Multidimensional Influences on Social and Cultural Identity Formation in Festivals: Evidence From an Italian Heritage Festival in Brazill

Abstract

Festival research has traditionally examined service quality as an antecedent of visitor satisfaction, overlooking its role in identity-related processes. This study investigates how selected service quality dimensions shape visitors’ social and cultural identity perceptions in a festival context. Survey data were collected at an Italian heritage festival in Brazil (N = 471), and a model linking reliability, promptness, tangibility, and empathy to social and cultural identity was tested using structural equation modeling. The findings show that reliability strongly influences both cultural and social identity, while promptness has a marginal positive effect on social identity. Tangibility and empathy show no significant effects. The results suggest that in high-density cultural festivals, dependable service delivery operates less as a driver of satisfaction and more as an enabling condition for collective belonging and cultural interpretation, with implications for heritage-based festival management.