Factors affecting the satisfaction of festival visitors evidence from vietnam

Multiple linear regression analysis is chosen to find the relationship between the satisfaction of visitors at festival with festivalscape factors such as program content, staff, facilit

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

-

Nguyen Van Tho

FACTORS AFFECTING THE SATISFACTION

OF FESTIVAL VISITORS: EVIDENCE FROM VIETNAM

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

SUPERVISOR: DR CAO HAO THI

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business

-

Nguyen Van Tho

FACTORS AFFECTING THE SATISFACTION

OF FESTIVAL VISITORS: EVIDENCE FROM VIETNAM

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

SUPERVISOR: DR CAO HAO THI

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2014

Secondly, I want the supervisory board know how much I appreciate them for providing

me with their available advices helped me to gain a better understanding of the subject and creating favorable conditions for me during period of the thesis

Furthermore, I would also like to express my deep gratitude to administrative offices of International School of Business – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City for their administrative support, creating favorable conditions for me during the MBA course as well as during the time I do this research

Besides, I would like to give my sincere thanks to people who helped me to complete the survey and sincere sharing my study topic

Last but not least, I would like to send the most special thanks to my family, who are my motivation, they supported me by their love and faith in my abilities which have helped me

in my efforts to become a better researcher

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study is to investigate key factors that affecting the satisfaction

of festival visitors in Vietnam Based on the literature reviews, this study proposes a conceptual framework

A quantitative study is applied via survey method by questionnaire with sample size investigated is 162 visitors who have ever attended festival in Vietnam to test theory, including their feeling and comments Multiple linear regression analysis is chosen to find the relationship between the satisfaction of visitors at festival with festivalscape factors such as program content, staff, facility, food, souvenir, convenience and information The results suggest that in order to have the satisfaction of tourists, it must focus on factors such as program content, facility, food, staff, souvenir, convenience These findings complement theory about behavior of visitors attending festival, providing planners as well

as administrators the way to design a festival effectively

Keywords: festivalscape, visitors’ satisfaction, Vietnam

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

LIST OF FIGURES vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Problem statement 1

1.2 Research objectives 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Research scope 4

1.5 Research contribution 4

1.6 Research structure 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEWS 6

2.1 Festivalscape 6

2.2 Satisfaction 9

2.3 Previous studies about festivalscape 10

2.4 Research model 11

2.4.1 Hypothesis 11

2.4.2 Conceptual framework 15

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Item generation step 18

3.2 Quantitative pilot study 18

3.3 Quantitative main study 21

3.3.1 Data collection 21

3.3.1.1 Sample size 21

3.3.2 Methods of data analysis 23

3.3.2.1 Reliability measure by Cronbach’s Alpha analysis 23

3.3.2.2 Validity measure by EFA 23

3.3.2.3 Multiple regression analysis 24

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 27

4.1 Data collection 27

4.1.1 Filter the data 27

4.1.2 Coding 27

4.2 Descriptive statistics 27

4.3 Reliability analysis 30

4.4 Exploratory Factor Analysis 33

4.4.1 System of testing for EFA 33

4.4.2 The results of EFA model 33

4.5 Regression analysis 36

4.5.1 Testing of the fit level of model 36

4.5.2 Testing of regression coefficient 41

4.6 The hypothesis testing 41

4.6.1 Unstandardized regression coefficient 41

4.6.2 Standardized regression coefficient 43

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 45

5.1 Conclusions 45

5.2 Recommendations 47

5.3 Implications of the study 48

5.4 Limitation and further research 49

REFERENCES 50

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONAIRE – ENGLISH VERSION 55

APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONAIRE – VIETNAMESE VERSION 59

APPENDIX 3: THE DATA ANALYSIS RESULTS 64

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

KMO: Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin

EFA: Exploratory Factor Analysis

SPSS: Statistical Package Software for Social Science

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Framework for Understanding Environment-User Relationships in Service

Organizations 7

Figure 2.2: Program content and festival visitors’ satisfaction 12

Figure 2.3: Staff and festival visitors’ satisfaction 12

Figure 2.4: Facility and festival visitors’ satisfaction 13

Figure 2.5: Food and festival visitors’ satisfaction 14

Figure 2.6: Souvenirs and festival visitors’ satisfaction 14

Figure 2.7: Convenience and festival visitors’ satisfaction 15

Figure 2.8: Information and festival visitors’ satisfaction 15

Figure 2.9: Research model 16

Figure 3.1: Research process 17

Figure 4.1: Model fit 32

Figure 4.2: Scatterplot 39

Figure 4.3: Normal P-P plot of regression standardized residual 40

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Factors and items summary 20

