Exploring the Relationship between Festivalgoers’ Personal Values and their Perceptions of the Non-urban Blended Festivalscape: An Australian Study

The purpose of this exploratory study was to ratify empirically the relationship between festivalgoers’ personal values and their perceptions of the natural and social aspects of the festival environment. Personal values, such as the need to be self-fulfilled or the need for fun and enjoyment, are known to affect decisions about what people do. In the case of this research, we were interested in ascertaining the impact of festivalgoers’ personal values and their subsequent evaluation of a non-urban festivals natural (naturescape) and social (socialscape) settings. The quantitative study was set in Australia and presents the results of an exploratory study (n = 50) of the perceptions of Woodford Folk Festival past festivalgoers. Drawing from and adapting existing scales, the results of our online survey found that there is a significant relationship between personal values of festivalgoers and their perceptions of naturescape and socialscape. Thus, the value of our study is that it confirms the intuitive link between the personal values and the evaluations of festivalgoers of the festival experience. This provides evidence and insight for festival managers in terms of informing their design and development of non-urban festival environments