Description
In recent decades, the significance of events in the economic, social, and cultural life of established and emerging tourist destinations has been increasingly recognised (Carneiro et al., 2019; Smith, 2012). Events are now an integral part of the visitor economy, drawing visitors to host communities and sustaining tourist interest long after the event ended (Kim & Jun, 2016). The representation of cities and events in media, such as advertising, plays a pivotal role in influencing potential visitors' attitudes, attention, and emotional connections to the places where events are staged (Chalip, Green, & Hill, 2003; Kim & Jun, 2016; Weng, Huang, & Bao, 2021). Understanding how an event and its eventscape are depicted in an advertisement is thus significant to understanding the impact on the motivation of potential tourists to visit host destinations.
The concept of an eventscape, which is derived from the broader notion of 'servicescape', has also received an increasing research interest due to its ability to impact potential event attendants’ emotions, attitudes and satisfaction (Carneiro et al., 2019). Dimensions of the eventscape include entertainment (features like music and live shows), design and venue (space and layout), and facilities (e.g., restrooms, seating, cleanliness, signage), and are key determinants of positive emotional experiences and loyalty to a particular event (Brown et al., 2015; Carneiro et al., 2019).
While previous studies have extensively explored event advertising and eventscape, there remains a notable gap in research specifically investigating how the portrayal of eventscape in advertisements affects attention, emotion, attitude, and decision-making from a metacognitive perspective. Metacognition is a key tenet of the self-validation hypothesis, postulating that marketing stimuli affect attitude by influencing the amount of thought; valence of thinking; and thought confidence (metacognition).
In addition, prior relevant research tends to use self-report surveys such as questionnaires and interviews to understand visitors’ experiences (e.g., Kim & Jun, 2016; Carneiro et al., 2019). Self-report techniques, being simple and inexpensive, assess cognitive and affective reactions based on remembered experiences (Robinson & Clore, 2002). However, scholars have highlighted the benefits of using a combination of self-report surveys and physiological technologies to obtain more objective and in-depth understanding of individuals’ experiences (Hadinejad et al., 2022a). To address the gap, this research aims to analyse the differences in attention, emotion, cognition, metacognition, and attitude using three images showing the dimensions of eventscape (i.e., entertainment, design and facilities). This research utilises self-report surveys in tandem with physiological technologies.
Research method
Participants (N = 50) took part in an experiment in a lab at the University of Queensland where they were shown three images of an event (the Fringe festival in Adelaide, Australia), each reflecting one dimension of eventscape (entertainment, design & venue, and facilities). A focus group was conducted with 10 participants to test the suitability of selected images. Participants’ attention was captured by the Tobii Pro TX300 eye-tracker, and their emotions were measured by Affectiva’s Affdex technology simultaneously while viewing each image in the lab. After viewing each image, participants completed a questionnaire where they reported their thoughts, metacognition, attitude, intention to attend the event in the future, and emotions using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) (Hadinejad et al., 2022b). A semi-structured interview was conducted at the end of the experiment to gain deeper insights into participants’ experiences. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to assess the differences among the three images.
Key findings
The findings indicated that the image ‘Design’ elicited more favourable thoughts and attitudes, and higher levels of intention to attend the event in the future, and attracted more attention compared to images ‘Facility’ and ‘Entertainment’(p<0.05). However, images ‘Facility’ and ‘Entertainment’ provoked more positive emotions compared to image ‘Design’ (p<0.05). That is, if event marketers aim to influence potential visitors’ cognition, they need to use images portraying the design of the event. In addition, images reflecting facility and entertainment of the event are more appropriate when aiming to impact the potential visitors affectively. The interviews confirmed the results obtained from the questionnaire and technologies revealing that the ‘Design’ image provides a better view and impression of the overall event and fosters curiosity about the event, resulting in more favourable attitudes and a higher intention to visit. On the other hand, the participants expressed being captivated by nostalgia when exposed to images of ‘Facility’ and ‘Entertainment’, evoking positive emotions from their previous similar experiences. This research contributes to prior knowledge in event studies by extending the understanding of the role of eventscape in influencing cognition, metacognition, attitude, attention and emotional experiences.