Table 4.1: Coding the items of festivalscape factors 28

Table 4.2: The profile of respondents 29

Table 4.3: Reliability statistics 31

Table 4.4: KMO and Bartlett’s test 33

Table 4.5: Rotated component matrixa 34

Table 4.6: The retest of reliability analysis 35

Table 4.7: Model adjusted through reliability analysis and EFA 36

Table 4.8: Casewise diagnosticsa 37

Table 4.9: Model summaryb 37

Table 4.10: ANOVAa 38

Table 4.11: Correlations 38

Table 4.12: Coefficientsa 41

Table 4.13: Hypothesis testing 42

Table 4.14: The importance level of factors 43

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

The first part of this chapter is the statement of tourism problem as well as the satisfaction

of festival visitors Then, this chapter shows the aims of the study in research objectives part and identifies the research questions And finally, in turn, this chapter provides scope, contribution and structure of this research

1.1 Problem statement

Nowadays, world tourism industry begins to have the sign of prosperity and its recovery speed is faster than any other economic industry In developing countries, tourism has been recognized as a motivation for economic development and contribute to poverty reduction and employment creation

Tourism means not only enjoying the scenic, the world natural heritage but also finding out, exploring indigenous cultures via famous festivals filled with cultural particularities

of each region, each country Besides, organizing festival is a method of tourist’s returning because it is the top attention of countries which are focusing on promoting the development of “smokeless industry” To have that returning decision, the tourists, first of all, must feel satisfied with that festival Therefore, studying about factors affecting the satisfaction of festival tourists has been researched by many researchers in around the world for many years such as Lee et al (2008), Özdemir & Çulha (2009), Yoon et al (2010), Grappi & Montanari (2011), Anil (2012), Mensah (2013)

In Vietnam, we cannot deny that “smokeless industry” has been confirmed its important position in the national economy However, overall Vietnam tourism industry is still not competitive enough on the international market, many visitors admired the beautiful landscape in Vietnam but just a few of them return the second time According to recent interviews, almost tourists need something more than just scenic, we only exploit the natural what available in Vietnam but not do anything to make them more beautiful, more attractive Therefore, besides traditional tourism elements such as scenic spots, world natural heritage, Vietnam’s tourism industry has organized many festivals which contain

cultural characteristics of each regions of the country for tourists to explore the culture of the indigenous people In Online Conference for summarizing the management and organization of the festivals in 2013, Ministry of Culture and Information of Vietnam mentions that every year, there are more than 8000 festivals in Vietnam They include: traditional folk festivals, religious festivals and many festivals imported from abroad Among these diverse festivals, there are many festivals attracted a lot of tourists across the country as well as oversea such as Hue Festival, Da Lat Flower Festival, Ha Long Tourism Festival, Da Nang International Fireworks Festival The festivals contained characteristics of each locality not only introduce to foreign visitors a Vietnam which is dynamic, modern but rich in cultural traditions, diversifying the types of tourism products but also help Vietnamese tourists learn more about the abundant and diversity cultural of their hometown

Besides positives, festivals in Vietnam still exist the obvious weakness, which is about the quality of performance organization, products sold in festivals as well as service demands

of tourists In fact, the plans of organizing festivals are too widespread, lack of government’s management, lead to the triteness for the sense of festivals Moreover, although the infrastructure system has been invested to upgrade, it is still lack of uniformity among regions, and tourist sites The labor resources are numerous but still have weak constraint qualification Besides, there are many other problems caused by the shortage of profession in all preparing steps, inconsistence in organizing Those problems certainly make tourists afraid to visit and return because the factors about the profession in performance organization, staffs’ qualification as well as quality of products have direct or indirect effects on the satisfaction of tourists With the actual situation stated above, remedies are necessary for the development of Vietnam’s tourism In other words, finding out the factors affecting the satisfaction of domestic tourists is extremely important, because before making the tourists all over the world impressed, the background of history, the diversity and richness of the culture have to be judged perfectly by Vietnamese Therefore, government and the representative of functional departments have been

proposed a series of measures to improve those problems, they urged businesses to invest, build, manage and train the friendly, professional organizing staff of the festival to attract tourists

These actions has proved that government and tourism investors really care and desire to improve dispensable problems and therefore they can impulse Vietnam tourism through the festivals which are deeply imbued with the national identity However, there is none (or very few) researches focus on discovering factors that effect on the attitude related to satisfaction of domestic tourists to the cultural festival

1.2 Research objectives

To help planners and tourism enterprises to have more basis to set out the strategic plan for the tourism market as well as implement the theories in this field, the aim of this study is to:

 Determine factors which affecting to the visitors’ satisfaction when enjoying festivals

