Journal of Business Research 66 (2013) 738–744

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Journal of Business Research

Developing a tourism cultural contact scale

Jürgen Gnoth a,⁎, Andreas H. Zins b, 1
a
Department of Marketing, University of Otago, PO Box 56-Dunedin 9010, New Zealand
b
Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, MODUL University Vienna, Am Kahlenberg 1, A-1190 Vienna, Austria

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The authors conceptualize ‘interest in the other’ as cultural tourism's focal issue. Using an involvement level
Received 1 November 2010 taxonomy, this study stratifies cultural tourism and applies McKercher and DuCros (2002) cultural visitor
Received in revised form 1 June 2011 categories to predict tourist activities. This exploratory study includes 250 tourists from 20 nationalities
Accepted 1 August 2011
and focuses on visitor interest to engage with Maori culture in New Zealand. The results demonstrate quali-
Available online 14 October 2011
tative trustworthiness and quantitative validity. Both Guttman (1944, 1950) scale qualities and the factor sta-
Keywords:
tistics indicate a successful development of a measurement instrument that bridges the emic/etic divide
Guttman scale between cultures.
Segmentation © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Involvement
Cultural tourism
Tourism Culture Contact Scale

1. Introduction
Cultural tourism enjoys increasing interest both as a tourist activity
and as a research focus (Smith, 2003; WTO, 1993). A wide spectrum of
cultural tourism opportunities exists, from encounters with cultural ob-
jects of today and yesterday, to full immersion into living cultures and
their habitus (Bourdieu, 1986). Due to a lack of comparison standards
between variables such as motivation, involvement, and behavior, the
prevalence of cultural tourism activities is under dispute (McKercher,
2002). On one hand, tourists maintain a wide scope of interests (e.g.,
Andersen, Prentice, & Watanabe, 2000; Bieger & Laesser, 2002; Bywater,
1993; Mazanec, 1984), on the other hand, boundaries and content
of observed cultures often appear difficult to define (Geertz,
1973; Gullestrup, 2006; Hofstede, 1980; Trompenaars, 1985). As
a consequence, tourism managers find difficulty distinguishing what
constitutes self-directed interest, cultural interest, and the actual role
of the visited culture in the overall tourism experience. Most answers
to these questions demonstrate an existing emic divide that separates
two systems of meaning. When interpreting another culture, tourists
tend to rely on their own culture to interpret the experience (Cole,
1992). Why do visitors find interest in foreign cultures if they rely on
a one-sided or seemingly self-directed set of meanings? Indeed, tourists'
own cultures constitute the point of view to interact, observe, or gaze at
the foreign environment (Urry, 1990). From these experiences, a distinct
habitus emerges and forms the lens through which tourists interpret their
experience. In contrast, the visited culture needs to maintain a local hab-
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: juergen.gnoth@otago.ac.nz (J. Gnoth), andreas.zins@modul.ac.at
(A.H. Zins).
1
Tel.: + 43 1 3203555 800.
itus. Unmanaged tourism may erode the visited culture (e.g., Ben-Amos,
1977; Turner & Ash, 1975). Conventions of behavior, values, and physi-
cal manifestations of local culture form social and symbolic capital
(Bourdieu, 1986). While tourism generates attractions and benefits for
locals, these resources need careful consideration and management.
Culture poses as an emic framework to create meaning. Although
one might be physically surrounded by another culture, visitors are
still primed to experience and to judge experiences through their
own culture (Triandis, 1994). One's own culture is a self-referential
system (Luhmann, 1984) including values and behavior; a set of inte-
grated processes and rituals with artifacts, and symbolic manifesta-
tions governed by a distinct world view (Geertz, 1973; Hofstede,
1980; Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1997). A self-reference crite-
rion creates the perceptual filter through which visitors and hosts
judge their experiences and often influence each other. Cultural tour-
ism potentially offers positive outcomes in trade, communication, and
mutual understanding; however, these interactions also function as a
form of cultural imperialism, particularly when the economic dis-
tance between tourists and hosts is large. Tourism and marketing re-
searchers need to contextualize this emic divide. From a social-impact
point of view, the question is to what degree do tourists impact local
environments with their emic views? Alternatively, tourism and mar-
keting researchers might ask, to what extent or depth do tourists
open themselves to local cultural values? Accordingly, the present
study focuses not only on the tourist as consumer but also looks at
the observed culture and the extent to which this culture is appreci-
ated by tourists. Do tourists view the observed culture as just a com-
modity produced solely for their gratification?
The present study follows McKercher's (2002: 37–38) call for the
development of “a more comprehensive set of variables to test the
centrality of purpose and depth of experience” tourists seek when

