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THE ROLE OF RESOURCE INTEGRATION IN THE CONTEXT OF FESTIVALS. TOWARD AN INTEGRATED FRAMEWORK OF FESTIVALSCAPE AND VALUE CO-CREATION

In order to fill the gaps arisen from literature, the work seeks to classify and detect the main dimensions of festivalscape and value co-creation through the elaboration and consequent validation of a research model employing Churchill’s (1979) methodology, which has been introduced for marketing concepts measurement. So, according to this methodological procedure, and also with Kline’s (2005) framework, all the constructs (festivalscape, value co-creation and resource integration) will be measured with multiple items to account for the complexity of the phenomena in question and to increase the item validity and reliability. This methodological approach selected, in fact, is adequate to guarantee the proper semantic coverage of the immaterial marketing variables, which include –as previously mentioned- psychological, social and behavioural features. In particular, three steps will be performed:1. Specifying the construct domain and elaborating measurement items: after an in-depth literature review on festivalscape and value co-creation (aimed at assessing previous measurements and categorizations of the constructs), a first list of measurement items will be created. Then, to ensure content validity and purify the scale, the preliminary list of items can be administered to a panel of experts (familiar with festival management and service science), whose task can be to evaluate the significance of each item and its relevance to the corresponding dimension. As a result, a given number of items will be deleted and others will be reworded for clarity in order to obtain a final list;2. Data collection and factor analysis: based on the items elaborated in the first stage, a survey can be elaborated and then administered to a sample of festival tourists. This first dataset can be analysed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to reveal festivalscape and value co-creation latent variables and purify the measurement items. Then, according to the procedure recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988), a second data collection can be performed and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) can be used to estimate the measurement model. 3. Structural equation modelling: In the last phase, on the basis of confirmatory factor analysis, a structure model can be assessed and the hypothetical relationships among all of the variables can be identified. Structural equation modelling is commonly adopted in the tourism marketing literature in general (Del Bosque and San Martín, 2008; Lee et al., 2004; Nowacki, 2009) and in festivalscape literature (Lee et al., 2008; Mason and Paggiaro, 2012; Quintal et al., 2015). This technique permits researchers to statistically prove multiple relationships among variables that are measured with multiple items. The elaboration of an integrated framework of festivalscape and value co-creation enhances the understanding of festivals in general and involves some significant advancements for service research as a whole by overcoming a mere theoretical approach to the study of value co-creation and S-D logic.In addition, the combined approach herein proposed moves from a structural perspective (in which festivals are considered only as a set of tangible elements) to a more all-encompassing vision that includes the evaluation of relational, social and cultural dimensions in tourism experience and applies the construct of festivalscape, particularly relevant in recent tourism research, to a key concept of contemporary service science such as value co-creation.