Festival Feels: Exploring the Motivations of Generation Z Festival-Goers in Ireland

Abstract

This article explores the motivations of Generation Z festival-goers' decision to attend festivals. This research used an online, self-administered questionnaire that was distributed to a sample of Generation Z festival-goers in Ireland and measured several festival motivational constructs while employing structural equation modeling (SEM). Generation Z's attendance at a festival is directly impacted by their anticipation of the festival, the festival's attractions, and the flow that they experience during the festival. The anticipation that Generation Z has towards festivals is directly impacted by the festival's attractions, their interest in socialization with known and external groups during the festival, the flow experienced at the festival, and to a lesser extent, perceived popularity, and accumulated social capital. External socialization and event attractions were also found to have a direct effect on flow. The research reveals that the positive relationship between the flow experienced at festival events and the level of anticipation of festival events is amplified for that cohort of Generation Z with higher levels of inhibition. As few studies to date have focused on the motivations of Generation Z festivalgoers, this article makes an important theoretical contribution in this area.