0148-2963/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.09.012
 J. Gnoth, A.H. Zins / Journal of Business Research 66 (2013) 738–744
traveling to encounter another culture. The study develops and tests a
touristic Cultural Contact Scale (CCS) in the context of tourists' inter-
est in Maori culture while traveling through New Zealand, a country
traditionally visited because of the spectacular landscape, rugged iso-
lation, and interesting people. While understanding cultural nuances
takes years rather than weeks, a constant flow of visitors impact
hosts. The impact on the destination likely is more substantial than
for the tourists. The study therefore attempts to achieve the following
three goals.
1. Develop a measurement instrument sufficiently sensitive to differ-
entiate among tourists' interest levels when exposed to a native
culture.
2. Discern whether or not a systematic relationship exists between
this instrument (here referred to as Cultural Contact Scale, CCS)
and travel motives.
3. Predict the consumption of cultural products or services using the
Cultural Contact Scale.
2. Literature review
Culture encompasses values, morals, symbols, physical manifesta-
tions, and behavior governed by a distinct world view. Gullestrup
(2006) stratifies culture into a process, manifest, and abstract value
layers as well as a more abstract world view governing all societies
(see also Geertz, 1973; Hofstede, 1980; Trompenaars &
Hampden-Turner, 1997). His process layer includes observable habits
and rituals determining social hierarchies, establishing relationships,
and producing security or predictability in communities. Often serv-
ing as heritage tourism artifacts, the manifest layer comprises physi-
cal objects such as art, architecture, or dress of local, regional, or
national importance (e.g., Timothy, 1997).
Tourists generally experience habitual expressions of the process
layer and the physical manifestations of culture as observable or tan-
gible signifiers, often a primary attraction. To perceive a culture's hab-
itus, tourists must understand why these manifestations create
meaning for the culture (Bourdieu, 1986). Both cultures and destina-
tions manifest themselves more by how they use their resources rath-
er than by what they use (Appadurai, 1996). Accordingly, the
cross-cultural tourism spectrum ranges from the anthropological
tourist (de Kadt, 1979) to Urry's (1990) gazing traveler. The latter is
either incapable or loathe to leave his emic bubble, thereby missing
an opportunity to experience the world through another culture's
eyes. Hence, all cultural tourism forms involve the question of au-
thenticity (McIntosh & Prentice, 1999; McIntosh, Zygadlo, & Matunga,
2004).
Authenticity is a controversial issue because tourism research chal-
lenges objective reality by questioning which context and point of view
actually exists (Wang, 2002). While Wang (2002) clearly dissects and an-
alyzes object-related authenticity versus inter- and intra-personal au-
thenticity, these socio-philosophically derived views likely merge or
exist side by side in the myriad of interactions that define tourism and
the roles tourists play (Adler, 1989; Yiannakis & Gibson, 1992). For exam-
ple, to be authentic cultural art the creative local artist should adhere to
traditional processes and notions of appropriateness and purpose that
are intertwined with his/her cultural world view. Would this
object-authenticity remain true when the artist knows that the object
would be part of a touristic attraction or commodity for exchange (e.g.,
Ben-Amos, 1977)? Authenticity often rests with the observer's point of
view. An important step to determine cultural tourism's nature requires
researchers to qualify the nature and strength of authenticity. The present
study leaves the term and wider discussion aside. Rather, the discussion
focuses on personal authenticity's perceived experience—tourists' voli-
tional drive (Gnoth, 1997). The emphasis is measuring visitors' interests
in terms of their willingness to engage a native culture rather than culture
as self-directed entertainment or fun (McIntosh & Prentice, 1999). This
739
approach considers the total spectrum of possible engagement. For
example, Cohen's (1979) gradient of the recreational, the diversionary,
and the experiential, experimental, through to the existential tourist
first describes a stereotypical sight-seer taking pictures and traveling
in a glass-bubble. This visitor unlikely seeks true understanding or an
authentic experience as a native would which are the characterizing
features of the existential tourist.
To comprehend how tourists experience a destination, researchers
often segment visitors by their motivation to visit other cultures or to par-
ticipate in cultural events (Butler & Hinch, 2007; Bywater, 1993; Chang,
2006; Chang & Chiang, 2006; Chang, Wall, & Chu, 2006; McKercher &
DuCros, 2002; Moscardo & Pearce, 1999; Ryan & Aicken, 2005; Ryan &
Crotts, 1997; Ryan & Huyton, 2002; Taylor, 2001). These segmentations
emerged, in part, from the desire to learn more about the mechanisms
that commoditize culture (Ben-Amos, 1977; Smith, 1977) as well as to
guide service design. From a researcher's perspective these segments de-
scribe the extent to which tourists desire an authentic experience and
how these experiences may be conceptualized (Wang, 2000).
Unlike some motivation research (e.g., Moscardo & Pearce, 1999;
Ryan & Huyton, 2000), McKercher (2002) samples all visitors to Hong
Kong to understand the total spectrum of visitors' interests in Hong
Kong's culture. He thereby avoids sampling just visitors who
self-selected one cultural attraction. Collecting data at one cultural at-
traction potentially prevents generalizations because some tourists
may have decided that the very research location was inauthentic.
Evoking expectancy theory and Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) intention
model—but without referring to them, McKercher (2002) asks tourists
about interest levels (motives) and the importance of cultural exposure
while in Hong Kong. He measures the latter by looking at the range of
tourists' activities and the extent they visited surrounding symbolic
and manifest cultural objects (e.g., temples and other culturally note-
worthy buildings and events). Stratifying visitors according to their in-
terests, McKercher derives five logical segments. However, he measures
motives and importance employing only one, four-point semantic differ-
ential anchored by “mostly sightseeing/photography” at one end and
“develop a deep understanding” on the other (McKercher, 2002:34).
Noting this approach's limitations, he calls for “a more comprehensive
set of variables to test the centrality of purpose and depth of experience”
tourists seek when traveling for experiencing culture (McKercher, 2002:
37–38).
Going beyond McKercher (2002), albeit focusing on communication,
Steiner and Reisinger (2004) deepen understanding of what experienc-
ing another culture actually involves. They argue against simply finding
some common ground between hosts and guests that superficially com-
municates cultural content found in brochures or tourists' internet chats.
The authors suggest the latter communication type seemingly creates a
sort of artificial tourism-world that neither represents the tourists' real
interest nor the culture they want to visit. A true cultural tourist ac-
knowledges his/her own differences and acts like an anthropologist
who configures a web of meanings rather than just pointing at quirky
differences that entertain and only educate superficially. Steiner and
Reisinger (2004) implicitly argue for an interest in both the what and
how of culture. The what of culture concerns cultural manifestations
and people's ways and means of using their natural and economic re-
sources. Culture's how refers to habitus, behavior, rites, and customs.
To warn of tourism's impact, Steiner and Reisinger (2004) focus on the
particular ways that hosts interact within their environment and how
they create and perceive their resources. Essentially, tourists maintain-
ing such a focus desire an authentic, local sense of place (Appadurai,
1996).
3. Empirical study design
The present scale's development was part of a market analysis
assessing the potential to offer Maori cultural tourism at a place not
traditionally associated with such services. Dunedin, New Zealand is
740 J. Gnoth, A.H. Zins / Journal of Business Research 66 (2013) 738–744

