: .610* .011 Pilgrimage 39 5.85 .988 Experience local life 47 5.43 .994 Cultural value Sightseeing 55 6.18 .884 Pilgrimage 38 6.18 .1.010 Experience local life 47 5.70 1.196 Note 1: S=Sightseeing; E=Experience local life Note 2: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Not important at all” (7) “Extremely important” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) A one-way ANOVA was conducted comparing the Thangka’s value and religion. A statistically significant difference was found for financial value: F(2,

141) = 3.277, p < .05. Other religious tourists perceived Thangka’s financial value the highest (M = 5.86, SD = 1.125), and Buddhism tourists perceived the lowest (M =

4.97, SD = 1.562). The results of Tukey’s HSD post hoc test demonstrated that the means for tourists who are Buddhists were significantly different than the means for other religious tourists at the 0.05 level (see Table 12).

Table 12

Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Religion Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Religion N M SD F(2, 141) p Financial value Other religion 22 5.86 1.125 B vs OR: .897* .034 Non-religion 62 5.10 1.387 Buddhist 60 4.97 1.562 Note 1: B=Buddhist; OR=Other religion Note 2: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Not important at all” (7) “Extremely important” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) The relationship between Thangka’s value and occupation was tested by

ANOVA. The results showed that a statistically significant relationship between the

Religious value and occupation: F(4, 140) = 2.935, p < .05. The tourists who were artists perceived Thangka’s religious value the highest (M = 6.39, SD = .499), and the tourists who were students perceived the lowest (M = 5.22, SD = .972). Tukey’s HSD post hoc test indicated that students was significantly different at the .05 level than artists (see Table 13).

Table 13

Relationship Between Thangka’s Value and Occupation Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Occupation N M SD F(4, 140) p Religious value Artists 23 6.39 .499 S vs A: -1.169* .014 Civil Servant 21 5.86 .854 Business person 37 5.84 .866 Other 55 5.84 1.102 Student 9 5.22 .972 Note 1: S=Student; A=Artist Note 2: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Not important at all” (7) “Extremely important” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) A one-way ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between Thangka’s value and income level per month. A statistically significant difference was found for cultural value, F(3, 142) = 3.063, p < .05. Tukey’s HSD post hoc test was used to determine the nature of the differences between the income levels. This analysis revealed that tourists whose income level was above 10000 CNY rated the Thangka’s cultural value significantly the highest (M = 6.44, SD = .669), and tourists whose income level was below 3000 CNY rated the lowest (M = 5.65, SD = 1.085). The result indicated that the income level between“6000-10000 CNY” and “above 10000

CNY” shown the mean differences were significant at the 0.05 level.

For the summary, since the results indicated that there were statistically

significant relationship between Thangka’s value and participant’s background, the hypothesis 4: There is no relationship between Thangka’s value and participant’s background, was partially rejected.

Thangka’s Personality and Participants’ Background

The relationship between Thangka’s personality and gender, and between

Thangka’s personality and interest in souvenir were examined by t-test; moreover, one-way ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between the Thangka’s personality and income level. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant differences between these groups.

An independent-sample t-test comparing the mean of Thangka’s personality and tourists who had visited Tibet before found a significant difference for sincere: t(139) = 2.630, p < .05. The results indicated that tourists who had visited Tibet before perceived Thangka’s brand personality as sincere higher (M = 5.86, SD = 1.115) than the tourists who had not (M = 5.37, SD = 1.104).

A one-way ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between Thangka’s personality and tourist type. There was a statistically significant difference between sincere and tourist type: F(3, 142) = 3.162, p < .05. The findings revealed that self-driving tourists rated the personality of sincere the highest (M = 5.98, SD =

1.118), and package tourist rated the sincere the lowest (M = 5.22, SD = 1.155).

Tukey’s HSD post hoc test showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the package tourists and self-driving tourists. On the other hand, a statistically significant difference was also found for friendly: F(3, 142) = 2.895, p

< .05, and the results indicated that budget traveler perceived Thangka’s personality as friendly the most (M = 5.77, SD = 1.232), and package tourist perceived the least (M

= 4.85, SD = 1.231). After the Tukey’s HSD post hoc test, it stated that package tourist had significant relationship with budget traveler (see Table 14).

Table 14

Relationship Between Thangka’s Personality and Tourist Type Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Tourist type N M SD F(3, 143) F(3, 140) p Sincere Self-driving tourist 60 5.98 1.066 PT vs ST: -.761* .018 Other type 37 5.73 1.018 Budget traveler 22 5.55 1.262 Package tourist 27 5.22 1.155 Friendly Budget traveler 22 5.82 1.368 PT vs BT: -.921* .035 Other type 37 5.70 1.199 Self-driving tourist 61 5.67 1.423 Package tourist 27 4.85 1.231 Note: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Not important at all” (7) “Extremely important” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) The relationship between the mean of Thangka’s personality and trip motivation was tested by ANOVA. The results showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between the personality of Peaceful and trip motivation F(2,

136) = 6.073, p < .05. Tourists who came for pilgrimage perceived Thangka’s personality as peaceful significantly the most (M = 5.82, SD= .997), and sightseeing tourists perceived the peaceful the least (M = 5.04, SD = 1.154). In addition, a statistically significant relationship was also found for charming: F(2, 140) = 3.255, p

< .05. The findings showed that the pilgrimage rated the personality of charming the highest (M = 6.00, SD = .973), and the sightseeing rated charming the lowest (M =

5.30, SD = 1.690). After the Tukey’s HSD post hoc test, the results also stated that

pilgrimage and sightseeing shown the mean difference were significant at the 0.05 level (see Table 15).

