Experience design and the dimensions of transformative festival experiences

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (9) ◽  
pp. 2881-2901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Neuhofer ◽  
Krzysztof Celuch ◽  
Thuy Linh To

Purpose In the emerging transformation economy, there is a shift from staging memorable experiences for many to eliciting life-transformative events for one. This study aims to understand how transformative experiences can be guided and what prerequisites are needed to elicit human transformation when designing experiences. This study borrows positive psychology as a theoretical lens to explore festivals as a prime context for liminal transformative experiences in the hospitality context. Design/methodology/approach A constructivist qualitative research design was used through 31 in-depth interviews. To ensure experience recollection, memory formation and integration of the experience into long-term transformative effects, all interviewees had attended an electronic dance music festival in the past 12 months. Findings Guided by the positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning and accomplishments (PERMA) model, the thematic analysis revealed a series of psychological and contextual dimensions around PERMA and liminality that need to occur for transformative experiences, personal growth and self-transcendence to happen. Practical implications This study provides a guideline for event organisers and experiences designers to intentionally design and occasion positive human experiences in temporal and spatial liminal hospitality consumption contexts. Psychological and contextual dimensions are identified as critical factors in facilitating human transformation. Originality/value This paper bridges the emerging transformation economy, experience design and positive psychology. Grounded in PERMA, the study offers a novel theoretical model that serves as a framework for both transformative experience research and practical experience design.

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-167
Author(s):  
Desmond Wee

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to position experience as an immersive process through the documentation of student reflections of place involving the intricacies of embodied learning and experiential mobilities. This study is framed through situational positionalities and placed movements of the tourist, the non-tourist and more specifically, students of Generation Z engaged in educational experiences. Design/methodology/approach This paper explores a student fieldtrip (on the island of Corfu, Greece) as a medium of expression for situated learning, involving a case study of tourism students learning critical tourism through sensual and haptic dimensions of reflection. The students “experienced” Corfu by participating in an international tourism conference, stayed on a yacht, went on various tours, met with tourism industry representatives and reflected their experiences in a collaborative photo story book. Findings Generation Z seemed to have the ability to discern the environment and decipher the role tourism plays. Their critical impressions of place in terms of infrastructure, sustainability, beauty, etc., force a rethink of traditional tourist typologies. It is necessary to reconsider the categorizations of tourism, challenging the need for tourism marketers to encapsulate experiences as both a single, yet multi-varied segment. What remains crucial is a deeper comprehension of this generation through their consumption patterns in relation to the various stakeholders of tourism. Originality/value This paper documents an engagement of self through experience as part of the “experience.” Hence, the transformative experiences of place reflections as opposed to linear post-trip representations of experience may be insightful for tourism practitioners dealing with a tourism of the future.


Author(s):  
Paul Lyons ◽  
Randall Bandura

Purpose This viewpoint demonstrates the importance and significance of individual self-efficacy beliefs and perceptions with regard to performance and in relation to self-regulated learning. The concept of self-efficacy has been widely researched and reported mainly in academic journals. This viewpoint aims to clearly explain the concept and its formation, give some details of its relationship with performance and persistence in effort, and present some specific advice for managers and supervisors pertaining to guiding and assisting employees. Design/methodology/approach This paper is built upon the following: a thorough review of the literature regarding the topic of self-efficacy, the practical experience of the authors in mentoring and supervising employees, and a desire to offer specific, helpful advice to managers/supervisors in enhancing and stimulating employee self-efficacy and personal learning. Findings The body of research across several domains, such as business, education (mostly pre-college), psychology, and athletics, clearly reveals that personal self-efficacy beliefs/perceptions can be highly motivational with regard to performance and improvement in learning tactics and strategies. This study finds that little attention has been given to advising managers/supervisors in assisting employees to enhance personal self-efficacy, hence the effort to provide direct advice. Originality/value There have been a few attempts to link self-efficacy with self-regulated learning. Both concepts are valuable when it comes to individual effectiveness in performance and in one’s personal growth; and this study highlights the coordination between the two. Originality and value are represented in the advice offered for managers/supervisors using the ordered, process steps of self-regulated learning as an organizing basis.