located in the province of Otago on the South Island. The city is well sites in Dunedin over a four week period. The sample comprises 285
known for a particularly strong Scottish heritage and wildlife but tourists from more than 20 countries.
not for Maori culture. Accordingly, the South Island's tourism position
has been as an adventure island and Maori cultural tourism's strength
4. Results
is limited to the North Island of New Zealand. The market analysis in-
volved an extensive literature review and interviews with local oper-
4.1. Sample characteristics
ators and tourists to elicit their perceptions of how tourists expressed
their interest and awareness of Maori culture.
Consistent with the overall profile of New Zealand visitors (Statistics
Researchers used open-format interviews with 12 tourists in New
New Zealand, 2009), the bulk of the sample consisted of the 20–29, 50–
Zealand's Otago region. These interviews and the literature led to de-
59, and 60–69 year age groups, although the age distribution differs
veloping a theory-driven, questionnaire-based research instrument
according to nationality. The Australian tourists are, on average, the oldest
to conduct international traveler interviews focusing on New Zeal-
group of visitors (55 years), together with visitors from the US (46) and
and's Maori cultural tourism services. The questionnaire begins with
the UK (43). Age averages are lower for “Other Countries” (20 years),
ranking questions about basic travel motives for their current trip. So-
Asians (26), Other Europeans (32), and Germans (33). Other Countries
cial aspects (e.g., seeing family and friends), intrinsic drivers (e.g., rest
differ significantly from the UK, North American and Australian visitors,
and relaxation, adventure and excitement), nature related factors
while Germans are significantly younger than Australians.
(e.g., viewing wildlife and nature, natural beauty and landscape)
The sample consists of 47% males and 53% females and is repre-
and cultural motives (e.g., New Zealand cultural experience, Maori
sented primarily by US citizens (33%), followed by Australians (13%),
cultural experience) span the elementary reasons for travel. The re-
the UK and Germany at 10% each, and the Netherlands at 8%. Comparing
searchers also spread a list of statements about preferences regarding
historic accommodation data in Dunedin reveals that the sample has
Maori culture throughout the questionnaire. Eleven statements orga-
less than half of the Australians and double the number of US citizens
nized into three different sets ask respondents to rate Maori people,
traditionally visiting the region. Although no outstanding differences
Maori culture, and general travel motivations. The scaled answer con-
in interest in Maori culture exist between nationalities, Australians
tinuum attached to statements ranged from 1, not true at all, to 5,
tend to be less interested in Maori culture. Australian people perceive
very true. These eleven statements seek to reflect and measure tour-
the two main islands based on their traditional positioning: the North
ists' volitional interest in Maori culture, in other words, their motiva-
Island as the cultural center and the South Island as the landscape and
tional strength.
adventure destination. This image also may be true for other nationali-
The authors took particular care to use nuanced statements for re-
ties, although less pronounced as Australians appear to have a far better
spondents by testing and avoiding items that tourists might misunder-
knowledge of New Zealand than other nationalities. Tourists also an-
stand or potential double-barreled questions (e.g., Mueller, 1986). For
swered whether they had already been to the North Island—potentially
example, the item I prefer just to observe how Maori culture is different
affecting their interest in experiencing more Maori culture on the South
rather than really meet and interact with Maori (see Table 1) incorporates
Island. Of the 285 respondents in the sample, 70% reported visiting the
both meet and interact potentially expressing two different things. In
North Island before coming to Dunedin and 30% had not. A test for dif-
this case, meeting and interacting are on the same semantic trajectory;
ferences in interest for Maori cultural experiences accounting for prior
they relate to communication and signal a perceptual distance on that
travel through the North Island reveals no differences amongst the re-
same trajectory. Furthermore, meet and interact, represents a hendiadys
spondents. This result is encouraging because prior exposure obviously
ensuring that the emphasis lies on the contrast between just observing
does not generate disinterest or boredom. Interest in activities (see
versus actually communicating with Maori.
Table 5) seems to increase with exposure and prior experience in
For the questionnaire's third part, respondents evaluated thirteen
doing the activities. The median length of stay in New Zealand by all vis-
different culture related activities for interest level, ranging from dance
itors is around 30 days with the mode at 21 days. The average stay in
performances to shop visits, interpretation of landscapes to carving clas-
Dunedin is about 5 days with a median and mode of 2 days.
ses, and language learning. The list also contains three non-Maori related
activities as an option to inspect the discriminatory power of the Cultural
Contact Scale (explained further in 4.5 below). These questions' scales 4.2. Travel motives
range from 1, not at all interested, to 5, very interested. Furthermore, re-
spondents answered whether or not they previously engaged in the par- Visitors also ranked seven overall holiday attractions relating to par-
ticular activity, as well as socio-demographic and travel characteristic ticular motives for travel (see Table 2). Motives relate to unfulfilled
questions. The questionnaire was pretested with 59 tourists resulting needs of target classes. As Gnoth (1997) details, motives represent direc-
in three revisions. Final data collection took place at general tourism tional drives. Motives often are distinguished from motivations because
the former also incorporate situational parameters and personal values
driving perceptions and attitudes toward objects. Interestingly, study
Table 1 motive rankings differ to some degree, dependent on the cut-off point:
Statements used to construct the Cultural Contact Scale. either by considering top ranks only or by taking rank one to three into
account. A statistical analysis of the ranks across the sample shows
Statements