Table 15

Relationship Between Thangka’s Personality and Trip Motivation Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Trip motivation N M SD F(3, 143) F(3, 140) p Peaceful Pilgrimage 39 5.82 .997 P vs S: .784* .002 Experience local life 45 5.29 1.058 Sightseeing 55 5.04 1.154 Charming Pilgrimage 39 6.00 .973 P vs S: .702* .039 Experience local life 47 5.74 1.206 Sightseeing 57 5.30 1.690 Note 1: P=Pilgrimage; S=Sightseeing Note 2: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Not important at all” (7) “Extremely important” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) A one-way ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between Thangka’s personality and religion. A statistically significant difference was found for the personality of charming, F(2, 142) = 4.263, p < .05. Tukey’s HSD post hoc test analyzed that non-religious tourists perceived Thangka’s personality as charming the most(M = 6.02, SD = 1.211), and Buddhism tourists perceived the least (M = 5.30, SD

= 1.544). In addition, the result stated that non-religious tourists had significant relationship with Buddhism tourists.

The relationship between Thangka’s personality and occupation were tested by ANOVA. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant deference between the personality of beautiful and occupation, F(4, 140) = 3.278, p < .05. The tourists who are artists considered Thangka’s personality as beautiful the highest (M =

6.22, SD = 1.085), while the tourists who are students considered the personality of beautiful at the lowest (M = 5.22, SD = 1.093). Another statistically significant

difference was found for sincere, F(4, 139) = 2.740, p < .05. The results showed that the artist perceived Thangka’s brand personality as sincere the most (M = 6.13, SD

= .920), and tourists who are civil servant perceived sincere the least (M = 5.19, SD =

1.167). The means for civil servant were significantly different than the means for artists at the 0.05 level (see Table 16).

Table 16

Relationship Between Thangka’s Personality and Occupation Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Occupation N M SD F(4, 139) p Beautiful Artist 23 6.22 1.085 CS vs A: -.979* .037 Other 54 6.04 1.105 Business person 37 5.76 1.090 Civil Servant 21 5.24 1.300 Student 9 5.22 1.093 Sincere Artist 23 6.13 .920 CS vs A: -.940* .035 Business person 36 5.92 1.038 Other 55 5.69 1.043 Student 9 5.33 1.500 Civil Servant 21 5.19 1.167 Note 1: CS=Civil Servant; A=Artist Note 2: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Not important at all” (7) “Extremely important” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) In summary, for hypothesis 5: There is no relationship between Thangka’s personality and participant’s background, is rejected because the results demonstrated that there were statistically significant relationship between the two variables.

Conspicuous Consumption and Participants’ Background

Goldsmith et al (1996) indicated that desire to win status or social prestige by purchasing something is one of the most important motivations; it consequently explains much about consumer behavior. For that reason, a Thangka’s extrinsic status value plays an important role in people’s purchasing decisions. This kind of

purchasing factor, which changes consumer’s behavior is also called conspicuous consumption. In the present study, three statements were presented in order to test participants’ opinions toward this value: “The ability to purchase a Thangka positively reflects my social status;” “If I purchase Thangka, others may think that I have very good taste in art;” and “I am interested in purchasing Thangka in order to get a famous painter’s signature.” Participants was asked to rate these statements by choosing one number on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from (1) “strongly disagree” to (7) “strongly agree.”

The relationship between conspicuous consumption and visited before, and between conspicuous consumption and interest in souvenir were tested by independent t-test. The results indicated that there were no statistically significant relationships between these variables. In addition, a one-way ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between conspicuous consumption and trip motivation, between conspicuous consumption and religion, and between conspicuous consumption and income level. The results showed that there were no statistically significant relationship between them.

An independent-sample t-test comparing the mean of the conspicuous consumption by gender found a significant difference for the statement of if I purchase Thangka other may think that I have good taste in art: t(148) = 2.925, p

< .05. The results stated that the male tourists were affected more by the conspicuous consumption (M = 5.06, SD = 1.498) than the female tourists (M = 4.38,

SD = 1.378) (see Table 17).