1.4 Research scope

Vietnam is a multi-nationality country with 54 ethnic groups so there are many festivals filled with cultural particularities of each region organized every years This means it is completely unfeasible to survey tourists’ comments at all festivals all over the country Therefore, the surveyed object is tourists attended the most famous festivals of Vietnam such as Hue Festival, Da Lat Flower Festival, Nha Trang Sea Festival, Ha Long Tourism Festival, Da Nang International Fireworks Festival and some other festivals

1.5 Research contribution

Basically, this study demonstrates that factors affecting the satisfaction of festival tourists has been recognized as an important motivation for tourism market development of our country because of its several benefits The analysis of the tourists’ satisfaction at festivals will help investors and tourism enterprises to arrange as well as redefine their portfolio then have more basis to set out the strategic plan for the tourism market, the contribution

to the field is threefold The first one is, determine factors which affecting to the visitors’ satisfaction at festival, this may help tourism marketers to understand their customers’ demand Second, analyzing the influences of these factors as well as discovering the relationship between the policy elements of festivals with the visitors’ satisfaction can help tourism planners to propose organization plans to overcome the shortcomings which affect demand of domestic tourists And finally, the recommendations are suggested to improve the visitors’ satisfaction when enjoying festivals in Vietnam

In addition, this study implements theories in this field-satisfaction research The findings should strengthen knowledge about tourist’s standard requirements about festivals they enjoyed in Vietnam

1.6 Research structure

 The first chapter is “Introduction” which includes comprising problem statement, research objectives, research questions, research scope, research contribution and structure of research

 The second is “Literature reviews”, this chapter summarizes concepts, theories, experiences and previous researches about the elements that affect to the satisfaction of festival visitors in Vietnam then gives research model includes hypotheses and conceptual framework used for the research

 The next chapter is “Research methodology” which introduces about the research process, data collection and the methods of data analysis

 The fourth is “Data analysis” chapter which reports the analysis results from collected data via the surveys

 Finally, the last chapter is “Conclusions and recommendations” discussing about research results from “data analysis” chapter and giving the recommendations

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEWS

This chapter introduces about (1) festivalscape concept, the theories about (2) satisfaction Next, it mentions to (3) the previous studies about festivalscape as well as the results about the influence of factors which the previous researchers proposed from their studies, impact

to the visitors’ satisfaction at festivals And finally is the (4) model of the research which concludes the hypotheses and the conceptual framework

2.1 Festivalscape

The concept about “festivalscapes” is mentioned firstly by Lee et al (2008) According to Lee et al (2008), this concept based on the environmental psychology theory that statement tangible environment is a factor impact to emotion of customer in an environment, for example, retail environments or physical environments (Mehrabian & Russell, 1974) There are many cues build a festiavalscape, in which retail environments and service quality as well as customers’ satisfaction is typical cues (Lee et al., 2008)

With the retail environments, Lee et al (2008) defines that it similar a type of customer patronage while the physical environments influence to the service quality as well as customer’s satisfaction in a service is called servicescape (Bitner, 1990)

Booms & Bitner (1982) states servicescape is an environment that seller and buyer interact together through tangible commodities to take place a service, so the tangible influence internal responses and behaviors of customer (Baker et al., 1994) Next, Bitner (1992) gives the objective physical factors such as noise, quality, equipment, signage, lighting, color, style which is called physical surroundings influence to customer’s satisfaction and purchasing intentions And Bitner (1992) also states that every company can improve above objective physical factors to impact customer reactions

The servicescape includes three composite dimensions (see in Figure 2.1), these are (1) ambient conditions, (2) spatial layout and functionality (3) signs, symbols and artifacts (Bitner, 1992)

Figure 2.1: Framework for Understanding Environment-User Relationships in Service Organizations

Attitude comfort exploration

Perceived Servicescape

Customer Response Moderators

Customer Response

Approach

ENVIRONMENTAL

DIMENSIONS

HOLISTIC ENVIRONMENTAL MODERATORS

INTERNAL RESPONSES BEHAVIOR

Signs Symbols

& Artifacts

ization symbolic meaning

categor- physical fit

Avoid Employee

Response Moderators

Employee Response

(opposite

of approach)

symbolic meaning

physical fit

(opposite

of approach)

Some researchers define that ambient conditions are a factor impacts perceptions of human responses to the environment (Baker, 1987) Ambient conditions generally is influenced

by five main senses of the environment, they are temperature, lighting, noise, music and scent Besides, some imperceptible dimensions such as gases, infrasound and chemicals may be profound effects (Russell & Snodgrass, 1987) The second dimension is spatial layout and functionality is an important physical surroundings particularly According to Bitner (1992) “spatial layout refers to the ways in which machinery, equipment, and furnishings are arranged, the size and shape of those items, and the spatial relationships among them And functionality refers to the ability of the same items to facilitate performance and the accomplishment of goals” And the last dimension is signs, symbols and artifacts The signs can be the labels such as name of firm or department, the directional purposes such as entrances, exits and the behavior rules such as no smoking, children have

to been accompanied by adult, so on (Bitner, 1992) Signs may decrease perceived crowding and stress (Wener & Kaminoff, 1982) The communicating symbolic such as quality of materials, artwork, floor coverings, etc is displayed in the environment can create an overall aes-thetic impression (Bitner, 1992) So, can consider this symbol environmental objects impact less directly than signs For example, the restaurant image with plastic furnishings as well as bright lighting can symbolize the normal service and lower prices (Bitner, 1992)

