SPMS Anne-Marie Lebrun –University of Burgundy USING FREE ASSOCIATION TO ANALYZE REPRESENTATIONS OF CITY BREAK FOR TWO GENERATIONAL COHORTS

Introduction  Urban tourism  One of the oldest forms of tourism  Many middle cities have undertaken to promote tourism  The French cities attempt to give a new image of themselves in their communication  Heritage image replaces modernist image of city Introduction

Introduction  Tourism activities  Belong to the public sphere  Are likely to be an object of representation socially developed and shared in the sense of Moscovici (1961)  Social representation (SR) used as a tool of analysis  SR contributes to the establishment of a common vision of reality in a social or cultural context (Jodelet, 1991) Introduction

Introduction  The current research :  fits completely into the psychosocial theory of Moscovici (1961),  compares social representations of a city break in Dijon for Generation X and baby boomers Introduction

Cohort segmentation  1 – The cohort refers to groups of individuals who are born during the same time period and who experienced similar external events during their training or coming-of-age years  1 – The cohort refers to groups of individuals who are born during the same time period and who experienced similar external events during their training or coming-of-age years (Meredith and Schewe, 1994; Ryder, 1965; Schewe and Noble, 2000).  Every cohort :  shares a common cultural perspective and norms (Noble and Schewe, 2003)  has collective memory (Schuman and Scott, 1989). Literature review

Cohort segmentation  Cohort analysis is useful in the tourism industry  some research studied cohorts’ effects on travel behavior (Jang and Ham, 2009; Opperman, 1995; Pennington-Gray et al, 2003; You and O’Leary, 2000; Bojanic, 2010).  different cohorts are attracted to different activities (Pennington-Gray et al, 2003).  Two active generations which represent substantial market segments for tourism destination: Baby boomers and Generation X Literature review

Cohort segmentation Baby boomers  2 – Baby boomers  Important generation => size and discretionary income  Internet savvy  Still active and continues to travel Generation X  3 – Generation X  Hallmark of this generation => Search for work/life balance  This generation grew up in an leisure environment => travel is recognized  Particularly active travelers,  the most free-spending of leisure travelers Literature review

Social Representation (SR) theory  1–Social representation as “common sense knowledge” (Moscovici, 1961)  Conceptual and methodological framework for studying socially shared object  Social representations are “social because they are shared by individuals and as such constitute a social reality which can influence individual behavior” (Jaspers and Fraser, 1984).  2 – Since the early work of Moscovici (1961), two main theoretical models of internal organization of social representations have been developed : Literature review

Social Representation (SR) theory  A– The theory of core (Abric, 1994)  Social Representation are composed of a central nucleus surrounded by peripheral elements  Nucleus elements include the most universal elements and are presumably more stable  Peripheral elements relate to the most contextual elements  B – The theory of organizing principles (Doise, 1985)  Broad categories structuring Social Representation Literature review

Aim of study SR Dijon city break Generation X SR Dijon city break Baby boomer Identify the content of the social representation “Dijon city break” Compare the social representations of two generations of tourists: baby boomers and Generation X Aim of study ?

Methodology  This study was conducted in 2008 and 2009 in a city based in France (Dijon)  Some 250 real tourists were surveyed by means of face- to-face interviews.  Sample :  50% men / 50% women  55% Generation X / 45% baby boomers  This research opted for the associative method and specially for free association :  As a tourist could you give us the first ten words that came to mind when you hear "Dijon city break” Method

Methodology  1 - Thematic analysis  250 tourists generate 950 citations  Thematic analysis retains 167 themes  2 – Social representation  This study retains 10% of the frequency threshold  This research retains 11 themes which represent 48% number of the total citations Method

Methodology : Phase 1  Two stages in the analysis of the social representations :  1 – Lexicometric analysis based on the importance of each theme in terms of average frequency and average ranks  2 – Internal organization of the representation studied by looking for the links of proximity  index of similarity based on Kendall’s coefficient of concordance  ascending hierarchical classification based on the method of Ward  lexicometric analysis (major category) Method Phase 1

Phase 1. Word rank and frequency Dijon City Break GENERATION X BABY BOOMER ElementsRankFrequencyRankFrequenc y COMMON REFERENTIAL Beautiful % % Dukes % % Cold % % Food % % The Owl % % Mustard % % Shopping % % Wine % % SPECIFIC ELEMENTS Nice % Architectu re % Burgundy % Results Phase 1

Phase 1. Lexicometric analysis (Abric, 2007; Vergès, 1992) High Frequency Low frequency Low Rank Zone 1 CENTRAL CORE Association rather widespread and cited first Zone 3 MIXED AREA (CONTRAST) Association rather infrequent and cited first High Rank Zone 2 FIRST PERIPHERY (SALIENT PERIPHERAL ELEMENTS) Association rather widespread and last quoted Zone 4 EXTREME PERIPHERY Association rather infrequent and and last quoted ResultsResults Phase 1

Phase 1. Lexicometric analysis Dijon city break High Frequency (≥ 21.00)Low frequency (< 21.00) Generation XBaby boomer Generation XBaby boomer Low Rank (≤2.00) Zone 1 Mustard Zone 1 Mustard Zone 3 Nice Food* Zone 3 Beautiful High Rank (>2.00) Zone 2 Wine The Owl Zone 2 Wine The Owl Dukes* Zone 4 Beautiful Shopping Cold * Burgundy Dukes * Zone 4 Food* Shopping Cold * Architecture * Analysis shows a significant difference for items that are not in the same area ResultsResults Phase 1

Phase 1. Lexicometric analysis Comparison  COMPARISON:  Central cores are the same  Peripheral systems are different  Baby boomer => Dukes (Close periphery)  Beautiful (Zone3)  Architecture (not cited by GenX)  Generation X => Food (Zone 3)  Burgundy (not cited by BB) ResultsResults Phase 1

Methodology : Phase 2  Two stages in the analysis of the social representations :  1 – Lexicometric analysis based on the importance of each theme in terms of average frequency and average ranks  2 – Internal organization of the representation studied by looking for the links of proximity  index of similarity based on Kendall’s coefficient of concordance  ascending hierarchical classification based on the method of Ward  lexicometric analysis (major category) Method Phase 2

Phase 2. The structuring of Social Representation of Dijon city break Gastronomy City Specificity (DIJON) Shopping City qualifier GENERATION X BABY BOOMER

Phase 2. The structuring of Social Representation of Dijon city GENERATION X BABY BOOMER Results Phase 2

Phase 2. The structuring of Social Representation of Dijon city  COMPARISON:  The four major categories based on common elements are identical  The structuring of the social representation of a city break in Dijon is the same for both generation ResultsResults Phase 2

Discussion  The most distinctive aspects which organize the SR  Architectural and historical aspect => Babyboomer  Consistent with previous research (Huang and Petrick, 2009; Pennington et al., 2009; Ministère tourisme Quebec, 2008).  Gastronomy => Generation X  Consistent with previous research (Ministère tourisme Quebec, 2008).  Shopping (big tourism activity) =>  Shopping (big tourism activity) => no difference between these two generations (like Pennington et al., 2009) Discussion

Conclusion and prospectives  Interest of the social representations as strategic tool  Cohort analysis can help in designing communication campaigns  Baby boomer => focus on historical aspect (Dukes), city tour (The Owl) and architectural appearance of the city  Generation X => focus on the tourist experience like gastronomy (Food, Wine, Burgundy)  Next stage : extend the study to other cities and other generations (Generation Y) Conclusion

Thank you for your attention SPMS Anne-Marie Lebrun –University of Burgundy