Table 17

Relationship Between Conspicuous Consumption and Gender

Gender N M SD t df p If I purchase Thangka, Male 78 5.06 1.498 2.925 148 .004* Others may think that I Female 72 4.38 1.378 have good taste in art Note: 7-point Likert Scale (1) “Strongly Disagree” (7) “Strongly Agree” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed). A one-way ANOVA was used to examine the relationship between conspicuous consumption and tourist type. There was a statistically significant difference between the statement of I am interested in purchasing Thangka in order to get famous painter’s signature and tourist type: F(3, 143) = 2.987, p < .05. The results indicated that budget travelers are affected by the conspicuous consumption the most (M= 5.59, SD = 1.008), and other tourists are affected the least (M = 4.62,

SD = 1.299). After the Tukey’s HSD post hoc test, the results also showed that the budget traveler and other type of tourists shown the mean difference were significant at the 0.05 level (see Table 18).

Table 18

Relationship Between Conspicuous Consumption and Tourist Type Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Tourist type N M SD F(2, 142) p I am interested in Budget traveler 22 5.59 1.008 BT vs OT:.969* .047 purchasing Thangka Package tourists 27 5.11 1.476 in order to get famous Self-driving tourists 61 4.70 1.476 painter’s signature Other 37 4.62 1.299 Note 1: BT=Budget traveler; OT=Other type Note 2: 7-point Likert Scale (1) “Strongly Disagree” (7) “Strongly Agree” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level.

The relationship between conspicuous consumption and occupation was examined by one-way ANOVA. A statistically significant difference was found for the statement of the ability to purchase a Thangka positively reflects my social status:

F(4, 140) = 7.119, p < .05. This analysis revealed that tourists who were students rated the statement significantly the highest (M = 5.44, SD = 1.424), while other occupation rated the statement the lowest (M = 3.90, SD = 1.221). Tukey’s HSD post hoc test indicated that the tourists who were civil servants had significant relationship with tourists who were students and artists. Moreover, there were statistically significant mean differences between students and the category other occupation.

Finally, the means for tourists who were artists and those with other occupation were significantly different at the .05 level. The relationship between the variable If I purchase Thangka, others may think that I have very good taste in art and occupation was statistically significant, F(4, 140) = 5.093, p < .05. The results showed that tourists who were students were affected by the conspicuous consumption the most (M

= 5.67, SD = 1.000), while other occupation were affected the least (M = 4.24, SD =

1.478). Finally another statistically significant was also found, I am interested in purchasing Thangka in order to get famous painter’s signature, F(4, 140) = 4.018, p <

.05. The results also showed that the tourists who were students rated the statement the highest (M = 5.44, SD = 1.424), while other occupation rated the statement the lowest (M = 3.90, SD = 1.221). Tukey’s HSD post hoc test indicated that the tourists who were students had significant relationship with other occupation; moreover,

tourists who were artists also had significant relationship with other occupation (see

Table 19).

Table 19

Relationship Between Conspicuous Consumption and Occupation Tukey’s HSD post hoc test Occupation N M SD F(4, 140) p The ability to Student 9 5.44 1.424 CS vs S: -1.540* .017 purchase a Thangka Artist 23 5.04 1.261 CS vs A: -1.139* .021 positively reflect Businessperson 37 4.30 1.222 S vs O: 1.681* .002 my social status Civil Servant 21 3.90 1.221 A vs O: 1.280* .000 Other 55 3.76 1.186

If I purchase Student 9 5.67 1.000 S vs O: 1.430* .046 Thangka others Artist 23 5.57 1.237 A vs O: 1.329* .002 may think that Businessperson 37 4.92 1.460 I have good taste Civil Servant 21 4.38 1.532 taste in art Other 55 4.24 1.478

I am interested Student 9 5.78 1.481 S vs A: 1.396* .038 in purchasing Artist 23 5.43 1.409 A vs O: 1.053* .018 Thangka in order Businessperson 37 5.08 1.256 to get famous Civil Servant 21 4.90 1.446 painter’s signature Other 55 4.38 1.340 Note 1: CS=Civil Servant; S=Student; B=Business person; A=Artist; O=Other Note 2: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Strongly Disagree” to (7) “Strongly Agree” * Significant relation was revealed at the 0.05 level (2-tailed) Thangka’s Religious Value and Thangka’s Brand Personality

Five statements in the survey asked participants to rate Thangka’s artistic value, religious value, cultural value, financial value, and status value on a 7-point

Likert scale (1 = not important at all, 7 = extremely important). The statement of

Thangka’s religious value was “Thangka has religious meaning.”

Ten brand personality traits of Thangka were generated from the interview: (1)

Mysterious, (2) Gentle, (3) Kind, (4) Peaceful, (5) Beautiful, (6) Sincere, (7)

Imaginative, (8) Glamorous, (9) Friendly, and (10) Charming. One question in the questionnaire asked participants to measure these brand personality traits of the

Thangka on a 7-point Likert scale (1=not descriptive at all, 7=extremely descriptive).

The researcher adopted a correlation analysis to investigate the relationship between Thangka’s religious value and Thangka’s brand personality. As Table 20 shows, Thangka’s religious value and Thangka’s personality were all correlated.