Come back with the festivalscape, Lee et al (2008) define that cannot cite the entire list of festivalscape cues, for example, the relationship between the service environment in the retail stores and the restaurants is different (Yang et al., 2011) Therefore, basing on the background theory is servicescape, Lee et al (2008) states that the festivalscape is also having three basic background dimension, similar the servicescape, that is ambient conditions with temperature, air quality, noise, music, odors, etc (2) spatial layout and functionality with layout, equipment, furnishings, etc (3) signs, symbols and artifacts with signage, personal artifacts, style of décor, etc And expand more than with the retail atmosphere, specific, Lee et al (2008) define that the festivalscape includes seven

dimensions may influence satisfaction of visitors at festivals, these are: “program content, staff demeanor, facility availability and quality, food perceptions, souvenir availability and quality, convenience, and information availability”

2.2 Satisfaction

The satisfaction of customer is their evaluation, which is about extent of product or service respond their wants and needs (Czepiel et al., 1974) In other definition, the satisfaction of customer is a pleasure or disappointment feeling when a performance or outcome of product is different or same likely his or her expectation (Kotler & Keller, 2006)

There are two type of satisfaction, the overall satisfaction and the attribute satisfaction The overall satisfaction is evaluation through purchasing and experience in goods and service (Anderson et al., 1994), is holistic evaluation after purchasing (Fornell, 1992) The attribute satisfaction is subjective evaluation of the customer from observations of attribute (Oliver, 1993) An attribute analysis has higher diagnostic value than an overall analysis because each question is respective with each attribute (Griffin & Hauser, 1993) The overall satisfaction and attribute satisfaction is suitable in the hospitality and tourism industry (Hughes, 1991) Therefore, with the festival in particular, the festival satisfaction is “a sum

of the experiences the attendees had at the festival” (McDowall, 2011) or “overall festival value evaluated by the composite of quality dimensions” (Yoon et al., 2010)

In addition, there is a problem which may influence to the satisfaction, that is demographic factors such as gender, age, education and income (Mensah, 2013) For example, women tourists evaluate about overall satisfaction with the intangible factor higher than men tourists (Ekinci et al., 2003) The age is also an important factor influence to the overall satisfaction, (Terry & Israel, 2004) However, the age and the marital status do not influence perception of tourists about the overall satisfaction (MacKay & Fesenmaier, 1997) Therefore, gender, age or marital status in particularly or the demographic in generally is not important factor in the overall satisfaction (Schofield & Thompson, 2007)

2.3 Previous studies about festivalscape

To examine how festivalscape cues influence patron emotions, satisfaction, Lee et al (2008) gives seven dimensions representing, these are convenience, staff, information, program content, facilities, souvenirs, and food quality The results show that festival program content is strong in driving positive emotion and patron satisfaction Next is facility quality dimension and finally is food quality also influences positive although the effect is not much

Whereas Özdemir & Çulha (2009) suppose that the dimensions such as festival area, staff, food, souvenirs, information, and convenience may have an effect on the visitors’ satisfaction level So to identify positive perception of the dimensions that constitute festival performance, multivariate data analysis gave the results is the “festival area” dimension affects satisfaction more strongly than other cues Besides, author also concludes that other independent variables have indirect positive effects on visitors’ satisfaction, in addition, when each independent variable is eliminated in sequence, the result is occur positive effect directly on visitors’ satisfaction

Next, Yoon et al (2010) claims that except for informational service, all the quality dimensions such as program, souvenirs, food, and facilities were positively related to festival value, improved festival satisfaction indirectly In which, the festival program is the dimension most strongly associated with value, like previous study of Lee et al (2008), while souvenirs, food, and facilities also influenced but less than “Since festival value is a starting point in affecting satisfaction, these four quality dimensions are presumed to be major contributors to festival satisfaction” Yoon et al (2010)

Similarly, Grappi & Montanari (2011) state that environment of a festival keeps an important role in affecting visitors’ re-patronizing intention This study mentions six dimensions representing festivalscape cues: program content, staffs’ behaviors, places and atmosphere, information and facilities, hotel and restaurant offers, and souvenir availability The result shows that the program content of festival is the most important

places and atmosphere, hotel and restaurant offers, souvenir availability tend to affect the emotions Remaining, the information and facilities cue seem not affect

