The Role of Identity Salience in the Leisure Behavior of Film Festival Participants: The Case of the Busan International Film Festival

This paper examines several central constructs regarding leisure behaviors and the dynamic relationships among these key variables to develop a social psychological model that explains participation at the Busan International Film Festival. Moreover, by examining identity salience (IS), this study develops a comprehensive socio-psychological model for film festival participation. Using data from the Busan International Film Festival participants, the study discloses the prominent role that IS plays in explaining behavioral loyalty toward a film festival. Further, the formative variables influencing IS, such as enduring involvement (EI), psychological commitment (PC), and social norms (SN) are tested simultaneously. Varying degrees of influence from EI on IS are found. PC and SN also prove to be significant precursor of IS, while both IS and PC concomitantly affect participants' loyalty toward the festival. IS is found to be a significant determinant of film festival participation as a leisure behavior, and the paper contributes to our understanding of how this behavior emerges and changes. By uncovering a complex motivational structure behind this behavior, the paper assists practitioners with insights into how participants may form and maintain their loyalty to their leisure interests.