I like to learn about Maori customs, rituals and ways of life

I like to experience more than just staged Maori events (e.g., dances)
I would like to get to know more about Maori culture Table 2
I prefer just to observe how Maori culture is different rather than really meet and Motives for traveling to New Zealand and rank of importance.
interact with Maori
Travel motive Top ranked Top 3 ranked
I am interested in getting to know more Maori people
The more I see, hear, and sense about Maori culture, the more I want to experience it Natural beauty and landscapes 42% 84%
I am very keen on finding out about Maori culture Viewing wildlife and nature 18% 62%
I would like to see the world through Maori eyes New Zealand cultural experience 9% 44%
I like to spend time on finding out about Maori culture Adventure and excitement 12% 38%
I would like to get involved in Maori cultural activities Rest and relaxation 3% 31%
Contact with Maori culture forms a very important part of my experience in Seeing family and friends 14% 23%
New Zealand Maori cultural experience 2% 19%
 J. Gnoth, A.H. Zins / Journal of Business Research 66 (2013) 738–744 741

clusters of motives—classes of objects that go together. Across the sam-
ple, viewing the natural landscape takes either first, second, or third po-
sition. Viewing wildlife most frequently takes second, third, or fourth
position. New Zealand cultural experiences most frequently take second,
fourth, and fifth positions. Seeking Maori cultural experiences most fre-
quently takes fourth, fifth, and sixth positions. Indeed, the shape and
form the experiences related to these attractions is influenced strongly
by whether tourists seek rest and relaxation versus adventure and ex-
citement. Experiencing Maori culture takes a supporting role to the over-
all experience of Aotearoa, New Zealand but the activity is not the main
motivation for most tourists traveling to this country.
4.3. Development of the Cultural Contact Scale
Next, the data analysis develops a meaningful and sensitive instru-
ment to measure different intensities of drives or levels of involve-
ment into cultural interaction. The basis for the following analysis
(see Table 1) comprises statements expressing preferences for differ-
ent facets of exposure, interaction, and integration into Maori culture
in New Zealand. Maori contact and interaction vary by content and
situation ranging from mere observation to explicit time allocation
for Maori experiences, and from understanding to participating with
personal contact. Table 3's first column shows the average agreement
with these statements. Apart from the first item expressing a rather
distant or detached attitude toward Maori culture, the remaining
ten statements span a range of positive preference levels toward
Maori culture (3.4 to 4.0 on a five-point scale).
To develop a compound scale instrument, three options were ex-
plored: 1) an unweighted index; 2) a weighted index based on a
Table 3
Elements and structure of a Guttman-type Cultural Contact Scale.
Statementa Guttman rank by Attempt
(no. of statements)
correlation matrix; and 3) Guttman (1944) scaling. The unweighted
scale is not adequate given the very different nature of the cultural con-
tacts listed and the difference in ratings from the current sample.
The second option employs principal components analysis. Using the
whole set of eleven items (attempt E) results in a one-dimensional solu-
tion (KMO criterion: 0.91, Cronbach's α: 0.90, 49% of variance extrac-
tion) with loadings between 0.63 and 0.79 (except the first item:
−0.34). An alternative approach (Attempt F) reduced set to only six
items (see Table 3) resulting in another one-dimensional configuration
(KMO criterion: 0.86, Cronbach's α: 0.90, 63% of variance extraction)
with loadings between 0.75 and 0.84. However, the factor score algo-
rithm forces the converging solution into a normally distributed score
for the unobserved latent variable of preferred cultural contact. This re-
sult may cause unjustified relationships with other behavioral data in
the sample causing the investigation of an alternative analysis.
Option 3 tries to find an inner order, a hierarchy of cultural contact
intensity expressed by different preference statements. In scales with
Guttman properties, respondents check all items expressing a lower
intensity of the underlying continuum. If respondents do not choose
some statements below the threshold of the strongest item, an error
score describes the scale's internal consistency. In Option 2, Attempt
