Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Fateme Gatbabaei Lehe ¹
• Nnazanin Ttabrizi ²
• Mahmoud Sharepour ³

¹ Master student, Department of Tourism Management, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

² Associate Professor of Tourism Management, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

³ Professor, Department of Social Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the cultural values of Babolsar citizens and their satisfaction with tourism activities. The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-analytical in methodological view. The sampling method of this research is simple randomization. The statistical population of the study is the citizens of Babolsar, of which 382 were selected using the Cochran's formula. The research questionnaire was developed from standard questionnaires related to Hofstede cultural dimensions and satisfaction with tourism. For the first time, the present study measured the relationship between Hofstede dimensions and citizen satisfaction. SPSS software was used to perform descriptive tests and Inferential statistics of the research were done by PLS software. The results showed that the cultural values of citizens have a significant relationship to their satisfaction with tourism activities and this relationship was observed in three components of the six studied dimensions, including individualism/ collectivism, long/short-term orientation and indulgence/restraint. The city of Babolsar is a society with a cultural balance in the distribution of power, strong uncertainty avoidance, individualism, balance with a tendency towards feminism and a long-term and extremist orientation.
 
Introduction
Tourism is a global market in which the host and guest communities both have diverse cultures and interact with each other (Huang & Crotts, 2019). Cultural differences between communities can be seen as an attraction for deciding which tourist destination to choose. According to Hofstede's theory of cultural dimensions, the common cultural points of the people of a society can be achieved and based on this theory, the views and attitudes of the people of that society can be acquainted (Jung et al, 2017). On the other hand, cultural values are an essential part of the cultures of each region and affect other parts of it (Hassanzadeh, 1396). Further understanding of the culture of the host community and examining the dimensions and components affecting it can be effective in increasing the level of residents' satisfaction with tourism activities in a destination. The coastal city of Babolsar is one of the tourist areas of the country that has a long history of tourism and receives a large number of tourists every year (Khaksari et al, 1392).
Therefore, the main question of the present study is what is the relationship between the cultural values of Babolsar citizens and their satisfaction with tourism activities?
 
Materials and Methods
The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the cultural values of Babolsar citizens and their satisfaction with tourism activities. This research is descriptive-analytical in terms of practical purpose and the sampling method of this research is simple random and the statistical population of the study, the citizens of Babolsar, 382 people were selected as a sample through Cochran's formula.
 
Discussion and Results
The results showed: The cultural values of the citizens of Babolsar have a significant relationship with their satisfaction with tourism. Thus, among the 6 dimensions of Hofstede's cultural values studied in this study, 3 components: individualism/ collectivism, long-term/ short-term orientation and indulgence/ restraint have a significant relationship with citizens' satisfaction with tourism. The findings of the present study are consistent with the findings of Hassanzadeh (1397) who studied the effect of cultural values on the perceived quality of health tourism services and concluded that the cultural dimensions of Hofstede have a positive and significant relationship with the perceived quality and the cultural values of tourists play a very important role in the quality of their perceived services of health tourism, but Findings from the present study with the findings of Radojevic et al (2019) who examined the hospitality culture of hotel staff in several countries studied based on two cultural aspects of Hofstede and concluded that the less individualism and extremism be, better service provided, does not match.
 
Conclusions
The results show that the cultural values of the citizens of Babolsar, which were measured by Hofstede theory of cultural dimensions, have a significant relationship with the level of citizens' satisfaction with tourism activities.
The culture of a society can also be examined by measuring its specific cultural values. In this study, the cultural values of the host community were measured according to Hofstede's theory of cultural dimensions. Based on the results obtained from the present study, the culture of Babolsar citizens can be interpreted as follows: The analysis of the research findings showed that Babolsar society is a society with a cultural balance in the distribution of power, avoiding strong uncertainty, individualistic, balanced with a tendency towards feminism, a tendency to long-term and extreme orientation.
The results of the research show that citizens have understood the positive and negative economic, environmental and social effects and to increase the level of satisfaction, the positive effects should be strengthened and the negative effects of tourism, which leads to a decrease in residents' satisfaction with tourism activities, should be more careful. Be. More attention to the welfare of residents, development of infrastructure, transportation and amenities and services, reduction of noise pollution and traffic control with better management and more detailed planning in the field of tourism, is effective in increasing residents' satisfaction with tourism activities. This issue has a significant impact on the lives of residents, especially during peak tourism times.

Keywords

• Cultural values
• Hofstede
• Citizens’ satisfaction
• Tourism activities
• Babolsar City