Table 20 Relationship Between Religious Value and Thangka's Personality

Thangka’s personality Pearson r p Mysterious .304** .000 Gentle .285** .000 Kind .357** .000 Religious value Peaceful .361** .000 Beautiful .329** .000 Sincere .456** .000 Glamorous .332** .000 Imaginative .297** .000 Charming .329** .000 Friendly .293** .000 Note 1: 7-point Likert scale (1) “Not important at all” (7) “Extremely important” ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION

The present study aimed to explore tourists’ interest in purchasing Thangka and desire to purchase Thangka. The researcher applied the well-known AIDA model as the main theory in this study since AIDA is the process from a product attracting a customer’s attention until making the final purchasing action. Strong (1925) stated that people usually have an interest in a product or service because of some kind of value they get through the thing. For that reason, the present study identified five different kinds of values that crafts such as Thangkas provide, in order to examine the factors that affect tourists’ interest in purchasing a Thangka. In addition, regarding the desire to purchase, Wijaya (2012) indicated that, in a general sense, the affective component is the level of emotion or feeling, and that can be attributed to the brand, while conation refers to the intention to perform a behavior, such as purchasing behavior. Therefore, the present study also used brand personality theory to identify the personality of Thangkas, and of Thangka buyers. Moreover, the present study used self-congruity to examine the relationship between tourists’ actual and ideal self-images, and Thangkas and Thangka buyer’s images, to investigate the tourists’ desire to purchase a Thangka.

Correlation was used to test the relationship between tourists’ interest in purchasing a Thangka and desire to purchase a Thangka. The results showed that there were statistically significant relationships between interest and desire; and they all correlated. This finding supported the theory of AIDA that there is an association 74

between interest in Thangka and desire to purchase a Thangka. Based on the results, the present study could answer several practical questions.

To whom should a Thangka businessperson promote Thangka?

The result supported the AIDA theory, and there is relationship between interest in purchasing Thangkas and desire to purchase Thangkas. The next step should be determining what kind of tourists have interest and desire to purchase

Thangkas, also to whom the Thangka business people should promote Thangkas.

The present study used independent sample t-tests and one-way ANOVAs to test the relationship between interest in purchasing Thangkas and participants’ backgrounds.

The results showed that the tourists who had visited Tibet before, Buddhists tourists, and tourists with higher income showed interest in purchasing Thangka.

The reason of tourists who have visited Tibet before showed interest in purchasing Thangka may be because the tourists who revisited Tibet were attracted by

Tibet’s unique culture, so they traveled to Tibet again. When those tourists think of a

Thangka, they would perceive a Thangka as having high cultural value, and being a significant representation of Tibetan culture; thus it would cause them to have interest in purchasing a Thangka. In addition, tourists whose religion is Buddhism have more interest in purchasing a Thangka, and it may due to the fact that Thangka is originally a religious tool to practice their religion. Buddhist tourists may think Thangka has high religious meaning, they can get religious value from a Thangka, so they are interested in purchasing a Thangka. Finally, tourists with higher income tend to have more interest in purchasing Thangka. It supports the idea that when the Chinese economy is

increasing, people are willing to travel more, and they are willing to purchase more local products at travel destinations; additionally, it may be speculated tourists who have higher income also tend to purchase more local products.

On the other hand, Sirgy (2001) indicated that self-congruity could influence consumers’ behaviors, and the bigger the congruity between individuals’ actual or ideal self-image through a brand, the higher their desire for the brand. For that reason, self-congruity was used to measure the relationship between desire to purchase

Thangka and participants’ backgrounds. The questionnaire examined participants’ perceived self-congruity levels between their self-image and the Thangka’s image, and between the self-image and a Thangka buyer’s image. The results revealed high congruity levels between desire to purchase a Thangka and gender, and between desire and occupation. With regards to gender, male tourists tended to have more desire to purchase Thangka. For occupation, tourists who are students or artists have higher desire to purchase Thangka. The reason may be that according to Wijaya (2012), the affective component is a certain level of emotion or feeling and that can be attributed to the brand, while conation refers to the intention to perform a behavior, such as purchasing behavior. Male tourists who are students or artists would like to see themselves as similar to the personality of a Thangka, also they would like to see themselves similar to that of a Thangka buyer; thus there was a certain level of feeling, or emotional contact between the Thangka and the tourists; and this feeling may cause the tourists desire to purchase Thangka.

In summary, the results indicated that tourists who have visited Tibet before,

Buddhists tourists, and tourists who have higher income have more interest in purchasing Thangkas. Moreover, male tourists who are artists and students showed higher desire to purchase Thangkas. When these kinds of tourists visit Thangka shop, there may be a high chance that they will make the final action of purchasing a

Thangka. For that reason, it suggests Thangka businesspeople should not miss these types of tourists.

How should Thankga salespeople address Thangka’s value differently to different tourists?

