| dc.description.abstract | Understanding and motivating/encouraging greener behaviour can be a complex and difficult task. This is especially due to the unpredictability associated with individuals’ behaviour or, more specifically, the many aspects that influence individuals’ decision-making processes. In addition to this, and according to the literature, green initiatives by festival managers to reduce negative environmental impacts can be a slow process to initiate and develop. Furthermore, the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in festival managers focusing on recuperation strategies as their priority. However, in the wake of the many challenges that confront the events industry, one particular challenge that should also enjoy priority is the impact of these events on the environment. It is crucial that events more actively engage in greening initiatives. Developing and implementing programmes that consider greener alternatives and practices are necessary, as well as understanding and finding ways to motivate/encourage engagement in greener behaviour. This results in a greater likelihood that attendees will support green practices should they be implemented by the festival. The literature reveals that rewards programmes, in particular, are a promising means and an effective tool to encourage and/or trigger behavioural change or, more specifically, increase attendees’ inclination to support green practices should they be implemented at the festival. The goal of the study was to develop a green rewards programme framework for a South African arts festival, using a case study of the Vrystaat Arts Festival in the Free State Province. The goal was achieved by means of an extensive literature review on event greening, green consumer behaviour and green rewards programmes. The literature analysis set out to examine specifically the negative environmental impacts, barriers and motivators towards event greening and stakeholder engagement as well as green practices applicable to event greening and in the context of arts festivals (Objective 1). Furthermore, the literature analysis set out to contextualise the research problem by providing a better understanding of the concept green consumer behaviour and aspects (including rewards) that can motivate/encourage attendees to be greener in their behaviour at arts festivals (Objective 2). The study employed a mixed-method, explanatory sequential approach and a phenomenology with a case study approach to meet the objectives (2 and 3) and to develop a green rewards programme framework. The study was conducted in two phases. One phase consisted of a quantitative approach and the other of a qualitative approach. In 2019, Phase 1 of the data collection took place between 3-7 July. This quantitative phase explored the demand side to determine the extent to which attendees are inclined to support specific green practices should they be implemented at the Vrystaat Arts Festival. In addition, to determine the extent to which green rewards will motivate/encourage attendees to engage in greener behaviour at the Vrystaat Arts Festival by supporting these green practices (Objective 3). This entailed the distribution of self-administered questionnaires amongst attendees at the Vrystaat Arts Festival. A total of 408 usable questionnaires were collected and various multivariate techniques were used to analyse the data collected. In 2021, Phase 2 of the data collection was done (2-10 September). This qualitative phase explored the supply side to determine festival managers’ green awareness, attitude and behaviour towards the greening of their arts festival (Objective 4). This entailed interviews conducted online via the Zoom Cloud Meetings platform with four (4) key members of the festival management team of the Vrystaat Arts Festival. The key findings from the demand side indicated that attendees are more inclined to support green practices relating to Waste management, Energy management, Water management and Crowd and traffic management as opposed to green practices relating to Green transport should these be implemented at the festival. However, the findings from the supply side indicated that festival managers will be able to implement green practices relating to Waste management and Water management and will encounter challenges when it comes to implementing green practices relating to Green transport, Energy management and Crowd and traffic management at the festival. The findings further revealed that green rewards relating to Altruistic, Consumeristic/monetary and Free reward items to aid behaviour will motivate/encourage attendees to be greener in their behaviour and support the green practices should they be implemented at the festival as opposed to Egoistic rewards. On a positive note, festival managers agreed that offering rewards can increase the likelihood of attendees supporting green practices at their festival. Thus, they are open to the idea of offering their attendees green rewards relating to Consumeristic/monetary, Free reward items to aid green behaviour, Egoistic and Altruistic rewards. However, festival managers pointed out that challenges such as costs/expenses, limited/lack of funding, lack of support from stakeholders and attendees having mixed emotions will be major barriers towards implementing green practices and offering green rewards. Nonetheless, to handle these challenges, the funding, incentives and sustainability of the festival will motivate them to implement more green practices in the foreseeable future and offer green rewards at the festival for their attendees. The demand and supply side perspectives played a crucial role in developing the green rewards programme framework, as this will assist festival managers to identify the trends and changes in the needs of the market and to better understand attendees’ attitudes and preferences towards certain practices/initiatives and offerings (Objective 5). This information will assist the festival managers in adapting their management and marketing strategies accordingly and is vital for the future sustainability of festivals. | en_US |
