Resumo

Despite the importance of film festivals to marketing places they are held, scarce research has examined the customer experience in those events. The present study aims to contribute to the body of knowledge in the sub-field of consumer behavior in tourism, assessing perceived dimensions of the film festival experience. Although the constructs local culture, novelty, nostalgia, satisfaction, and behavioural intentions have been often studied by researchers, the construct eudaimonic feelings is a new construct in the literature (Medeiros et al., 2023).

Eudaimonic feelings construct is of particular interest for this investigation since it is new in current tourism literature, thus, not yet well examined. Three research objectives were set in this research: (1) to uncover the experiential aspects most perceived by festival participants, (2) to analyse the extent to which participants respond differently to these aspects, and (3) to identify distinct groups of participants based on their subjective evaluations of the festival experience.

Among the main eudaimonic theories and models are (i) the self-expressiveness theory, the self-determination theory, (iii) the psychological well-being construct, (iv) the PERMA model, and (v) the DRAMMA framework. Eudaimonic feelings is conceived as a state level construct based on most of those theories. The construct is defined as “the cognitive-affective appraisals towards self-fulfilment, authenticity, truthful social interactions, and personal meaningfulness concerning a tourism experience” (Medeiros, et al., 2023, p. 2).

The study is exploratory and uses a quantitative approach. Constructs were defined and operationalized based on literature review. A non-probabilistic sample of 97 event participants was used in a cross-section survey design. To achieve the research objectives, the two-step cluster analysis was chosen. Original ordinal data were firstly transformed into interval data using Rasch analysis procedure. Since groups had been identified, data were reversed into ordinal level to facilitate interpretation, and then, one-way ANOVA tested mean differences of each construct across identified groups.

Two-step cluster found three well distinct groups: Group 1 (n = 31; 32%), Group 2 (n = 23; 23,7%), and Group 3 (n = 43; 44,3%). The largely most important groups predictor was being resident or not, following by eudaimonic feelings, local culture, and satisfaction. Groups 1 and 3 comprised of residents, while group 2 included visitors. No differences between residents in Group 1 and 3 were found in relation to demographics. However, ANOVA results showed significant differences between the two groups of residents for all six constructs, with high effect sizes.

Among the experience constructs, eudaimonic feelings was shown to be the most important to predict the three groups of participants. Eudaimonia and interaction were the main experiential aspects provided by the Penedo Film Circuit. The study suggests that, for some participants, the festival is more than entertainment or escapism, presenting itself as an opportunity for self-expression and personal growth. Future research could examine the level of participants' engagement in activities provided by the event program, and to which extent it explains differences in the perceived experience.

Medeiros, S. A., Campos, A. C., Freitas, L. B. A., Mondo, T. S., & Sthapit, E. (2023). Capturing eudaimonic feelings in tourism experience: A construct proposal and preliminary empirical evidence. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 0(0). Ryff, C. D., & Singer, B. H. (2008). Know thyself and become what you are: A eudaimonic approach to psychological well-being. Journal of happiness studies, 9, 13-39. Seligman, M. (2018). PERMA and the building blocks of well-being. The journal of positive psychology, 13(4), 333-335. Waterman, A. S. (2008). Reconsidering happiness: A eudaimonist’s perspective.