The theory of AIDA stated that people have interest in a product due to some kind of value they get through the product; therefore, the present study concluded by stating five different values that art crafts such as Thangkas have: artistic value, cultural value, religious value, financial value, and status value. These five values that art crafts provide can be the factors that make tourists generate an interest in purchasing

Thangkas. The results showed that the male tourists think the status value of a

Thangka is important for them, and they think Thangkas can display their social status.

It may be because as Chinese traditional culture, most of the men think they are on the leading position in daily life, so men care more about how others see them in their social life. For that reason, purchasing a beautiful or expensive Thangka can provide status value for them. This may cause them to be interested in purchasing Thangka.

With regard to tourist type and trip motivation, different types of tourists with different motivations perceived Thangka’s artistic value and cultural value as more

important. Package tourists and self-driving tourists who came to Tibet for sightseeing think Thangka has highly artistic value and cultural value. It may be due to the fact that package tourists are similar to Cohen’s (1972) institutionalized tourists and Plog’s (1974) psychocentric types of tourists. They seek familiarity, and likely they came to Tibet for sightseeing, and to experience Tibet’s unique culture. When these tourists think of a Thangka, they might perceived Thangka as beautiful art, and it represents Tibet’s unique culture. For that reason, it may be the factors causing them to have an interest in purchasing a Thangka.

Finally, there was also a statistically significant relationship between

Thangka’s financial value and religion. The results stated that tourists who are non-religious or other religion perceived Thangka’s financial value as more important, and they think a Thangka is a valuable product. However, Buddhist tourists did not have that perception, it may be due to the fact that a Thangka originally is a Buddhism religious tool, so they did not perceive Thangka’s financial value as important factor as non-religious tourists or other religious tourists did.

In summary, the results showed that regarding gender, male tourists may have interest in purchasing Thangkas because of a Thangka’s status value.

Moreover, package tourists who come to Tibet for sightseeing think Thangka has a high artistic value and cultural value; and it may cause them to have an interest in purchasing Thangkas. Finally, non-religious tourists and other religious tourists showed interest in purchasing Thangka due to Thangka’s financial value. For that reason, it suggests Thangka salespeople should address these values differently to

different tourists when they enter a Thangka shop. In addition, if tourists purchased a Thangka, I think the results of the different values also can be used to speculate the reason that why they bought a Thangka.

How should Thankga salespeople address Thangka’s brand personality differently to different tourists?

The present study also examined the relationship between Thangkas’ personality and participants’ backgrounds. Aaker’s (1997) 42-item BPS was used to determine five personality traits of Thangka and Thangka buyers. Five other personality traits of Thangka and Thangka buyers were summarized by open-end discussion. Therefore, a total of ten personality traits including (1) Mysterious, (2)

Gentle, (3) Kind, (4) Peaceful, (5) Beautiful, (6) Sincere, (7) Imaginative, (8)

Glamorous, (9) Friendly, and (10) Charming were used for a Thangka brand personality measurement.

The results showed that there were statistically significant relationship between Thangka’s personality and visited before. Tourists who have visited Tibet before perceived Thangka’s personality as sincere. Regarding tourists type, self-driving tourists also considered Thangka’s personality as sincere, while the budget travelers think of Thangka’s personality more as friendly. On the other hand, tourists who came to Tibet on pilgrimage perceived Thangka’s personality as peaceful and charming. In addition, non-religious tourists also highly perceived the personality of the Thangka as charming. Finally, the tourists who are artists think

Thangka’s personality is beautiful and sincere.

In summary, according to Wijaya (2012), in a general sense, the affective component is a certain level of emotion or feeling, and that can be attributed to the brand, while conation refers to the intention to perform a behavior, such as purchasing behavior. Moreover, Sirgy (2001) indicated that self-congruity could influence consumers’ behaviors, and the bigger the congruity between an individual's actual or ideal self-image through a brand, the higher their desire for the brand. For that reason,

I think Thangka salespeople could address these different Thangka personalities differently to the different tourists, and when the congruity level between actual or ideal self-image and a Thangka’s image is high, that kind of emotional contact may cause tourists to desire to purchase Thangka.

What kinds of tourists are influenced by conspicuous consumption?

The research also assumed that conspicuous consumption would be an important factor that influenced tourists to purchase Thangkas. The results showed that male tourists would be influenced more by conspicuous consumption; this also supported by the results that male tourists perceived a Thangka’s status value as an important factor. In addition, with regard to the tourist type and occupation, budget travelers and tourists who are students were affected by conspicuous consumption.

This may be due to Veblen’s (2007) idea that the behavior of conspicuous consumption is not only for the rich and upper classes, but for all social classes. The present study introduced the budget travelers, called “poor traveling” in Chinese, and usually they are considered as lower class. Moreover, most of the students may not have a proper job, so many of them can be considered budget travelers. Bagwell and Bernheim (1996)

stated that pecuniary emulation refers to a lower-class social member consuming conspicuous products, so he or she can be thought as a higher-class member. For that reason, budget travelers and tourists who are students have higher desire to purchase conspicuous products.

