Cross cultural equivalence of festival motivations: A studying Jordan

The majority of published festival motivational research focuses on North American events. However, the transferability of survey research is increasingly of interest and necessity in the tourism and special event literature. The purpose of this study was to investigate the cross-cultural equivalence of festival motivations among attendees of an Arabic cultural festival in Jerash, Jordan. During the festival a systematic random sample of 410 attendees was asked to participate in an on-site interview. Focused on their motivations for coming to the festival, the interview was designed in English, translated to Arabic, back-translated to English and administered in Arabic by native Jordanians. Results from descriptive and factor analyses suggest a commonly employed motivational scale produces similar results in the Arabic culture. Implications for event researchers and issues concerning cross-cultural equivalence research are discussed.