Finally, to identify factors related to the festivalscape that affect visitors’ satisfaction, Anil (2012) examines some variables such as the antecedents of the festival visitors’ satisfaction such as staff, festival area, food, souvenir, informational adequacy, and convenience Author finds three main dimensions impact to the festivalscape, these are the food, festival area and convenience In which food dimension is the strongest factor for visitors’ satisfaction, this is not in line with previous studies Other dimensions such as souvenir, staff, and informational adequacy, unexpectedly, do not influence the satisfaction The author explains that “the city and festival venue are small, more explicit information, guides and staff are either low or are regarded as unnecessary”

2.4 Research model

2.4.1 Hypothesis

From the theoretical background above with previous studies, to test the elements such as program content, staff, facility, food, souvenirs, convenience, information affect festival visitors’ satisfaction or not, this study poses following hypotheses as following:

Firstly, festival program content is strong in driving positive emotion and patron satisfaction (Lee et al., 2008) Like the claim of this research, the festival program is also stated that it is the dimension most strongly associated with value (Yoon et al., 2010) Therefore,

Hypothesis 1: There is a positive relationship between program content and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Hypothesis H1 is presented in Figure 2.2

Figure 2.2: Program content and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Secondly, it is supposes that staff is one of dimensions have an effect on the visitors’ satisfaction level (Özdemir & Çulha, 2009) Although effects are less pronounced than others, staff behavior also appears to affect hedonism as well as satisfaction of attendees’ festival (Grappi & Montanari, 2011) Consequently,

Hypothesis 2: There is a positive relationship between staff and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Hypothesis H2 is presented in Figure 2.3

Figure 2.3: Staff and festival visitors’ satisfaction

- Kind guides and staff

- Quick responsiveness on request

- Willingness to help

- Enough knowledge about the festival

- Courteous guides and staff

- Number of event guides and staff

H 2 +

VISITORS’ SATISFACTION

VISITORS’ SATISFACTION

Thirdly, facility quality is the second strong dimension which effect on satisfaction of tourist (Lee et al., 2008) The “festival area”, which is consisted of not only program content but also facility is dimension affects satisfaction more strongly than other cues (Özdemir & Çulha, 2009) As a result,

Hypothesis 3: There is a positive relationship between facility and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Hypothesis H3 is presented in Figure 2.4

Figure 2.4: Facility and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Fourthly, although the effect is not much, food quality also influences positive to the emotion of attendees’ festival (Lee et al., 2008) Specially, it is not in line with previous studies, food dimension is the strongest factor for visitors’ satisfaction at festival (Anil, 2012) Hence,

Hypothesis 4: There is a positive relationship between food and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Hypothesis H4 is presented in Figure 2.5

FACILITY

- Comfortable festival site

- Facilities of festival site

- Space/size of festival site

- Cleanness of festival site

- Atmosphere of festival site

- Layout of festival site

H 3 + VISITORS’

SATISFACTION

Figure 2.5: Food and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Fifthly, souvenir is one of elements have effect on satisfaction of tourists (Özdemir & Çulha, 2009) Moreover, it is also stated that souvenir is one of four quality dimensions which are presumed to be major contributors to festival satisfaction (Yoon et al., 2010) Accordingly,

Hypothesis 5: There is a positive relationship between souvenirs and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Hypothesis H5 is presented in Figure 2.6

Figure 2.6: Souvenirs and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Sixthly, convenience availability tend to affect the emotions of tourists (Grappi & Montanari, 2011) The convenience dimension which concludes convenient restrooms, adequate parking lots, and seating for events such as fashion shows, concerts, and resting directly has effect on satisfaction of tourists (Anil, 2012) Therefore,

VISITORS’ SATISFACTION

Hypothesis 6: There is a positive relationship between convenience and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Hypothesis H6 is presented in Figure 2.7

Figure 2.7: Convenience and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Last but not least, information is also one dimension of satisfaction were derived from the factors (Özdemir & Çulha, 2009) As a result,

Hypothesis 7: There is a positive relationship between information and festival visitors’ satisfaction

Hypothesis H7 is presented in Figure 2.8

Figure 2.8: Information and festival visitors’ satisfaction

2.4.2 Conceptual framework

Also from theoretical background as well as hypotheses were gave, this study proposes a conceptual framework (see in Figure 2.9) including seven factors affect the festival visitors’ satisfaction: program content, staff, facility, food, souvenir, convenience and information

Figure 2.9: Research model

In summary, after mentioning theories about festivalscape, satisfaction which basing on the previous studies, this study proposes that the visitors’ satisfaction at festival is positively affected by program content, staff, facility, food, souvenir, convenience and information Henceforth, this study develops a research model including seven hypotheses between the festivalscape factors and visitors’ satisfaction

