An Investigation of Residents’ Perceptions of Positive Festival Impacts, Community Attachment and Well-being: A Study on the Jameson Festival, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

The aim of this study is to investigate perceived festival impacts and their relationships to community attachment and well-being from residents’ point of view. Through the integration of the Social Exchange (SET) and affect Theories, a conceptual model to test the relationships is developed. The above mentioned relationships are tested through information gathered from residents who have attended the Jameson Festival in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls town is the host community of the event hence a convenience sampling method was used to collect data on the relationships. Data is analyzed via SPSS 21. Results show that festivals foster social community cohesion and community attachment which increase residents’ well-being. Specifically, results indicate that positive perceived impacts (benefit:-community cohesion) led to community attachment and residents’ well-being. Community attachment acts as a mediator between festival impacts (e.g., community cohesiveness) and residents’ well-being. However, the relationship between festivals impact in the form of cultural preservation was not significant. In line with the SET and Affect theories, findings reveal that community attachment is a mediator between positive festival impacts and residents’ well-being. That is, when residents perceive positive festival impacts they become more attached to their community which in turn enhances their well-being. The theoretical implications of the study lie mainly on the introduction of a new theory to the festival body of studies and the study’ findings shed light and direction on practical implications and future directions for festival organizers and scholars.