Are tourists offended when Thangka become commercialized?

Thangka originally is religious art, however, since tourism later became the main industry in Tibet, people started selling Thangkas as a business. According to

Dong (2014), when Thangka became commercialized, there may have a chance that the economic value of Thangka replaces the original religious value. A Thangka is a religious art, but when it becomes too commercialized, it loses its intrinsic value. In order to answer the question of whether tourists are offended when Thangka became commercialized, the present study used correlation to test the relationship between

Thangka’s religious value and Thangka’s brand personality. The reason is because in the measurement of Thangka’s brand personality, participants were asked to think of Thangka as a brand which has personality like person instead of seeing Thangka as holy object. Nevertheless, the results showed that they are significantly correlated.

For that reason, tourists may not really be offended seeing Thangkas as tourism products, as it becomes commercialized.

Implications

This study identified Thangka’s brand personality and Thangka buyers’ personality, also tourists’ perception of those personalities. It implies that the theory of brand personality and self-congruity should be used together to predict individuals’ desires and intentions to purchase Thangka. Both theories were applied in this study, therefore, the methodology and theories of the research could be used for other studies related to Thangka or to other similar local products.

The literature review indicated that people have an interest in something because they can get different kinds of values from the object; however, there were no studies that identified the value that art crafts such as Thangka provide to customers.

The present study reviewed the literature, and indicated five different kinds of values for crafts. Future research would apply these values to other similar art crafts or

Thangka business to examine the factor that influence customers’ interests in purchasing them.

Thangka shop managers could draw several practical implications from the present research. Thangka marketer could apply this study to their business to predict tourists’ behavior and promote Thangka to the tourists with different kind of background. First, in order to get tourists’ interest in purchasing Thangka, Thangka salespeople could address more on the different values for the different tourists. For example, the salesperson should promote Thangka’s value differently for different types of tourists and trip motivations, and for package tourists and tourists who came to Tibet for sightseeing they could address more on Thangka’s artistic value and its

cultural value. As another example, for non-religious tourists they could focus more on the Thangka’s financial value.

Second, Thangka salespeople should promote Thangka’s image differently to different kinds of tourists in order to let them build their desire to purchase Thangka.

For example, if the tourists are on pilgrimage, they could address more about the

Thangka’s image as peaceful and charming. As another example, if the customers are self-driving tourists, then they could promote Thangka as friendly and sincere.

These images were considered to have a positive influence on tourists who have similar personalities, and could increase their desire for Thangka.

Thangka businesspeople or related organizations such as art department or museum could find practical uses for this research. The present research indicated that Thangka were desirable for the tourists, and there is a huge potential market in this industry. For that reason, Thangka businesspeople or related organizations should investigate more on the Thangka market, and more importantly, they should encourage more young people to learn this traditional art. It is not just for the business itself, but also for cultural conservation and the culture’s sustainability.

Limitation

This study is significant for the development of Thangkas’ market that focus on Chinese tourists, however, it has some limitations. First, the questionnaire was administered at a single Thangka shop in Lhasa, Tibet, and sample size was limited (N

= 150), so the results may not be an accurate representation of the opinions of all

Chinese tourists visiting Thangka shops. To generalize the results to large groups, the

study should have been administered to participants in several different Thangka shops in Tibet. The second limitation is that the study examined only Chinese tourists, since

Chinese tourists were the primary customers. Future research could apply the study to other potential customers from other countries, such as Japanese tourists, because there are many Buddhists in Japan, and many of them have interest in Thangka. The third limitation is that the research was conducted during the slack season; therefore the tourists might not be very diverse. Future research could do survey during the peak season, which may produce different results. Furthermore, the present study identified five values that Thangkas may have, from a literature review. However there may have more other values that crafts such as Thangka can provide to tourists.

It may generate more reasons that why tourists have interest in Thangka.

Future Research

The present study was focused mainly on exploring the tourists’ perspective of Thangka, Future researchers could focus on locals’ opinion about Thangka and how they see the business of selling Thangka. As mentioned in the introduction, before tourism was developed in Tibet, Thangka painters only painted for monasteries, or for the local people for their own religious purposes, and Thangka painters were highly respected. Later more and more tourists visited Tibet and showed great interest in Thangka, so the locals got the idea of doing Thangka businesses not just for the

Buddhists, but for all different kinds of tourists. This caused cultural conflict.

Some locals think it is the act of selling Buddha, and these people think that a person who sells Thangka should feel shame. For that reason, future research could study the

locals’ perspective of Thangka businesses, and how it affects local painters and

Thangka’s market in Tibet.

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX A

REPRESENTATIVE TRAINING

Appendix A

Representative Training

The survey representative of this study is Droma Tsering, a graduated master student of Cultural Foundation major in Kent State University.