2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-327
Author(s):  
Elyria Kemp ◽  
Aberdeen Leila Borders

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the stages involved in occupational dream pursuit (ODP). In this study, dreams are studied in the context of life-changing, occupational endeavors. The judgment and decision-making that fuels the process and the consumption motives that appear throughout the various stages of the journey are examined through the narratives of individuals living out their career-related dreams. Design/methodology/approach Open-ended interviews were conducted with individuals who were embarking on a life-changing career attainment experience. The narratives of these informants uncovered psychological, social and behavioral aspects of the dream pursuit process. Findings Through the informants’ narratives, common themes emerged with respect to the ODP journey, and these themes offered a fluid interpretation of the stages involved in the dream pursuit process: revelation, inciting action, development, maintenance and evolution. At each stage, specific consumption motives and behaviors predominate. These themes, including the consumption, psychological and developmental processes that take place at each stage, are discussed through the narratives of the informants. Research limitations/implications This study highlights the role of positive emotions, personal growth, consumption motives and behaviors in ODP. Originality/value Dreams give individuals a sense of purpose and being. Although conventional wisdom acknowledges the importance of dream actualization, limited behavioral research has explored the nuances of ODP with regard to decision-making and consumption.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dionna Williams ◽  
Catherine Zeman

Purpose Environmental health disparities case studies are explored through a combination of lens including the naturome/nurturome, exposome [nature vs nurture] and multiple exposure-zone [place as predictor of health and wellbeing] concepts. This work places the educational program and experience within a theoretical framework using all these grounding theories. This provides an approach to experiential and transformative education in environmental equity/sustainability that we are calling transformative, trans-theoretical equity education, T2E2. This paper aims to describe this model, its grounding theories and provide real-world examples of this model in action through PIEER. Design/methodology/approach The University of Northern Iowa’s environmental equity internship, Panther Initiative for Environmental Equity and Resilience, PIEER, engages students on multiple levels to view sustainability from an equity perspective. The experience seeks to immerse the student in an understanding of equity while also having a tangible impact in the community. Systems analysis of issues, through formal systems thinking approaches, inculcating practices that allow students to work through difficult equity and social justice implications, high vs. low context communication and leadership styles are discussed. Findings Findings of the first evaluation of program impact indicate long-lasting benefits to this immersive experience. Findings of an evaluation survey of current and past PIEER interns (N = 30, n = 22/21; response ∼0.73/72) indicate that participants consistently rank the experience in the upper 25th percentile of benefit for their personal growth in understanding equity and environmental issues. They also note that the experience has led them to be more likely to engage in behaviors supporting both social justice and environmental concerns. Research limitations/implications This evaluation consists of a small sample size which prevents the use of a mixed methods approach to evaluate the consistencies among the data. Practical implications If society is to truly achieve equitable sustainability, we must accomplish this through both transformative theory and transformative experiences. Social implications Providing both transformative theory and transformative experiences to students is an important foundational step in achieving equitable sustainability. Originality/value The University of Northern Iowa has a unique environmental equity internship which is training students to revision sustainability from an equity perspective.


The Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology studies the burgeoning field of positive psychology, which, in recent years, has transcended academia to capture the imagination of the general public. The book provides a roadmap for the psychology needed by the majority of the population—those who don’t need treatment, but want to achieve the lives to which they aspire. The articles summarize all of the relevant literature in the field, and each is essentially defining a lifetime of research. The content’s breadth and depth provide a cross-disciplinary look at positive psychology from diverse fields and all branches of psychology, including social, clinical, personality, counseling, school, and developmental psychology. Topics include not only happiness—which has been perhaps misrepresented in the popular media as the entirety of the field—but also hope, strengths, positive emotions, life longings, creativity, emotional creativity, courage, and more, plus guidelines for applying what has worked for people across time and cultures.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1459-1467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sherese Y. Duncan ◽  
Raeesah Chohan ◽  
João José Ferreira

Purpose This paper aims to explore, using the employee lens of business-to-business firms, word use through brand engagement and social media interaction to understand the difference between employees who rate their employer brands highly on social media and those who don't. Design/methodology/approach We conducted a textual content analysis of posts published on the social media job evaluation site glassdoor.com. LIWC software package was used to analyze 30 of the top 200 business-to-business brands listed on Brandwatch using four variables, namely, analytical thinking, clout, authenticity and emotional tone. Findings The results show that employees who rate their employer’s brand low use significantly more words, are significantly less analytic and write with significantly more clout because they focus more on others than themselves. Employees who rate their employer’s brand highly, write with significantly more authenticity, exhibit a significantly higher tone and display far more positive emotions in their reviews. Practical implications Brand managers should treat social media data disseminated by individual stakeholders, like the variables used in this study (tone, word count, frequency), as a valuable tool for brand insight on their industry, competition and their own brand equity, now and especially over time. Originality/value This study provides acknowledgement that social media is a significant source of marketing intelligence that may improve brand equity by better understanding and managing brand engagement.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zohaib Razzaq ◽  
Salman Yousaf ◽  
Zhao Hong

