SUSTAINABILITY PRACTICES AND SATISFACTION AMONG EVENT ATTENDEES TOWARDS FOOD FESTIVALS IN SHAH ALAM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/AIJBES.829082Keywords:
Attendee Satisfaction, Environmental Impact, Event Management, Food Festivals, Sustainability Practices, Sustainable Event Planning, Recycling, Waste ReductionAbstract
Food festivals have emerged as one of the most culturally and socially prominent phenomena today. Such festivals offer ample scope for building community involvement and creating growth. Yet the growing interest and popularity of food festivals around the world raise doubts regarding their environmental, economic and social sustainability. In this regard, this research seeks to explore the relationship between sustainable practices, and the level of satisfaction among the audience members at the food festivals in Shah Alam, Malaysia. In the current situation, the rapid development of the practice of organising various food festivals, and its positive popularity have brought several challenges associated with the environmental, economic and social impacts of the festivals. Food festivals organisers need to adopt sustainable practices to solve problems related to plastic waste generation, food waste, energy consumptions and others. The population in terms of this research will be represented by adults who attend food festivals in Shah Alam; the target sample size of 384 participants. The research is going to be conducted using a quantitative, cross-sectional research design. Data were collected from respondents using close-ended questionnaires that were distributed on Google forms. 408ppp adults, aged eighteen years and above, were involved in this study and data were analysed using SPSS. The study adopted several hypotheses in testing the relationship between sustainable practices and attendee satisfaction. Findings from this study indicate that the level of attendee satisfaction depended on the application of sustainable practices. Attendees showed positive attitudes towards green practices including recycling and waste reduction. Factors such as demographic characteristics including the age and knowledge about sustainability were found to influence attendee experience. Reliability analysis was done to validate the effect of sustainability practices on the level of satisfaction. Areas that needed improvement in event planning were identified based on the results. This research adds to the knowledge base in event management through provision of recommendations that will assist event planners and policy makers improve sustainability and increase attendee satisfaction. Although the study is confined to the Shah Alam area, it may serve as a good foundation for future studies in other locations.
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