Events and Well-being

Allan Stewart Jepson, Trudie Walters

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000393835
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Business

This book is the first to take an in-depth examination of events and well-being, adopting a much-needed critical approach to the study of events. It uses empirical case studies to help us better understand how events foster positive well-being or counter negative well-being for event organisers, participants, spectators, volunteers and even non-attending local residents.

While researchers have long understood socialisation as the major motivation to attend contemporary festivals and events, it is only just being acknowledged that well-being is also a key motivator. Those researching in the field of event studies are yet to clearly articulate "the how, why, where, and impacts of socialisation." This multidisciplinary book draws together empirical research across a range of event types and sizes, from music festivals to mega sports events, to provide a nuanced understanding of their contribution to the well-being of individuals and communities. Case studies are drawn from around the world and apply a diverse range of theoretical lenses to the conceptualisation of well-being as it applies to events and methodologies used to achieve research aims and objectives.

This significant volume will be valuable reading for students and academics in the fields of sport studies, critical event studies, queer studies, cultural studies, tourism, music, sociology and end-of-life studies.

1
Conceptualising the intersections of events and well-being

Allan Stewart Jepson and Trudie Walters

Introduction

In developing this book, we ran the risk of being seen to ‘jump on the well-being bandwagon’, as the interest in well-being has increased across a diverse range of discipline areas in recent years such as music and the arts (see, e.g. Packer & Ballantyne, 2011), sport (Lee, Cornwell & Babiak, 2012), tourism (Smith & Diekmann, 2017), economics (McDaid & Cooper, 2014), interior architecture (Smith, Metcalfe & Lommerse, 2012) and of course the health sciences, including psychology (Jetten, Haslam & Haslam, 2012). However, the foundations of this book were laid through doctoral study (Jepson, 2009) that investigated the non-inclusiveness of local communities within festival planning processes through hegemonic relationships. More recent origins thought lie in our previous edited volume, Marginalisation and Events (Walters & Jepson, 2019), as many of the contributors made explicit links between events and concepts such as quality of life, identity, community cohesion, empowerment, resistance and transformation for the marginalised groups and communities whose stories were being told. We concluded that events could indeed help resist or overcome marginalisation and thus contribute to well-being. The idea for Events and Well-being was born.

Again, our aim for this volume was to bring together a multidisciplinary collection of work with robust primary data and analysis, which applied a critical approach to events as they relate to well-being that delved deeper and made use of a range of different theoretical and methodological approaches to provide a nuanced understanding of the intersection of events and well-being. The contributing authors have engaged with these themes enthusiastically and critically, and this book will appeal to both emerging and established scholars working in a range of discipline areas and fields of study – from sport to critical event studies, from queer studies to cultural studies and from end-of-life to music. Our edited collection also holds value for industry practitioners, with many insightful recommendations to foster well-being provided throughout the chapters.

This first chapter seeks to help the reader conceptualise the intersections of events and well-being and begins with a definition of ‘well-being’. This provides the necessary context for an examination of events and the ways in which they may engage with well-being, and the chapter then draws out the contributions of subsequent chapters.

What do we understand by ‘well-being’?

There are multiple ways to understand and interpret the term ‘well-being’ including physical, psychological and physiological (Packer & Ballantyne, 2011; Dunn, 2014; Stebbins, 2018), but the chapters in this volume mirror the existing work in critical event studies and almost unanimously utilise subjective well-being as the most appropriate measurement of the intersection of events and well-being (Packer & Ballantyne, 2011; Jepson, Stadler & Spencer, 2019). Yang (2008, p. 204) defines subjective well-being as ‘a state of stable, global judgement of life quality and the degree to which people evaluate the overall quality of their lives positively’, and it thus relies on how an individual perceives and evaluates their life (Diener, 1984). Perhaps unsurprisingly, satisfaction with life, overall happiness, and enjoying one’s work (if employed) all contribute to a higher level of well-being, whereas stress, anxiety and depression are associated with lower levels of well-being (Steger et al., 2006). Davidson and Cotter (1991) consider subjective well-being to be comprised of three components: positive affects (such as feelings of happiness, excitement, being pleased and cheerfulness), negative affects (including being free of sadness, guilt, anger and excessive worry) and perceived efficacy or being able to handle one’s life.