STAFF FACILITY FOOD SOUVENIRS CONVENIENCE INFORMATION

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter was a research process including three main parts Firstly was item generation step Secondly was quantitative pilot study And finally was quantitative main study, this part included two small parts were the data collection with the sampling method and sample size, next it presented about the methods of data analysis

According to Tho (2012), the research process included three steps, was presented as in Figure 3.1

Item generation

Quantitative pilot study

Quantitative main study

Figure 3.1: Research process

Questionnaire

In-depth Interviews

Delete low item - total correlation item

Conclusions & Recommendation

s

Reliability Analysis

Exploratory Factor Analysis

Regression Analysis

Delete low factor loading item

3.1 Item generation step

Based on the theories, previous research at the literature reviews chapter and after refinement, this study gave a draft questionnaire with the measurement scales were selected and grouped to 7 groups/factors according to their characteristics, they included: program content, staff, facility, food, souvenir, convenience, information Next it was conducted interviews with in-depth interview method by 3 people who were tour guides of Saigontourist company and joined in many festivals in Vietnam, all of them had long experiences and much knowledge about quality of festivals They commented about this draft questionnaire Then, the revision was performed to get the final draft questionnaire

3.2 Quantitative pilot study

The aim was to modify and refined the measures, from the final draft questionnaire, it was continued to conduct the second time involved a focus small group of 10 people with the questionnaire This step was implemented with group discussion technique via the conversations with friends and colleagues who had chance to take part in many festivals

In this testing, the real research object was interviewed in the research crowd However, the purpose of these interviews did not collect the data, its purpose was to evaluate the questionnaire, for example:

 Do the research object understand rightly the question?

 Do they have the information?

 With questions in this questionnaire, do they supply the information?

 Do their information they supply is necessary?

And it was considered whether modifying or improving because the content of last question

in the questionnaire was “suggest the interviewer contribute their private ideas”

In this pilot study progress, some comments were recorded as following:

 In order to have a complete questionnaires for the factors affecting the satisfaction of tourists, this research consulted some references related to this topic According to (Lee

et al., 2008), the “Program content” factor contained 6 elements: Performance program, Experiential program, Interesting festival, Variety of events, Interpretation program, Well organized management and operation and Exhibition program But the meaning

of the “Exhibition program” was the same as “Variety of events”, so it was eliminated Besides, the objects for prospecting were domestic tourists so the element

“Interpretation program” was unnecessary for this research

 The “Staff” factor in the study of Lee et al (2008) included 6 items which mentioned about the attitude of the staff at festivals: Kind guides and staff, Quick responsiveness

on request, Willingness to help, Courteous guides and staff, and Number of event guides and staff, but in this research, the “Courteous guides and staff” was deleted because it was divided into two elements which was more detailed, one mentions about the kindness and the other was about the willingness of the staff in Vietnam festivals

 For items of the “Facility” factor, the item about the comfort and the layout of festival site should be deleted in this research because their content was inside the content of

“Space/size of festival site” Therefore, the rest of this factor were: Facilities of festival site, Space/size of festival site, Cleanness of festival site and Atmosphere of festival site

 The “Food” factor in this research was agreed with (Lee et al., 2008) because all of them were necessary to clarify the satisfaction of domestic tourists In other words, this factor included four items: Quality of food, Price of food, Available traditional food and Variety of foods

 It was reasonable that the “Souvenirs” factor was assessed on three criteria: variety, quality and price

 The “Convenience” dimension was measure by basing on three elements: restroom, parking lot and rest area

 In “Information” factor, signboards and pamphlets were two elements which be used in the questionnaire

After modifying in this second time, this research had a final questionnaire with 29 items were selected, which was sufficient, obvious and ready for the main interviews All of these items were categorized in 7 groups/factors according to their characteristics were shown in Table 3.1

Table 3.1: Factors and items summary

Program

content

1 Performance program

Lee et al (2008) Yoon et al (2010) Grappi & Montanari (2011)

2 Space/size of festival site

3 Cleanness of festival site

4 Atmosphere of festival site

Food

1 Quality of food

Lee et al (2008) Özdemir & Çulha (2009) Yoon et al (2010) Anil (2012)

2 Quality of souvenirs

3 Price of souvenirs

Convenience

Yoon et al (2010) Anil (2012)

2 Parking lot

3 Rest area

Information 1 Installed signboards Lee et al (2008)

Özdemir & Çulha (2009)

2 Prepared pamphlets

Satisfaction

1 I feel very good with this festival Lee et al (2008)

Özdemir & Çulha (2009) Yoon et al (2010) Grappi & Montanari (2011)

Anil (2012) Mensah (2013)