A tries to make use of the full range of eleven items; the second at-
tempt, Attempt C reduces the set to only six statements. Outlier ana-
lyses of misplaced items suggest an inspection of a middle variant,
Attempt B, with only nine statements. A Guttman scale uses state-
ments as point representatives that respondents choose to check or
not check. Additional scaling of the individual item is not required.
However, since the original measurement in the questionnaire allows
for a staged agreement (1–5), the answers were transformed into
a dichotomous format before inspecting the entire instrument for
Guttman properties. To achieve a more pronounced psychographic
profile, the authors set the cut-off between scale points 4 and 5.
Only very strong interest in an activity statement was treated as a
yes answer for Attempts A to C. For Attempt D, the break-point was
set between scale points 3 and 4.

Attempt Attempt Attempt Attempt 4.4. Guttman scaling

A (11)b B (9) C (6) D (6)c

I prefer just to observe how Maori 1 1

culture is different rather than really
meet and interact with Maori
(mean = 2.4)
I like to learn about Maori customs,
rituals and ways of life (mean = 4.0)
I like to experience more than just
staged Maori events (e.g.,. dances)
(mean = 4.0)
I would like to get to know more about
Maori culture (mean = 3.9)
The more I see, hear, and sense about
Maori culture, the more I want to
experience it (mean = 3.6)
I am very keen on finding out about
Maori culture (mean = 3.6)
I like to spend time on finding out
about Maori culture (mean = 3.5)
I am interested in getting to know
more Maori people (mean = 3.6)
I would like to see the world through
the eyes of Maori (mean = 3.5)
Contact with Maori culture forms a
very important part of my experience
in New Zealand (mean = 3.4)
I would like to get involved in Maori
cultural activities (mean = 3.4)
Calculated errors
Critical ratio
a
The means in the 1st column relate to answer scale ranges from 1, not true at all, to
5, very true.
b
Cut-off for dichotomizing the answer scale for Attempts A, B and C: 1–4 = no, ≥5 = yes.
c
Cut off for dichotomizing the answer scale for Attempt D: 1–3 = no, ≥4–5 = yes.
To determine the internal consistency of the Cultural Contact Scale,
the dichotomized item's critical ratio (CR) was examined (Guttman,
1950). If the statements were a perfect rank order (see Table 3), respon-
dents checked all items located at a lower rank once an item represent-
2 2
ing a particular rank was chosen. This result represents the highest level
3 3 of involvement sought. Consequently, every missing check at a lower
rank weakens the scale property for expressing an ambiguously differ-
entiated meaning for the underlying cultural contact intensity. Error
4 4 1 1 levels are at 22% for Attempts A and B, 10% for Attempt C and 14% for At-
5 5 3 3
tempt D (see Table 3). The critical threshold for an instrument with
good properties is 10%.
To assess the new scale's discriminating power (for Options 2 and 3),
6 6 2 2 one needs to consider the distribution of the scores. The true population
distribution is unknown therefore face validity judgments may filter out
7 5 5
useful solutions. Table 4 shows the different distributions of respondents
8 7 4 4 for the attempts outlined above to construct a Cultural Contact Scale. For
the Guttman-type scale construction, the logical zero point indicates re-
9 8 spondents show no interest and deem none of the items on the scale ap-
plicable. About 40% of the respondents populate the low end of such a
10 9
scale when considering either all eleven or only nine of the statements
(Attempts A and B). The further reduction of the number of scale con-
11 6 6 struction items to a subset of six items (see Attempt C in Table 3)
would qualify 62% as the uninterested segment of cultural tourists (see
704 551 175 246
22% 22% 10% 14% Attempt C in Table 4). Shifting the break-point only by one unit to the
left changes the outcome drastically. In this case, only 10% of the sample
appears not interested. Employing factor analysis to Option 2 (Attempt F,
not shown in Table 3), no identifiable absolute low end of the scale exists;
instead, the output is one dimension loading all six items (see Table 4,
742 J. Gnoth, A.H. Zins / Journal of Business Research 66 (2013) 738–744

Table 4 Table 5
Distribution of Cultural Contact Scale scores for different scaling attempts. Interest in various cultural activities and correlation with the Cultural Contact Scale.

