Editorial

Citation

Jago, L. (2010), "Editorial", International Journal of Event and Festival Management, Vol. 1 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijefm.2010.43401aaa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Event and Festival Management, Volume 1, Issue 1

The events industry, which supports a burgeoning range of business, sporting, cultural and celebratory events and festivals around the world, is a rapidly growing phenomenon. Events are an increasingly important part of the functioning of public, not-for-profit, charitable, private and corporate sectors. The benefits of events have largely been recognised as a means of stimulating economies, increasing tourism, developing community awareness, increasing public involvement, enhancing education and improving quality of life. Events are used by corporations as a means of generating revenue and marketing products with corporate sponsorships and partnerships being critically important for many events. Event management professionals, working with stakeholders, are required to plan, organise and manage events that are successful and sustainable.

There is also an increasing number of universities which offer undergraduate and postgraduate programs in event management. A range of event training programs have also been introduced into the vocational education sector. Since the mid-1990s, a substantial number of students have completed PhDs in the event field and this trend is likely to continue. The increased demand for event education mirrors the enormous growth in demand for tourism education in the 1990s.

The fact that the events industry has “come of age” is also reflected in the growing number of event agencies, both private and public sector that have been established around the world and in the large number of event focussed conferences that are now on offer. Whilst event management and event research were once offered as streams within mainstream tourism conferences, there are now many conferences that are entirely dedicated to event management and research.

As indicated above, the event industry has experienced rapid growth and many more people are now finding employment in this sector of the economy. Accompanying this growth is the need to professionalise and to ensure that high standards are maintained within the diverse field of events. In order to achieve this, it is essential that high quality research is conducted within the field of events and that the outcomes of this research are easily accessible to both researchers and practitioners. With the growth in the number of universities having an event education specialisation and the increased number of research centres with an events focus, there has been substantial growth in event related research that has been undertaken. As there are limited academic journals with an event specialisation, much of the event research that has been produced has been published across a diverse range of journal categories, which makes it difficult for event researchers and practitioners alike to easily access the growing body of knowledge in this field.

The International Journal of Event and Festival Management seeks to address this shortcoming by publishing high quality research and conceptual papers from a diverse range of disciplinary perspectives but with a strong focus on events. Theoretical and applied papers will be published across the full spectrum of the event field ranging from small festivals to mega events such as the Olympics and will also include business events (MICE). A well-credentialed Editorial Board has been assembled for the journal that will be expanded to incorporate additional expertise, particularly from developing countries where events are being seen as an important means of building the tourism industry. All manuscripts are subjected to a double blind peer review process and constructive feedback will be provided to all authors, irrespective of the outcome of the review.

As the field of events is highly practical, it is important that the practical outcomes of the papers published in the journal are identified and critiqued. To this end, a practitioner panel will examine, from a practitioner perspective, a selection of papers that are published in the journal and provide some commentary on their potential application. It is hoped that this will prompt researchers to more carefully consider the practical outcomes of their research in presenting their findings.

There has been a substantial growth in the incidence of software in the field of events to help operationalise events and to facilitate event education. As such software is important for both academics and practitioners, reviews of event related software will be undertaken and presented from time-to-time in the journal. Professor Michael McGrath will coordinate the reviews of software and other technology used in support of the event sector.

It is intended that there be one special issue of the journal in each volume and that these special issues be handled by Guest Editors. As indicated elsewhere in this issue, the first special issue will be on the very important topic of “Event venues: development and management” (see the call for papers for inclusion in this special issue) and the Guest Editors will be Anna Leask and Ahmed Hassanien from Edinburgh Napier University. Given that there appears to be quite different approaches to the ways events are conceptualised and managed in different regions of the World, we are keen to also have special issues that adopt a regional focus and the Regional Editors of the journal have been asked to identify Guest Editors for such issues.

This first issue includes papers on festival management, event impacts, festival visitors and event participants. Disciplinary perspectives include management, economics and ethnography and both quantitative (statistical analysis) and qualitative (case studies, ethnographic studies) are included in the contents of this issue. Margaret Deery and Leo Jago use a case study approach to document anti-social behaviours at two Australian events and confirm the findings of several previous studies with regards to the negative social impacts that such behaviours generate. Donald Getz, Tommy Andersson and J. Carlsen frame an agenda for festival management research based on a four-country comparative study conducted in Sweden, Norway, the UK and Australia and identify relevant theoretical concepts and research priorities to guide knowledge creation through further research. Joan C. Henderson, Ken Foo, Hermes Lim and Serene Yip use a benefit cost approach to investigate the economic, social and environmental impacts of a major motor sports event in Singapore and identify the ongoing challenges in hosting major events. Immy Holloway, Lorraine Brown and Richard Shipway use an ethnographic perspective to develop a deeper understanding of the meanings and experiences attached to events around the world. Young Hoon Kim, Mincheol Kim, Tanya Ruetzler and Jim Taylor provide the final paper which examines festival attendees’ behavior using structural equation modelling.

The disciplinary scope and geographic diversity of this inaugural issue is evidence that the International Journal of Event and Festival Management is truly endeavouring to achieve its international, multi-disciplinary aims. The practitioner’s perspective on some of the papers is provided by Kenneth Wardrop and is further evidence that the nexus between theory and practice is being developed. As we are keen to foster constructive debate regarding the theoretical and practical applications of papers published in the journal, we welcome feedback on papers and look forward to the receipt of further manuscripts for the journal.

Leo Jago, Jack CarlsenEditors