The representative training includes: (1) to introduce basic ideas and objectives of the ongoing research; (2) to elucidate several major issues relevant to the questionnaire, in terms of its objectives, structure, terminology, every single question and choice items, and manner of questioning as well; (3) to emphasize the surveyors’ responsibility, especially in abiding by the principal investigator’s instruction and guaranteeing the authenticity and integrity of survey data, and the surveyors’ right; (4) to explain basic issues peculiar to the planned survey, such as survey venue and time slot, basic survey procedure and the techniques of dealing with rejection.

APPENDIX B CONSENT FORM

Appendix B

Consent Form

Dear Thangka shop visitor:

My name is Luobusangzhu, a Masters student in the Hospitality and tourism program at Kent State University, in Kent, Ohio, in the United States. You are invited to participate in this paper survey, which aims to understand the relationship between tourists' interest and desire to purchase Thangka. This survey consists of questions that are related to components of five parts. They are section a: question of interest in purchasing Thangka; section b: question of Thangka's value; section c: question of desire to purchase Thangka; section d: question of conspicuous consumption; and finally section e: question of participants' background.

Your participation is completely voluntary. In addition, your responses will be anonymous and only the study staff will have access to them. You will need less than 15 minutes to complete this online survey. There are no sensitive questions in this survey.

If you have questions at any point during this study, please contact Dr. Philip

Wang at [email protected], or Luobusangzhu at [email protected], or the Kent State

University IRB at (330) 672-2704.

APPENDIX C

QUESTIONNAIRE IN ENGLISH

Appendix C

Questionnaire in English

Tourists’ Interest and Desire to Purchase Thangka

Section A. Please indicate your interest in purchasing Thangka by selecting the number corresponding to your level of agreement with the statements presented below, with (1) denoting “Strongly disagree” and (7) “Strongly agree.” (1) (7) Strongly disagree Strongly agree 1. Owning a Thangka is meaningful to me...... ……...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. I can get different kinds of values from buying Thangka..... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. I am interested in buying Thangka...... ……...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Section B. What values below are important factors that make you interested in purchasing Thangka? Please select a number on the scale from (1) “Not important at all” to (7) “Extremely important” to indicate the importance of each of the values noted below.

(1) (7) Not important at all Extremely important 1. Thangka is a beautiful art….....…………...... …. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. Thangka has religious meaning…...... … 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. Thangka represents Tibetan culture...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. Thangka is a valuable product…...... ……. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5. Thangka can display my social status...... ……. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Section C. 1. Thinking of Thangka as a person, how well does each of the personality traits below describe his/her personality (1 = Not descriptive at all, 7 = Extremely descriptive): Personality Traits (1) (7) Not descriptive at all Extremely descriptive 1. Mysterious.…….…………………………………………... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. Gentle…………………………………………..………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. Kind……………………………………….....…………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. Peaceful………………………………………………...….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5. Beautiful…………………………………………..……….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6. Sincere.....………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7. Imaginative...... ………………………………...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8. Glamorous...... ……………………………………………... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9. Friendly...... ………………………………………………... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10. Charming..…………………………………...………….... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2. Considering the similarity between Thangka’s personality and how you perceive yourself, please indicate your agreement or disagreement with the following statements by selecting one number only on the scale ranging from (1) “Strongly disagree” to (7) “Strongly agree,” with (4) denoting “Neutral.” (1) (7) Strongly disagree Strongly agree 1. I see my personality quite similar to the personality of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Thangka...... 2. I would like to see myself as similar to the personality of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Thangka...... ……..

3. When you think of the Thangka buyer, how well does each of the personality traits presented below describe his/her personality (1 = Not descriptive at all, 7 = Extremely descriptive):

Personality Traits (1) (7) Not descriptive at all Extremely descriptive 1. Curious…………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. Reverence………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. Religious.………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. Minded...... ……………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5. Wise...... ………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6. Small-town..……………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7. Sincere....………………………………………...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. Imaginative...... …………………………………………... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9. Glamorous...... ……………………………………………... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10. Friendly……...... …………………………...…………..... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4. Considering the similarity between a Thangka buyer and yourself, please indicate your agreement or disagreement with the following statements by choosing one of the options, ranging from (1) “Strongly disagree” to (7) “Strongly agree,” with (4) “Neutral” denoting indifference. (1) (7) Strongly disagree Strongly agree 1. I see myself quite similar to that of a Thangka 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 buyer...... 2. I would like to see myself similar to that of a Thangka 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 buyer...... …

Section D. Please indicate your agreement or disagreement with the following four statements. Please select the response that best matches your views by circling the corresponding number, on the scale from (1) “Strongly disagree” to (7) “Strongly agree.” (1) (7) Strongly disagree Strongly agree 1. The ability to purchase a Thangka positively reflect my 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 social status...... ….…..... 2. If I purchase Thangka, others may think that I have good 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 taste in art...... 3. I am interested in purchasing Thangka in order to get a 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 famous painter’s signature......

