| Author: | Gedecho, Ermias Kifle |
| Title: | Investigation of diaspora festival attendees’ perceived attributes, experiential benefits, values, and quality of life : application to ethiopian diaspora festivals |
| Advisors: | Kim, Sam (SHTM) Weber, Karin (SHTM) Filep, Sebastian (SHTM) |
| Degree: | Ph.D. |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Subject: | Festivals -- Social aspects Ethiopia -- Social life and customs Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | School of Hotel and Tourism Management |
| Pages: | xi, 273 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Diaspora festivals have an immense potential to improve the quality of life (QOL) of their attendees. However, these phenomena have not been adequately and systematically investigated. This study aims to fill such gap by 1) investigating the perceived attributes of diaspora festival attendees, 2) exploring their experiential benefits, 3) identifying their perceived QOL values, and 4) understanding their perception of QOL. This study adopted constructivist grounded theory to achieve these objectives. A total of 46 in-depth guided interviews were conducted, and the interview data were coded to construct relevant main and sub-themes. The selected interviewees represented four Ethiopian diaspora festivals (Meskel, Timket, ESFNA, and Ethiopian Day), three festival roles (performers, visitors, and organizers), and different demographic and migration backgrounds. The data were coded, the codes were categorized, and a theory was eventually constructed. The constructed dimensions included eight experiential attributes, five emotional values, seven eudemonic values, and five perceived QOL. The experiential attributes include transnational religion, homeland atmosphere, ethnic music and food, soccer tournament, volunteering, homeland people, souvenir, and convenience. Homeland atmosphere, volunteering, and homeland people are common to both transnational and ethnic migrant festivals. However, transnational religion (for religious festivals) and ethnic music and food (for ethnic migrant festivals) are distinct attributes. These attributes produce experiential benefits, such as spiritual, educational, aesthetic, sense of togetherness, homeland vibes, socialization, and shopping benefits. The interactions of attendees with these attributes generate five domains of positive emotional values, namely, happiness, arousal, pride, feeling at home, and feeling not lonely. Among these values, feeling at home and not lonely are unique to diaspora festivals, whereas feelings of hope, pride, and surprise have been rarely explored in previous studies. Moreover, seven dimensions of eudemonic values are triggered by attending diaspora festivals and performing various activities. The eudemonic values elicited in diaspora festivals include fulfillment of responsibility, identity maintenance, meaning and fulfillment, relationship with homeland people, ethnic sense of community, spirituality, and homeland mastery. The emotional and eudemonic values are aligned with the QOL perception of attendees. This study offers theoretical and practical contributions. Theoretically, this work constructs the diaspora festival experience and QOL model to lay the foundation for future diaspora festival research. In addition, the introduction of diaspora festival attributes and consequences contribute to the current knowledge of festival experience. Practically, this study is relevant to various stakeholders. For instance, the results of this study can help diaspora event organizers successfully manage their festivals in light of improving the QOL of their attendees. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | open access |
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