Now what? An assessment of perceived legacies post-Olympic cycle
International Journal of Event and Festival Management
ISSN: 1758-2954
Article publication date: 30 August 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the post-event perceptions of Rio de Janeiro residents regarding the legacies left to them from hosting the 2016 Olympic Games. Additionally, this study examines how perceptions of Olympic legacies differed amongst demographic groups.
Design/methodology/approach
Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, participants were asked to complete a survey questionnaire and answer three open-ended questions. An adapted version of Fredline et al. (2003)'s General Scale to Measure Social Impacts (GSMSI) was selected for this study. In total, 156 useable responses were collected. An exploratory factor analysis was utilized for the survey items while the three open-ended questions were coded abductively as positive, negative or mixed feelings.
Findings
The quantitative results shows that Rio residents believe that hosting the 2016 Olympic Games had a mostly negative impact on their perception of legacies. Through reading open-ended responses, participants expressed disappointment over the legacies left to them. These findings suggest that hosting the Olympic Games may not have been beneficial to the life of Rio de Janeiro residents, and it may have been particularly worse for members of the middle class.
Originality/value
Due to the recency of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, a few studies have explored the long-term legacies left to the local population. However, the uniqueness of this study lays on the perceptions of legacies from hosting the Rio 2016 after a full Olympic cycle has passed.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The first author would like to thank his doctoral advisor (Dr. Haylee Mercado) and Dr. Allison D. Anders for their help throughout the final stages of this manuscript.
Since acceptance of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliation(s): Dr. Robert Turick is at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Citation
Feller, R., Turick, R.M., Walker, K.B. and Downs, B.J. (2023), "Now what? An assessment of perceived legacies post-Olympic cycle", International Journal of Event and Festival Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEFM-01-2023-0004
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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