Attempts Scale item ranges Interest Mean Already CC-Scale CC-Scale

interest experienced Attempt A Attempt F
A 0 1–7 8–11
(corr)a (corr)a
39% 24% 37%
B 0 1–6 7–9 Learn about the history of 3.8 9% n.s. 0.20
40% 26% 34% Dunedin
C 0 1–4 5–6 To learn about the early 4.0 12% n.s. 0.14
62% 18% 20% European settlers in Dunedin
D 0 1–5 6 To find out about native plants 4.2 17% n.s. 0.22
10% 35% 55% and animals
Fa 1st quartile 2nd and 3rd 4th quartile Participate in traditional Maori 3.5 11% 0.46 0.63
3% 71% 26% activities (e.g., food gathering
a and preparation)
This attempt uses the factor scores of only one dimension.
Learn the Maori interpretation 4.0 10% 0.42 0.53
of landscapes
Learn about Maori stories and 4.1 13% 0.35 0.47
Attempt F). The scale's entire lower quartile range represents less than 3% history
I would like to learn the 2.4 1% 0.33 0.47
of the respondents, due to the forcibly converged factor solution.
language (Te Reo Maori)
The top end of the Cultural Contact Scale also varies according to Maori dance performances 3.5 33% 0.35 0.45
the different construction principles. Measures using eleven and To try a traditional Maori food 4.0 18% 0.30 0.45
nine items map respondents in a very similar way. The solution qual- such as a feast (Hangi)
ifies one-third of the tourists as rather highly interested. The six items Maori cooking classes 3.0 1% 0.25 0.45
Maori carving classes 3.0 4% 0.28 0.41
in Attempt C put only one-fifth of the sample in the top rated seg-
Maori weaving classes 2.7 3% 0.27 0.41
ment. Relaxing the five-point scale's strength by only one unit, At- To visit a Maori craft shop or 3.7 17% 0.20 0.31
tempt D leads to a share of 55% of highly interested tourists. The gallery
six-item factor analytic approach (Attempt F) yields a 26% share in a
Spearman's rho correlations at least significant at p b 0.05.
the top-rated segment. Whereas a skewed head-tailed distribution
suggesting strong interest in Maori culture (Attempt D) seems im-
plausible, the same result appears for the opposite (Attempt C). A depth of cultural experiences sought. This approach results in a clearer,
more plausible result is the factor analytic approach showing most attitudinally defined stratification. His study describes five types of cul-
tourists have latent interest in Maori culture. However, the distribution tural tourists: 1) The purposeful cultural tourist (primary motive and
may be positively skewed toward putting almost three-fourths (71%) deep experience); 2) The sightseeing cultural tourist (primary or
into a broad middle range of cultural contact preferences (Attempt F). major motive, shallow experience; 3) The serendipitous cultural tourist
(low or no cultural travel motive, however deep cultural experiences);
4.5. Comparing the discriminatory power of the scales 4) The casual cultural tourist (weak motive and shallow experience);
and 5) The incidental cultural tourist (no cultural travel motives, some
The following investigation attempts to gain insight into the dis- shallow cultural experiences). These phenomenologically derived cate-
criminatory power of the two scale construction attempts (A and F). gories or segments do not consider tourists who believe culture to be an
The second column of Table 5 shows the degree of interest (averages important motive but they fail to get involved possibly because the sit-
from a scale of 1 = not at all interested to 5 = very interested). The uations do not arise in suitable ways. Hence the authors add a sixth seg-
third column reports on the share of respondents already engaged in ment, namely The Spurious Cultural Tourist (see Fig. 1).
the activity prior to the interview. The last two columns show the corre- To identify the cultural tourist types outlined above, the analysis of
lation coefficients for ordinal scales between the different activities and one or two travel motives would not be sufficient. Motives are generic
the Cultural Contact Scale. Comparing Attempts A and F, several obser- forcing object classifications (e.g., landscape attractions, cultural en-
vations can be made. Scale construction using six preference statements counters, or adventure) (see Table 2). These classifications merely indi-
(Attempt F) finds higher correlations with Maori cultural activities, and cate basic tendencies requiring further parameters to transform latent
significant correlations with learning activities (see first three items). to actual intentions and behavior. Conversely substituting travel motive
One would not expect covariance with the Cultural Contact Scale be- variables with the new Cultural Contact Scale does not appeal because
cause the items are considered generic and true for all visitors to Dune- the scale tries to determine an involvement level without indicating rel-
din and New Zealand. A similar phenomenon appears with the scales ative status to other latent motives. A correlation analysis between both
from Attempts C and D (not tabled). In contrast, the eleven-item sets of measures reveals a positive relationship with experiencing Maori
Guttman-constructed scale discriminates between Maori related and culture (r= 0.28, p b 0.05) and negative correlation with rest and relax-
other cultural activities. To investigate the two remaining research ation (r= −0.19) and nature and landscape (r= −0.15). No significant
questions, only the Cultural Contact Scale from Attempt A is employed. relationships are found with an overall interest in New Zealand cultural
experiences. Travel motives together with other situational and person-
4.6. Overall evaluation of the scales al factors appear to moderate the relationship between the strength of
desired cultural experience involvement and the actual activity. Never-
Is value added when using a refined instrument like the Cultural theless, while motives, situational and personal factors influence the ac-
Contact Scale instead of simple travel motives? The literature discusses tual formation of the motivation, the simultaneous consideration of both
the nuances of how tourists hold different degrees of cultural interest the rank of a motive and the strength of desired involvement seem to ap-
and the modeling considers these categorizations. Bywater (1993) dis- proximate the actual motivation to engage with the other culture. These
tinguishes three segments within the culturally motivated tourist de- considerations are similar to those proffered by expectancy-value theo-
mand: 1) Purely culturally motivated tourists (5–8%); 2) Culturally ries (see Gnoth, 1997; Vroom, 1964).
inspired tourists (45–47%); and 3) Culturally attracted tourists (45– To test this assumption and identify a similar typology to McKercher
47%). Considering the broad spectrum of tourists to any destination (2002), the sample was divided according to McKercher's attitudinally
McKercher (2002) offers a typology based on two dimensions: 1) cul- defined tourist segments to predict each segment's behavior. Fig. 1 hor-
tural tourism's impact on the decision to visit a destination; and 2) izontally displays the travel motive for experiencing Maori culture. To a
 J. Gnoth, A.H. Zins / Journal of Business Research 66 (2013) 738–744 743