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the significant contribution of emotions along with other conventional loyalty drivers on the loyalty intentions. Design/methodology/approach The influence of three conventional loyalty drivers, i.e., value equity, brand equity, relationship equity on loyalty intentions was investigated by further exploring the moderating effects of negative and positive emotions. A sample of 834 Pakistani consumers in the supermarkets and banking industries was studied employing store-intercept survey design. Findings Consumer behavior is driven by emotions in both the supermarkets and banking context. Thus, in order to better predict customer loyalty intentions, the emotional component is crucial and should be included along with other cognitive components. Practical implications Since customers’ emotional responses throughout service delivery are strongly linked to loyalty, therefore supermarkets and bank service managers need to make sure that the customers experience with their services as pleasurable as possible and for this purpose, customer service employees need to be trained in order to better understand the customers’ emotional responses during the course of service delivery process. Originality/value The present study complements the existing literature regarding the role of emotions in service settings and offers a new point of view for the linkage among emotions, customer equity drivers and customer loyalty intentions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Emil Berg ◽  
Jan Terje Karlsen

Purpose – This study provides insight into how project managers can use leadership tools to encourage and develop positive emotions among the project team members toward greater overall project success. The purpose of this paper is to provide the engineering industry with a closer look at how positive emotions can create good team member relations, reduce stress, develop clearer roles, creativity and joy at the workplace. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data were obtained using in-depth interviews of three experienced project managers. Findings – The empirical data give insight as to how project managers can use their signature strengths. Additionally, the data also show how they can evolve and draw on positive meaning, positive emotions and positive relations. Various examples of positive meaning, positive emotions, positive relations and signature strengths have been identified and discussed. Research limitations/implications – Future research should apply a more comprehensive research design, for example a survey using a larger sample, so that these findings may be generalized. Practical implications – The paper contributes to portray and analyze positive psychology in a project management setting. Additionally, the paper assists understanding the connections among positive meaning, positive emotions, positive relations and signature strengths by presenting and discussing a model. Originality/value – This research extends current understanding of how project managers use their signature strengths to encourage and develop positive emotions in project teams.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 205-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Pirie ◽  
Ronald King To Chan

Purpose This study aims to find out how institutional investors use momentum in making investment decisions, and whether their actions are consistent with the Financial Instability Hypothesis of Hyman Minsky. Design/methodology/approach The study discusses the findings of interviews with 25 professional investors from the Hong Kong offices of five global financial institutions. All of the participants have several years of practical experience in global and regional markets. Findings Nearly all the managers interviewed said they use momentum in making investment decisions, and they do this in ways that are consistent with the Financial Instability Hypothesis, in which markets alternate between stable and unstable states. The participants are aware they may contribute to this, but they cannot avoid doing it because of short-term constraints in the present financial system. Originality/value This study adds to our knowledge of how professional investors use momentum in their investment strategies. It complements findings of quantitative studies that show momentum strategies have been profitable in many market settings. It also adds evidence that supports the Financial Instability Hypothesis.


2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 323-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Pickett ◽  
Willeke Rietdijk ◽  
Jenny Byrne ◽  
Jonathan Shepherd ◽  
Paul Roderick ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand early career teachers’ perceptions of the impact of a pre-service health education programme on their health promotion practice in schools and the contextual factors that influence this. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 primary and secondary trainee and qualified teachers who had trained at a university in England. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings The teachers found the training to be a useful introduction, particularly when it was relevant to their practice. They valued gaining practical skills at university, on placement and in school once qualified. They reported that witnessing pupils’ lives in school had increased their awareness that health education is important. Their personal qualities, life experience, the school’s ethos and competing pressures influenced their practice. Teachers considered that building relationships with colleagues, pupils and parents facilitated health promotion, and that health education needs to be relevant to pupils. Some teachers expressed that teaching about health could be a “minefield”. They also discussed whether schools or parents are responsible for educating pupils about health issues and the place of health promotion within education’s wider purpose. Originality/value Few studies have followed-up trainee teachers once they are in teaching posts to explore the longer-term perceived impact of pre-service health education training. The findings suggest that teachers’ development takes place via an interaction between training and practice, suggesting that training could particularly aim to provide teachers with a contextualised understanding of health issues and practical experience.


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