However, what is legitimacy? Residents’ perception of the legitimacy of a Brazilian ethnic-cultural festival

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite being considered a solid and widely explored topic in the organisational context, legitimacy still needs more academic participation in empirical research in tourism. The same is true of festivals, which are considered an essential tool for cultural valorisation and must be considered authentic and legitimate by the population. Based on the above, this article aims to analyse how ethnic-cultural festivals acquire legitimacy in the local community's perception, using the current Brazilian Oktoberfest as the locus of study. To this end, an explanatory and descriptive study with a qualitative approach was adopted. Seventeen interviews were conducted with Blumenau residents who participated directly or indirectly in the most significant and oldest Brazilian Oktoberfest. The results provided theoretical and managerial contributions. It was noted that the legitimacy of ethno-cultural festivals is judged based on global, pragmatic, moral and cognitive aspects. It also emerged that symbolism represented local traditions, and the active and representative participation of the local community are the aspects that most legitimise such events.