Section E. PARTICIPANT’S BACKGROUND 1. Gender a. Male b. Female 2. Have you travelled to Tibet before? a. Yes b. No 3. Do you have an interest in local souvenirs during your trip? a. Yes b. No 4. What type of a tourists are you? a. Package tourist b. Self-driving tourist c. Budget traveler 5. The main motivation of this trip a. Pilgrimage b. Sightseeing c.experience local’s way of life 6. Religion a. Non-religion b. Buddhism c. Other religion 7. Occupation a. Civil Servant b. Student c. Artist d. Businessperson e. Other 8. General income per month (Yuan) a. Below 3000 b. 3000−6000 c. 6000−10000 d. Above 10000

APPENDIX D QUESTIONNAIRE IN CHINESE

Appendix D

Questionnaire in Chinese

游客对唐卡的购买兴趣与购买欲望的调查

A. 根据您对购买唐卡的兴趣，对如下陈述进行评价（1=完全反对，2=非常反对， 3=反对，4=中立，5=同意，6=非常同意，7=完全同意）（1）（7）完全反对完全同意 1. 拥有一幅唐卡对我来说有意义...... ……..... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. 我能从购买唐卡中得到一些不同的价值...... …….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. 我对购买唐卡有兴趣...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

B. 下列哪种价值使你对唐卡产生购买兴趣有重要影响？（按重要程度打分：1= 完全不重要，2=非常不重要，3=不重要，4=中立，5=重要，6=非常重要 7=完全重要) （1）（7）完全不重要完全重要 1. 艺术价值：唐卡是个漂亮的艺术品....…………………… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. 宗教价值：唐卡具有宗教意义....………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. 文化价值：唐卡代表了西藏的文化……………………… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. 经济价值：唐卡是个值钱的产品………………………… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5. 炫耀性价值：唐卡可以展示我的社会地位……………… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

C. 1.如果把唐卡看做是一个人，以下十项为唐卡的性格特质，请对以下对于唐卡个性的描述进行评价（1=完全不准确，2=非常不准确，3=不准确，4=中立，5= 准确，6=非常准确，7=完全准确）（1）（7）完全不准确完全准确 1. 神秘的……………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. 温和的…………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. 慈祥的…………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. 平静的…………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5. 美丽的…………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6. 真诚的………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7. 富有想象力的………………………………...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. 富有魅力的……………………………………………... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9. 友好的………………………………………………... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10.迷人的.……………………………………...…………..... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 96

2. 请根据您的性格与唐卡性格的一致性，对以下陈述进行评价。（1=完全反对， 2=非常反对，3=反对，4=中立，5=同意，6=非常同意，7=完全同意）（1）（7）完全反对完全同意 3. 我认为我的性格和唐卡的性格非常吻合...... ………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. 我希望我的性格与唐卡的性格相一致...... …….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3. 以下十项为唐卡画店参观者的个性特征，请对以下十项进行评价（1=完全不准确，2=非常不准确，3=不准确，4=中立，5=准确，6=非常准确，7=完全准确）（1）（7）完全不准确完全准确 1. 好奇的…………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. 崇敬感的………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. 虔诚的…………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. 有思想的的……………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 5. 智慧的………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 6. 质朴的.………………………………………………….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 7. 真诚的………………………………………...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8. 富有想象力的…………………………………………... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9. 富有魅力的……………………………………………... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 10. 友好的………………………………...…………..... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4. 请根据您的性格与唐卡画店参观者性格的一致性，对以下陈述进行评价（1= 完全反对，2=非常反对，3=反对，4=中立，5=同意，6=非常同意，7=完全同意）（1）（7）完全反对完全同意 1.我认为我的性格和唐卡画店参观者的性格非常吻合...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2.我希望我的性格与唐卡画店参观者的性格相一致..…….. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

D. 请根据您的观点，对如下陈述进行评价（1=完全反对，2=非常反对， 3=反对，4=中立，5=同意，6=非常同意，7=完全同意）（1）（7）完全反对完全同意 1. 有能力购买唐卡，对显示我的社会地位很有帮助...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. 如果我购买唐卡，别人会认为我对艺术有好的品味...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 3. 我有兴趣购买唐卡，从而得到著名画师的签名...... 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

E. 背景信息 1. 性别: a. 男性 b. 女性 2. 以前是否来过西藏: a. 是 b. 否 3. 旅游期间是否对当地的旅游纪念品感兴趣: a. 是 b. 否 4. 您是哪种类型的游客: a. 跟团旅游 b. 自驾游 c. 穷游 d. 其他

5. 来西藏旅游的动机: a. 为了朝圣 b. 为了观光 c. 为了深度体验 6. 宗教: a. 无宗教信仰 b. 佛教徒 c. 其他宗教 7. 职业: a. 公务员 b. 学生 c. 艺术家 d. 商人 e. 其他 8. 大概月收入范围 a. 3000以下 b. 3000- 6000 c. 6000- 10000 d. 10000 以上

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