미로 체험의 재미, 플로우, 즐거움의 관계에 관한 연구

Abstract

The value of experience is increasing in our rapidly changing modern society. As we shift from a service economy to an experience economy, it becomes important for tourist attractions to provide a rich experience for tourists. Despite this, there are few studies that focus on tourists' on-site experience. Pine and Gilmore examine the experience economy from the point of view of marketing research, and discuss four realms of experience - entertainment, education, aesthetics and escapism. This study examines these four realms of experiences in terms of the experience of visitors to a maze. First constructed as tourist attractions in the 17th century, mazes are one of the earliest examples of recreational areas and are popular in many countries. Nonetheless, there are few studies on mazes which focus on tourism, so there is a need to examine the experiences of maze visitors. To assess the quality of visitor experience at a tourist attraction, this study examines fun, flow and enjoyment as relevant positive emotions. Flow is an optimal peak experience which occurs when an individual engages in an activity with total involvement and concentration. This study distinguishes between enjoyment and fun, which are both essential factors of positive emotions. Fun is an evaluation of an experience whereas enjoyment is the state of satisfaction which results from leisure experience. The purposes of this study are to examine the structural relationships between fun, flow and enjoyment experienced by visitors to a maze park and to explore the academic implications of these relationships. A systematic research method was used which included a literature review, empirical research, statistical analysis and cross-sectional approaches as well as an examination of interdisciplinary studies based on the multidisciplinary nature of tourism research. Various theories related to fun, flow and enjoyment in the context of tourist experience are examined in the literature review, and several studies relating to the differences between fun and enjoyment are given special attention. A survey of maze visitors was conducted at Kimnyoung Maze Park, which is the most popular maze in South Korea, and the first to be established in the country. 500 questionnaires were randomly distributed to visitors over the course of three days, of which 459 were analyzed. SPSS 19.0 and AMOS 18.0 were employed to analyze the results of the questionnaires through an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis; a covariance structural equation model was used for statistical analysis. The results of the test of hypothesis showed that there were structural relationships between fun, flow and enjoyment in the experience of visitors to the maze. All four realms of experience had an influence on the amount of fun experienced by visitors. The amount of fun experienced at the maze had an influence on flow, and flow had an influence on the level of enjoyment. This study found that the four realms of visitor experience at the maze are all related to fun, and that aesthetics and escapism, which are immersion dimension experiences, have a direct influence on the flow state of visitors. Furthermore, fun was found to influence the flow state, while flow had an influence on enjoyment. It can therefore be concluded that flow is a mediating factor between fun and enjoyment. The academic implications of the results are as follows. First, since there are not many studies on Pine and Gilmore's four realms of experience in terms of tourism, this study extended the concept to the experience of tourists. This study also uses the concept of fun, which is not used in relation to tourism as often as it is for sports and internet games. In addition, this study reveals the difference between the concepts of fun and enjoyment. The analysis of the relationships between fun, flow and enjoyment led to the conclusion that flow operates as a mediator between fun and enjoyment. People who evaluated an experience as 'fun' had been in a flow state, which they later recalled as being an enjoyable experience. One of the managerial implications is that maze parks should provide escapist experiences to their guests, since escapist experience is the type of experience which has the greatest influence on having fun. The height of a maze's walls and the width of its paths are very important factors in providing such experiences to visitors. Another managerial implication is that, since flow has an influence on the enjoyment of visitors, it is very important to increase the experience of flow in a maze. Maze managers need to cultivate the various skills required to increase the flow experience of visitors. This study has the following limitations. First, it does not consider the difference in concepts and emotions associated with 'fun' and 'enjoyment' in different languages. It can therefore be said that there is a need for further linguistic research in order to apply the measurement tools to other languages and cultures. Second, since this study does not include a review of previous literature concerning the relationship between the psychological aspects of fun and enjoyment, the validity of the design of the research project may be called into question. Further research should be conducted in order to establish the validity of the relationship between fun and enjoyment claimed in this study. It is expected that future research which overcomes these limitations and examines the quality of experience of visitors at tourist attractions as well as the conceptual relationships between fun, flow and enjoyment will make positive contributions to the development of tourist attractions.