Pre- and Postevaluation of Residents' Participation and Support of the 2012 London Olympics

Abstract

Even if the participation of locals is limited in mega-event decision-making, their support is crucial to the event's success. Using Social Exchange Theory, the study examines the extent to which community participation and perceived impacts affect residents' support of mega-events. Implementing a structural model, the examination is based on the combination of two pieces of research undertaken before and after the London Olympics. Findings confirm the importance of perceived benefits and costs in community support. They also reveal the increase in positive perceptions after the event, the strengthening of community participation willingness and residents' support, and provide an understanding of the role of perceived success in perspective formulation. Moreover, the study uses an explanatory model for the visualisation of the findings.Keywords: community participation, perceived impacts, mega-events, residents' attitudes, support model 2 INTRODUCTIONThe participation of locals in mega-events decision-making strongly influences the host community's support for further development (Gursoy & Kendall, 2006). This support in event related activities extends community participation and increases the willingness of locals to act as hosts in the foreseeable future (Pappas, 2014). Still, the participation of locals in decision-making is often limited due to: instructions for decision-making in governing systems (Eshlinki & Kaboudi, 2012), institutional and cultural constraints, resource property rights arrangements (Li, 2006), coordi nation problems amongst stakeholders (Grabher & Thiel, 2015), and the outdated incentives given to residents for the realisation of benefits over time (Suich, 2013).Support of the community in furthering tourism development has a significant influence on tourism planning policies (Yu, Chancellor & Cole, 2011), especially with regard to large-scale events since they heavily influence the life and the power relationships amongst locals (Frawley, 2015). Locals are likely to be positive and enthusiastic about hosting large-scale events such as the Olympics, since they perceive that their quality of life will be improved (Zhou & Ap, 2009). Still, megaevents may engender some participatory initiatives for the local community, but in general, decision-making and planning allow little input from local residents (Lamberti Noci, Guo & Zhu , 2011), whilst the more democratic approach to megaevent planning is surely more difficult to implement (Pappas, 2014). Consequently, the benefit asymmetry produced by mega-events historically hinders the diffusion of collaborative planning and community participation (Matheson, 2006). before and after mega-events. Taking into consideration the perspective that attitudes before, during and after the event could be significantly different (Gursoy & Kendall, 2006), the aim of the paper is to examine the extent to which community participation and perceived impacts affect residents' support of mega-events; more specifically, the London Olympics. Through the cr...

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“…Many of these theories have been utilized within the research to further examine the relationship between the resident perceived impact versus the resident attitude displayed toward tourism (Chen, 2011). Furthering the examination of the SET utilized by Pappas (2017), this research continues exploration of the community participation construct and the perceived residents' perception and local impact of mega-events on a community.…”

“…Numerous theories have been addressed within the literature such as the Social Exchange Theory (SET) (Erden and Yolal, 2016; Pappas, 2014, Pappas, 2017), Social Representations Theory (Pearce et al , 1996), Equity Theory (Lovegrove and Fairley, 2017, CAB (cognitive, affective, and behavioral components of attitudes), Play Theory, Conflict Theory, Stakeholder Theory (Wallace et al , 2019), and Compensation Theory (Andriotis and Vaughan, 2003). Many of these theories have been utilized within the research to further examine the relationship between the resident perceived impact versus the resident attitude displayed toward tourism (Chen, 2011).…”

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