(3) (6) 5 (Sightseeing Cultural Tourist) in the remaining three cases. At the
lower end, segment 4 (Spurious Cultural Tourist) appears 8 times
Serendipitous cultural tourist Purposeful cultural tourist
(ranges from attempt A, Table 4)

with the lowest ranks and segment 1 (Incidental Cultural Tourist) in

29% 8% 4 cases. In total, 11 out of 13 activities show evidence of significant
High
Cultural Contact Scale

differences across the portrayed typology. Table 6 reveals the shares

(2) (5)
of participation in the respective activities. The percentages do not
Casual cultural tourist Sightseeing cultural tourist match exactly the related measure of interest. This difference partly
is due to the time when the survey was conducted (at different stages
20% 4%
of the individual respondent's holiday) and to situational barriers
(1) (4) preventing access to the various cultural products and services (e.g.,
whether tourists had been to the North Island or not). Given the ex-
Low

Incidental cultural tourist Spurious cultural tourist

ploratory nature and experimental manipulations of scales, the re-
35% 4% sults all support the assumptions made about the CCS. Spurious
Cultural Tourist's activity and participation level is very low in almost
all areas. In contrast, the Purposeful Cultural Tourist engages the most
Low High in many Maori related activities.
Importance of Maori Culture Motive

Fig. 1. Cultural contact segments—New Zealand. 5. Conclusions

Adapted from McKercher (2002).
rank of three, a travel motive is considered highly important; otherwise,
the activity is considered low importance. For the Cultural Contact Scale
categories (the vertical dimension) the distribution and three ranges
depicted in Table 4, Attempt A, are used. The following grid of six different
cultural segments are portrayed and labeled according to McKercher's
general typology that includes the new Spurious segment.
To demonstrate diagnostic strength, the new Cultural Contact
Scale must differentiate between cultural products and services activ-
ity levels. Table 5's activity list is reanalyzed through the lens of
Fig. 1's six tourist segments using the Kruskal–Wallis significance
test (see Table 5, columns 1 and 2). The underlying 5-point interest
scale was reinterpreted as ordinal scale and extended by the answer
category “already done” expressing the highest level of interest.
Each segment member's interest levels were compared to levels in
other segments. Only the asterisks in the first column in Table 6 indi-
cate which cultural activities produced significant differences. Seg-
ments with high scores on the Cultural Contact Scale (6, 3 and 5)
demonstrate the highest interest levels. High interest is found for all
cultural and Maori related activities: segment 6 (Purposeful Cultural
Tourist) has the highest ranks in six out of 13 listed activities; seg-
ment 3 (Serendipitous Cultural Tourist) in 4 out of 13 and segment
This study's primary goal is developing a Cultural Contact Scale to
measure different levels of tourists' interest and involvement in a for-
eign culture addressing the need for a “more comprehensive set of
variables to test the centrality of purpose and depth of experience”
(McKercher, 2002: 37–38). The scale's development tests tourist atti-
tudes about New Zealand's Maori culture. Through preparatory steps
using qualitative methods, different aspects of foreign culture immer-
sion were screened. Eleven statements represent various approaches
and activities to expose oneself to another culture covering cognitive
steps, time allocation, understanding, participating, watching, and en-
gaging. Data analyses and results confirm that an inner hierarchy un-
derlies these statements giving each involvement aspect a different
weight in constructing the overall Cultural Contact Scale. Different at-
tempts (e.g., subsets of 6 and 9 items) constructing the Cultural Con-
tact Scale with Guttman properties yield scores and distributions
suggesting all eleven statements are needed. A critical ratio of 22%
(see Table 3) suggests that the scale needs further development to
achieve a better discrimination within the levels of the scale's range.
Goal 2 investigates the relationship between travel motives and the
intensity of cultural contact. Since the linear correlation between both
constructs does not reveal strong differences, the travel motive
(experiencing Maori culture) likely acts as a moderator on the Cultural
Contact Scale impacting in a non-linear manner. However, further