Well-being thus encompasses physical, physiological, sociological and psychological elements. An important message of warning is emerging in the 21st century, one to which researchers in the fields of tourism, hospitality and events have largely been apathetic: that sociological and psychological well-being are inseparable and crucial to our happiness and our survival. Research has demonstrated that social relationships are as important to mortality as quitting smoking, keeping within body mass index (BMI), lowering blood pressure and keeping physically active (Holt-Lunstad, Smith & Layton, 2010). Further empirical studies suggest that one increases their life expectancy by up to 50% if adequate social relationships are in place (House, Umberson & Landis, 1988). Researchers within contemporary leisure industries such as tourism, hospitality and events are well placed to conduct research into understanding the intricacies and importance of the experiences that these industries create and the impact upon human sociological, physiological and psychological health and well-being.

Within events studies, there is a growing base of literature seeking to better understand how events can enhance well-being (Clift & Hancox, 2010; Bosnjak et al., 2016; Armbrecht & Andersson, 2019), through solicited emotions (Wood & Moss, 2015), or emotional togetherness (Wood & Dashper, 2020). Research in well-being has focused upon subjective inquiry such as human needs, human growth and flourishing (Seligman, 2011) and hedonic and eudemonic experiences (Voigt, Howat & Brown, 2010). It has also been explored in more specific contexts such as well-being in the over 70s (Stadler, Jepson & Wood, 2020; Jepson, 2019; Wood, Jepson & Stadler, 2018) within families (Jepson, Stadler & Spencer, 2019; Stadler & Jepson, 2018) or to understand how positive power relationships within communities can leverage well-being by creating more inclusive events and thus de-marginalising communities (Walters, Stadler & Jepson, forthcoming).

While researchers have long understood socialisation as the major motivation to attend contemporary festivals and events, it is only just being acknowledged that well-being is also a key motivator (Weinberg & Joseph, 2017). Researchers in the field of event studies are yet to clearly articulate ‘the how, why, where, and impacts of socialisation’. If these aspects are understood, they are only from a neurotypical audience, so there are clear opportunities for researchers to understand how important events might be for neurodiverse audiences, or those with complex health conditions.

Events and well-being

In recent years, several event studies scholars have investigated the intersection of subjective well-being and event attendance and participation, whether explicitly or more obliquely using terms such as ‘quality of life’ or ‘life satisfaction’. This research includes work on aspects of well-being for refugee and ethnic minority migrants (Hassanli, Walters & Friedmann, 2019; Hassanli, Walters & Williamson, 2020; Walters & Venkatachalam, forthcoming), families (Jepson & Stadler, 2017), residents and communities (see, e.g. Gibson & Connell, 2015; Yolal et al., 2016; Walters, 2019), charity sporting event participants (Filo & Coghlan, 2016) and young people (Packer & Ballantyne, 2011).

A common thread throughout these studies is that events contribute to attendees’ quality of life and, therefore, facilitate a sense of well-being through their very nature as fora for social connection that draw like-minded people together (Derrett, 2003). This may be due to the resultant affirmation of community identity and values, the fostering of social cohesion or the boosting of resilience in a difficult time (Derrett, 2009; Jepson & Clarke, 2013; Gibson & Connell, 2015; de Brito & Richards, 2017; Jepson & Stadler, 2017; Duffy & Mair, 2018; Walters, 2019). In a music festival context, in addition to actively celebrating music with other event attendees, the shared experience of interacting and engaging with the performers is an important well-being contributor (Packer & Ballantyne, 2011). Cultural events allow participants a freedom to be themselves and to share their culture with a wider audience in a safe environment, creating a sense of community that does not exist to the same extent in their everyday lives (Hassanli, Walters & Friedmann, 2019; Hassanli, Walters & Williamson, 2020; Walters & Venkatachalam, forthcoming).

