Towards A Contextual Turn in Visitor Studies: Evaluating Visitor Segmentation and Identity-Related Motivations

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article assesses the use of audience segmentation in visitor studies by analyzing its application in the identity model of visitors proposed by J. Falk (2009) and J. Falk et al. (2007). As a leading example of visitor segmentation, the authors examine this model's application in a specific case at U.S. zoos to elaborate some of its limitations. Conventional short-term, episodic approaches to visitor research should be challenged and supplemented by a more contextually sensitive framework. The authors contend that segmentation approaches, and in particular Falk's theorization and operationalization of an identity model of visitors, are problematic. They argue for a contextual turn that places visitors’ experiences within a holistic and long-term framework of individual life circumstances, relationships, and trajectories. Research and theory from education, sociology, and cultural studies extends existing visitor research approaches by acknowledging complexity, change over time, and the interwoven and developmental nature of sociocultural variables influencing visitors’ appropriation of new ideas and experiences.