Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The performance of satisfaction
Performative approaches are predicated on the 'social' aspects of experiences, the co-production
perspective. Drawing on the work of Goffman (1959) and the idea that social life can be likened
to drama, performative approaches acknowledge that tourist experiences are carried out upon
particular stages or settings. Edensor (2001) notes these settings are distinguished by bounded-
ness, whether physical or symbolic, and although these do not determine the kinds of perfor-
mance which occur, they provide and sustain common-sense understandings about what
activities should take place. Within these settings we acquire the competence to reproduce rec-
ognizable performative conventions (Goffman 1959) and hence a key component of performa-
tive approaches is the concept of 'roles'. Rather than tourists holding expectations merely of the
product, Goossens (2000) suggests they also have expectations of the 'role' they anticipate per-
forming; an 'enactive imagery', which is described as 'a kind of imagined action or role play . . .
an anticipating and motivating force that mediates emotional experiences, affective appraisals,
evaluations, and behavioural intentions' (2000: 308). Bowen (2001a) found the performance of
the individual was deemed more important than that of the product to long-haul passengers.
Similarly Gyimothy's (2000) study of island visitors suggested that people interpret events
according to the role perspective in which they identify themselves and, furthermore, that service
providers were assessed according to the supporting or adversary role they occupied in tourists'
personal discourses.
Another element is the concept of scripts. These are not rigid rules that limit behaviour but
a set of guiding principles. Scripts denote what 'should' happen in the enactment of any
performance: the form that the drama should take, what should be seen, what should be done
and what actions are inappropriate (Edensor 2001). On a similar note MacCannell (1999: 25)
argues 'each production (of tourism) is assembled from available cultural elements and it remains
somewhat faithful to the other cultural models for the same experience'. Tourists may hold
expectations of the overall script and as George and Mekoth (2004) found in a study of
international tourists to India, an important source of dissatisfaction was when the expected
scripts and events could not be observed. Unscripted events were similarly found to be a cause
for complaint. According to Shoemaker (1996) satisfaction can best be achieved when companies
possess an understanding of their customers' scripts.
Performative approaches recognize that tourists produce the experience through the practice
of tourism and a degree of 'work' is involved for the experience to be realized. Tourism work is
seen 'not in terms of paid employment but in the form of the organized purposeful activities
which are part of tourism' (Brown 2007: 365). Yet, 'work' may also be undertaken by tourists in
how experiences and activities are evaluated. Kennedy (2005) argues that there is a societal
obligation to provide an assessment of the on-going experience, and Bowen (2001) found
evaluations were made throughout the experience and with 'unanticipated frequency' (2001: 55).
Evaluative work may therefore form a crucial part of the overall 'work' of 'being a tourist'. In this
case, satisfaction is not simply realized, it is 'worked at' and actively achieved within the overall
process and performance of being a tourist.
Performative approaches are useful in that they simultaneously acknowledge the importance
of the context of the experience, the 'role' of the individual, the 'role' of others, and the role that
both play in the overall production of the experience. It is possible therefore to understand
satisfaction from a performative approach not as an outcome of the evaluation of an experience
but as a performance enacted in the role of a tourist. Each experience is produced and reproduced
in an ongoing interactive process and the success of the performance is determined according to
the skill of the actors (Edensor 2001). In the co-constructed and interactional setting where
