Representations of a Destination City Break. Analysis Based on Free Associations

Abstract

The article demonstrates the interest in using social representations as a tool of analysis in the representation of city breaks for two generational cohorts. The main objective of this study is to identify and to compare social representations of a city break for Generation X and for Baby Boomers. The article is based on a review of the generational segmentation and the social representation literature. The results indicate no difference between both generations for strong and numerous associations but a difference for architectural and historical aspects for Baby Boomers and experiential activities for Generation X. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed before the article concludes with limitations and directions for future research.

Methods for Studying the Structure of Social Representations: A Critical Review and Agenda for Future Research

“…Word association tasks constitute one of the main methods for collecting the content of SRs. It can be supported by a number of studies dealing with various objects of SR whose content has been revealed by verbal associations (for recent works see Dany, Urdapilleta, & Lo Monaco, ; Ernst‐Vintila, Delouvée, & Roland‐Lévy, ; Jung & Pawlowski, , ; Mäkiniemi, Pirttilä‐Backman, & Pieri, ; Lebrun, ; Mouret, Lo Monaco, Urdapilleta, & Parr, ; Piermattéo, Lo Monaco, Moreau, Girandola, & Tavani, ; Pozzi, Fattori, Bocchiaro, & Alfieri, ; Roland‐Lévy, Lemoine, & Jeoffrion, ; Salès‐Wuillemin et al, ; Tavani, Zenasni, & Pereira‐Fradin, ). Two methods are based on this type of task: free associations and hierarchical evocations (see Dany et al, for a recent review).…”

The meaning of sport and performance among amateur and professional athletes

“…The amateur athletes were asked by the organizers of the event, a local sports association, to complete an online questionnaire while professional athletes had to complete a printed version. Lévy, 2011;Jung & Pawlowski, 2014, 2015Authors, 2016;Mäkiniemi, Pirttilä-Backman, & Pieri, 2011;Lebrun, 2014;Authors, 2013;Authors, 2014;Pozzi, Fattori, Bocchiaro, & Alfieri, 2014;Roland-Lévy, Lemoine, & Jeoffrion, 2014;Tavani, Zenasni, & Pereira-Fradin, 2009).…”

When Speed Breaks the Sound Barrier: The Effect of Cue Hierarchy on Expected Quality and Purchase Intentions Regarding Laptops

“…An initial study was conducted using the free ranked association method (Lo Monaco et al, 2017). Word association tasks are widely used in the field of SRs (Dany, & Pawlowski, 2014Lo Monaco et al, 2016;Mäkiniemi, Pirttilä-Backman, & Pieri, 2011;Lebrun, 2014;Lo Monaco et al, 2017;Pozzi, Fattori, Bocchiaro, & Alfieri, 2014). The aim of this study was to highlight the various features related to laptops.…”