2 I am satisfied with my decision to visit this festival

3 Overall, I am satisfied with this festival

3.3 Quantitative main study

The final questionnaire was sent to the real research object and conducting survey After interviewing, the questionnaire needed be edited the error data to increase their quality The questionnaires after editing steps was called completed questionnaire These completed questionnaires contained interviewed data at this time, was ready for data entry, summarizing and analyzing

3.3.1 Data collection

3.3.1.1 Sample size

This study applied the EFA analysis to test the validity and the multiple regression analysis

to test model and hypotheses, so in each case, needed to have enough the sample size to analyze

 For factor analysis, Bollen (1989) gives the way to identify sample size n with formula

n > 5 * number of questions in questionnaires This study includes 32 questions, so the minimum sample size n for factor analysis is

n > 5 * 29 questions = 145 samples

 For multiple regression, Tabachnick & Fidell (1991) give the way to identify sample size n with formula

n > 50 + 8 * k (which k is number of independent variables) This study has 7 independent variables, so the minimum sample size n for multiple regression is

n > 50 + 8 * 7 variables = 106 samples With principle, the bigger samples is better, so the minimum samples is chosen for this study is n ≥ 145 because in this case, the sample size is suitable for Exploratory Factor Analysis is also suitable for multiple regression analysis

3.3.1.2 Sampling method

The topic of this study was testing the factors impact to the satisfaction of the visitors who joined festivals in Vietnam, so the data source was used to in this research must be primary data source

This study was a quantitative study so there were carried out surveys with direct method

by face-to-face interview and indirect method by the online survey via the internet

Each one who was interviewed was asked to complete a questionnaire The questions were focus on factors influencing the satisfaction of the festival visitors as well as would be asked to rate in their order of importance of the factors that mentioned above and derived from literature And the items were applied interval scale with five - point of Likert scale including (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) neutral, (4) agree and (5) strongly agree

As mentioned, the surveyed objects were tourists attended the festivals of Vietnam such as Hue Festival, Da Lat Flower Festival, Nha Trang Sea Festival, Ha Long Tourism Festival,

Da Nang International Fireworks Festival and some other festivals

Therefore, to have the wide coverage and high representative, the convenience sampling

categorize 6 groups, including the group of visitors attended the Hue Festival, the group of visitors attended the Da Lat Flower Festival, the group of visitors attended the Nha Trang Sea Festival, the group of visitors attended the Ha Long Tourism Festival, the group of visitors attended Da Nang International Fireworks Festival and finally, the group of visitors attended the other festivals Next, the number of samples which was selected from each group was equal or had a difference not greater than 40% Besides, it must satisfy the condition that the total of selected samples from 6 groups was equal or greater than 145 as discussed above

3.3.2 Methods of data analysis

3.3.2.1 Reliability measure by Cronbach’s Alpha analysis

Firstly, it was conducted to test the reliability analysis to reject the low item-total correlation items (Tho, 2007) These items were not appropriate items as well as junk items

in the research process and the reliability of measuring scales evaluation

To test the reliability of measuring scales, the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient was used to evaluate The Cronbach’s Alpha value of each factor was equal or greater than 7 which was reliable while any item had the corrected item - total correlation value which was less than 3 was deleted (Leech et al., 2005)

3.3.2.2 Validity measure by EFA

Next, the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) method was implemented to test the validity

of each factor by rejecting low factor loading item (Tho, 2007)

To test the validity of measuring scales, the EFA method was used to evaluate In this research, there were seven factors affecting on visitors’ satisfaction at festival, EFA was used to create factors for each of the seven factors related Besides, EFA indicated factors

which were closely correlated to festival visitors’ satisfaction According to Leech et al (2005), the factor analysis progress was performed as following:

a) System of testing for EFA

 Testing the validity of EFA

The KMO value is equal or greater than 5, and certainly less than 1

 Testing the correlation of observed variables in represent measurement scales

The Bartlett’s test of sphericity has statistically significant p less than 05

 Testing the explained level of observed variables

b) Testing the result of EFA model

 Factor loading criteria should be 55 to ensure a practical significance

 Review whether the featured items of factors which were rearranged was different from the theory model at first or not

3.3.2.3 Multiple regression analysis

Finally, the hypotheses of study was tested as well as the relationship between variables in model through the multiple regression analysis was explored The multiple regression analysis was used to provide information on the accuracy about predictions, tested how well the regression model fits the collected data, determined the variation in the dependent variable explained the independent variables and tested hypotheses on the regression equation

The multiple regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relationship between seven independent variables which were “program content”, “staff”, “facility”, “food”,