Table 6
Participation levels and significant differences in interest for cultural activities by cultural contact segments.

Cultural activities (already done) N Cultural contact segments

(6) Purposeful (3) Serendipitous (5) Sightseeing (2) Casual (1) Incidental (4) Spurious
tourist tourist tourist tourist tourist tourist

Learn about the history of Dunedin a 267 23% 9% 8% 4% 9% 10%

Learn about the early European settlers in 276 18% 9% 9% 11% 14% 10%
Dunedin
Find out about native plants and animalsa 278 23% 15% 9% 19% 19% 0%
Participate in traditional Maori activities 274 23% 11% 10% 11% 8% 0%
(e.g., food gathering and preparation)a
Learn the Maori interpretation of 276 23% 13% 9% 14% 2% 13%
landscapesa
Learn about Maori stories and historya 271 18% 16% 9% 14% 12% 0%
Learn the language (Te Reo Maori)a 272 0% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Maori dance performancesa 258 41% 30% 50% 38% 29% 22%
Try a traditional Maori food such as a feast 258 32% 14% 30% 28% 17% 11%
(Hangi)a
Maori cooking classesa 280 0% 1% 0% 2% 0% 0%
Maori carving classesa 283 5% 9% 0% 4% 1% 0%
Maori weaving classesa 281 0% 3% 0% 4% 3% 0%
Visit a Maori craft shop or gallery 226 18% 14% 10% 20% 17% 11%
a
Significant Kruskal–Wallis test on degrees of interest between ranking levels of interest and segments.
744 J. Gnoth, A.H. Zins / Journal of Business Research 66 (2013) 738–744
theoretically driven data manipulation results in encouraging results.
For example, combining motives and intensity of involvement as
situational indicators serve as proxies for motivations. Following
McKercher's proposal, a typology is constructed using both compo-
nents: importance of the Maori culture motive and the multi-item Cul-
tural Contact Scale. The combination of (low–medium–high) contact
intensity with (low–high) importance of Maori culture motive results
in a six segment typology. Since only 16% of the respondents can be
classified into a group of travelers for whom Maori culture appeared
among the top three travel motives, the vast majority would not be rec-
ognized as a typical cultural tourist. Yet, this action would be a
short-sighted classification. The Serendipitous Cultural Tourist (29%)
seems to be open to deep cultural experiences even though they do
not express these activities as a highly important travel motive. In con-
trast, a small and highly motivated segment (Spurious Cultural Tourist:
4%) does not seek close cultural contacts, interaction and involvement
during their holiday travels.
To validate the discriminatory power of the Cultural Contact Scale
(Goal 3) this typology is correlated with the cultural activities primarily
related to Maori culture. Maori dance performances are among the most
popular tourism products for the Sightseeing Tourist. Results show a
similar high preference for Maori food. However, for the Purposeful Cul-
tural Tourist, apart from dance performance and food, other themes
(e.g., native plants and animals) help characterize the segments.
Overall, the findings revealed satisfactory and encouraging results in
the first empirical attempt to validate this new scale. Given the distinct
behavioral patterns of the six cultural segments, these insights also are
valuable and meaningful for regional and attraction managers from inside
and outside the Maori culture. Relying on short motivational classifiers
can lead to missed opportunities or an unsatisfactory contact/interaction
experience. More flexible and adaptive local tour options potentially in-
crease the overall benefits for all stakeholders.
After this initial step, the scale needs further testing under extended
and varied conditions. The implicit goal is improving the scale's psycho-
metric properties. Repeated attempts will further improve the instru-
ment's consistency for measuring the intensity of the cultural contact.
The ex-post simulation of a dichotomous answer spectrum for the sca-
le's eleven statements will not achieve the same results as the format
only allows choosing between a yes and no answers or the option to
check any item that applies. Also, the sequence and spread of the
items across the entire questionnaire could impact on the internal con-
sistency. In this initial study, the statements were placed and scattered
within three different question blocks. Further validation attempts
could be meaningful if studies test the new scale in different travel des-
tination locations and consider different cultural contexts. Finally, the
Maori culture, as part of a New Zealand holiday experience, is unique
and requires careful consideration before being transferred into other
destinations' indigenous or minority contexts.
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