Therefore, we argue here that multidisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary research design should be embedded into all future events studies where understanding event experience and well-being is a key research outcome alongside being part of the critical event studies movement. Psychology, sociology and marketing domains remain the key to unlocking a better understanding of festival and event experiences, memories and with it a clearer understanding of how best to leverage impacts, which ensure we continue to maintain our positive sociological, physiological and psychological well-being.

The chapters in this volume have an explicit focus on the intersection of events and well-being, and as such, they provide a nuanced understanding of how and when events may contribute to well-being for attendees. Furthermore, they cover a diverse range of event types and sizes, and stakeholder groups including event organisers, event participants, volunteers, event spectators and even local residents who did not attend the event(s). Some chapters have adopted what we may consider a ‘deficit approach’ whereby events are found to be a means of addressing a well-being gap or lack. Others have taken an ‘enhancement approach’ where the events contribute to improving well-being in some way. As such, we have divided the book into two parts based on these broad themes: (1) events and fostering positive well-being and (2) events and countering negative well-being.

Part I: events and fostering positive well-being

The first four chapters in this theme seek to investigate the value of sports events in fostering positive well-being. Certainly, the physical well-being benefits of sports participation are self-evident: reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes and other chronic conditions, improved muscle and bone health and weight control, amongst others. These benefits have also been extrapolated to sport event participation and attendance, which are said to lead to increased physical activity (through events with sport stars functioning as inspiration). Subjective well-being is also held to result from sport event participation through instilling, for example, feelings of national pride. However, findings from existing research have not been conclusive, and it is therefore unclear whether sport events improve subjective well-being, how long such outcomes may last, or through which mechanisms these outcomes are possible. The four chapters leading Part I all attempt to address these issues with a focus on community.

In Chapter 2, Bodin, Rocha and Taks use the 2016 Rio Olympic Games as a case study to interrogate the subjective well-being and social experiences of non-attendee host country residents, as justifications for hosting sport mega-events are often based on their supposed ability to generate positive social outcomes for the residents of the host country. Their research uses a multi-item measure to investigate social impact experiences as potential mechanisms for subjective well-being for residents of Brazil during and six months after the Games were held. They find that evaluations of subjective well-being do not change between the two points in time, and thus they conclude that there is little support for the assertion that hosting the Olympic Games can change subjective well-being for residents who do not attend the event.

Batty (Chapter 3) likewise begins by discussing the more obvious physical-health outcomes of participation in sport events noted earlier, as well as the more intangible psychological well-being outcomes (such as collective identity, sense of belonging) – but notes that both are context-specific and depend on the type of engagement. Her chapter presents an exploration of the role of sport events (specifically a professional baseball tournament) in creating well-being outcomes for the community in which the home team is based, and how such events might be leveraged to facilitate maximum benefit.

The 2019 Pacific Games held in Samoa is the focus of Pratt, Rika and Sharma’s contribution (Chapter 4). They start by providing an extensive list of economic and socio-cultural benefits that sport events can bring to a destination: some (such as increased sense of community pride and social cohesion) are associated with improved subjective well-being. They survey Samoan residents who attend the Games to assess whether attendance motivates them to live a healthier and more environmentally sustainable lifestyle – and find that, in general, it does, although further work is needed in the form of a follow-up survey to determine how long-lasting these well-being benefits are.

In Chapter 5, Goh, Sabharwal and Thirumaran do find significant flow-on well-being effects of a sports event – even for residents of a non-host city. Their fascinating research on the impacts of a Singaporean swimmer winning the country’s first-ever gold medal, in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, stands in sharp contrast to the lack of subjective well-being benefits for non-attendee residents during and after the same event presented by Bodin, Rocha and Taks earlier. In so doing, it supports Batty’s contention that well-being outcomes of sport events are context-specific. Using netnography, themes are extracted using the PERMA framework, and quotes are used to clearly illustrate each point. They identify long-lasting meaning, accomplishment and identity as a result of the Olympic win, even four years after the event, and thus conclude that these well-being o...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• 1 Conceptualising the intersections of events and well-being
• Part I Events and fostering positive well-being
• Part II Events and countering negative well-being
• Index