“souvenirs”, “convenience” and “information” and a dependent variable was “festival visitors’ satisfaction” According to Leech et al (2005), the multiple regression analysis

a) Testing the fit level of model

 Assumption 1: No significant outliers or influential points

It had 3 signal to recognize the outliers or influential points

 Outlier: Standardized Residual is greater than ±3 SDs

 Leverage points: < 2 is safe; from 2 to 5 is risky; 5 or more is dangerous

 Influential points: Cook’s Distance >1

 Assumption 2: Independence of residuals (errors):

 The explained level of model: R is the multiple correlation coefficient R can range in value from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating that the predicted values are more closely correlated to the dependent variable (i.e., the greater the value

of R, the better the independent variables are at predicting the dependent variable)

R2 is the coefficient of determination, present the proportion of variance in the dependent variable that can be explained by the independent variables

 The fit level: tests whether the regression model is a good fit for the data

 Assumption 3: No multicollinearity: Inspect the correlation coefficients

 Inspect the correlation coefficients: If the correlation which is between independent variables is less than 7, it has no multicollinearity

 Inspect the Tolerance/VIF values: If the Tolerance value is less than 1, or the VIF value is greater than 10, it has multicollinearity

 Assumption 4: Homoscedasticity of residuals (equal error variances)

 Assumption 5: Residuals (errors) are normally distributed

b) Testing regression coefficient

In the “Coefficients” table, if any independent variable had Sig less than 05, it had significant correlation with dependent variable and otherwise, if any independent variable had Sig greater than 05, it had no significant correlation with dependent variable

In summary, this chapter introduced about the research methodology including research process, data collection progress and the methods of data analysis such as reliability measure by Cronbach’s Alpha analysis, validity measure by EFA and multiple regression analysis These discussed contents would be applied for data analysis and the results were presented in next chapter

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS

To clarify this research issue, the main purpose of this chapter was to analyze the data Firstly, this chapter analyzed the data collected from the respondents who had done the survey Secondly, it described the statistics in detail The next parts were reliability analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis And finally, this chapter clearly showed the regression analysis between “factors of festivalscape” and “the visitors’ satisfaction”

4.1 Data collection

4.1.1 Filter the data

The total of number collected from the respondents was 173 cases All these cases were checked again, there were 1 case of blank sheets, 2 case did not fill in part 1, 4 cases did not fill in the part 3 which is general information part, 3 cases only chose with number 1

or 5, 1 case is under 18 years old but graduate university After rejecting the unreasonable cases, the number of sample size remained was 162, satisfied the condition with the minimum sample size was 145 which mentioned in the data collection part In these 162 answers, each case was marked by a reference number on it to find easily

Table 4.1: Coding the items of festivalscape factors

Program content

PRO1 Performance program PRO2 Experiential program PRO3 Interesting festival PRO4 Variety of events PRO5 Well organized management and operation

Staff

STA1 Kind guides and staff STA2 Quick responsiveness on request STA3 Willingness to help

STA4 Enough knowledge about the festival STA5 Number of event guides and staff

Facility

FAC1 Facilities of festival site FAC2 Space/size of festival site FAC3 Cleanness of festival site FAC4 Atmosphere of festival site

Food

FOO1 Quality of food FOO2 Price of food FOO3 Available traditional food FOO4 Variety of foods

Souvenirs

SOU1 Variety of souvenirs SOU2 Quality of souvenirs SOU3 Price of souvenirs

Convenience

CON1 Restroom CON2 Parking lot CON3 Rest area

Information INF1 Installed signboards

INF2 Prepared pamphlets

Satisfaction

SAT1 I feel very good with this festival

SAT2 I am satisfied with my decision to visit this festival SAT3 Overall, I am satisfied with this festival

Table 4.2: The profile of respondents

Characteristics of respondents Frequency Valid % Cumulative %

3 Da Nang International Fireworks

4.3 Reliability analysis

In the Table 4.3, all components had Cronbach’s Alpha were greater than 7, except the

“Information” component had Cronbach’s Alpha was 543 which was less than 7, so it was conducted to remove the “Information” component including 2 items are INF1 and INF2 Besides, all the corrected item - total correlation value of each item was greater than 3, so

no more item needed to remove

Table 4.3: Reliability statistics

Scale Mean

if Item Deleted

Scale Variance

if Item Deleted

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Cronbach’s Alpha if Item Deleted Cronbach’s Alpha of “Program content” component = 862

Cronbach’s Alpha of “Staff” component = 752

STA2 Quick responsiveness on

STA4 Enough knowledge

STA5 Number of event guides

Cronbach’s Alpha of “Facility” component = 831

FAC1 Facilities of festival site 11.980 3.434 709 763 FAC2 Space/size of festival site 12.170 3.630 632 799 FAC3 Cleanness of festival site 12.250 3.889 603 810 FAC4 Atmosphere of festival

Cronbach’s Alpha of “Food” component = 790

FOO3 Available traditional

Cronbach’s Alpha of “Souvenirs” component = 704