Volunteers' perceptions of impacts of the azalea festival do findings on resident perceptions of tourism impacts apply? /

by Bosley, Holly Elizabeth.

BOSLEY, HOLLY ELIZABETH. Volunteers’ Perceptions of Impacts of the Azalea Festival: Do Findings on Resident Perceptions of Tourism Impacts Apply? (Under the direction of Gene L. Brothers and Larry D. Gustke.) The purpose of this research was to investigate whether findings from the literature on resident perceptions of tourism impacts applied to festival volunteers as a specific subset of residents. Volunteers at festivals and special events play a particularly important role in the context of tourism because of their potential to perform effective internal marketing of the event or organization. Understanding motivations for volunteer involvement will improve recruitment and retention efforts. It was hypothesized that results from research on resident perceptions of tourism impacts would be applicable to a sample of festival volunteers. The following independent variables were analyzed with respect to volunteer perceptions of the impacts of the festival: distance from the tourist zone, length of residence, birthplace, and level of knowledge of the tourism industry. Data were collected from a sample of North Carolina Azalea Festival volunteers through an e-mail survey sent to committee chairs in addition to an on-site survey distributed at the annual postfestival Workers’ Party. Analyses, in the form of t-tests and a Pearson correlation, showed that volunteers’ perceptions of the impacts of the Azalea Festival were not consistent with the literature on resident perceptions of tourism impacts. Research on festivals and events has focused on economic impact and visitor motivations; further investigation of the role of the host community, including volunteer involvement, is needed.