Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
treats its employees and in turn, the way the employee treats the guests' (cited by Ismert and
Petrick 2004). However, as discussed earlier, brand culture grows independently of the best
efforts of management. Seasonal snowsport workers are the lowest paid, least valued with the
greatest job insecurity - the inverse markers of high status work. Limited previous research
revealed a negative attitude towards ski area customers by seasonal workers, they were to be
tolerated but mocked behind their backs with a variety of derogatory terms used to describe
them (such as punter and billy) designed to reinforce the perception of higher status of the
seasonal worker (Ismert and Petrick 2004; Purdue 2004). This was contradicted by Duncan's later
work which found workers valued customers as without them there would be no lifestyle
available for the workers. Both fi ndings presented in the research lack an understanding of the
process leading to the attitude and behaviour.
This research seeks an alternative perspective to examine brand culture as understood by
these seasonal workers and the role they play in creating current brand culture for a destination
brand. The other aspect that makes seasonal ski workers an important group to study is their
traversing of traditional work/leisure boundaries. This blurring of boundaries between work and
leisure has been well documented in seasonal ski employment (Ismert and Petrick 2004; Boon
2006; Dickson and Huyton 2008; Duncan 2008) but the impact this has on the culture of
the brand has not been explored. These workers for the duration of their employment: wear
clothing festooned with the resort brand during work and leisure time; willingly spend most
of their leisure time at their place of employment; interact almost exclusively with their
co-workers in all aspects of their life for the duration of their employment - essentially they are
living branded lives.
The sociohistoric patterning of work and leisure as separate entities has been well documented
and there is signifi cant interest in the new merging of work and leisure. Specifi cally, this research
investigates how seasonal ski workers understand the brand culture of the place of their
employment and how this plays out in the blurring of traditional work/leisure boundaries.
Further to the sample justifi cation given earlier, seasonal ski workers were selected as a group to
study due to them being a cohesive group with a close relationship to the ski area destination
brand (they are employed by the owners of the brand and choose to spend their free time at
Cardrona Ski area and live in a small neighbouring village of Wanaka).
Methodology
An inductive approach was utilized, as this method allows for theory to emerge, appropriate to
the immaturity of this area of research. According to Patton's (2002) criteria, a qualitative mode
of inquiry is most appropriate for this research. Firstly, there is a lack of current empirical research
available, thus the constructs or predicted outcomes cannot be predetermined before data
collection. In addition personal understanding of brand meaning cannot be fully understood or
uncovered through a quantitative means (Guba and Lincoln 2005). A qualitative approach is
commensurate with the stated aims of understanding a phenomenon in greater detail to ascertain
meaning and depth (Sullivan 2001). The research was conducted at Cardrona Alpine Resort in
the South Island of New Zealand. The resort opens from late June to early October. It is relatively
small (790 acres of skiable terrain, seven lifts and an hourly lift capacity of 7,800 people per hour)
compared to American, Canadian and European resorts. For example, Whistler in Canada has
8,100 acres of skiable terrain, 38 lifts and an hourly lift capacity of 65,507 people per hour.
The management team at Cardrona were prepared to allow us access to their staff to recruit
informants during work hours but to hold in-depth interviews away from the work, thus
creating an environment more conducive to open and honest revelation of true attitude towards
