Head in the Clouds and Waste All Around

This study is aligned with a recent and integrative view that considers interdependencies among multiple stakeholders to understand value creation processes in complex settings (e.g., Baldassare et al. 2017; Neumeyer and Santos 2018). We focus on interdependencies among stakeholders to examine value dynamics in the context of mega-events (e.g., FIFA World Cup, music festivals, Olympic Games, pilgrimages), which have been lauded as catalysts of immense value for some stakeholders (e.g., event organisers, involved enterprises, participants), yet criticised for their negative impact for others (e.g., local residents and the environment).

In particular, we investigate how stakeholders in mega-events negotiate the tensions between value creation and destruction. One crucial stakeholder we consider is the environment, with the goal of delivering insights that could lead to the design and execution of mega-events that are more sustainable. We work with a revelatory case: two religious pilgrimages that occur yearly in Brazil, attracting millions of people to the cities of Juazeiro do Norte and Belém do Para, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest. We have collected ethnographic data through participant observation and interviews with multiple stakeholders. We find that, in addition to processes of value creation and destruction, there are opportunities to create value that fall in-between competing interests of different stakeholders and are left unexploited. We theorize these as wasted value and outline their implications for value creation in complex settings. This research adds to the literature on value creation, destruction, and co-creation (e.g., Zainuddin and Gordon, 2020) by extending understandings of how multiple stakeholders negotiate value dynamics in a complex setting. By focusing on the tensions between value creation and destruction in the context of spiritual consumption, where market and non-market logics intersect (Scaraboto & Figueiredo, 2017), this research can also extend the understanding of value dynamics in non-mainstream markets. In bridging the literature on spiritual consumption (Husemann & Eckhardt, 2019a) and sustainable consumption (Arnould, 2021; Chandy et al., 2021; Cornelissen et al., 2008; van der Wal, van Horen, & Grinstein, 2018), our work also offers relevant insights on how multiple sustainability goals (e.g., well-being and responsible production and consumption) can be reconciled. 

Large-scale events (e.g., World Cup, Music festivals) can generate immense value for stakeholders (event organizers, participants, sponsors, etc.). Yet, we know less about the value destruction that these events might generate. For instance, despite the value created for participants and other stakeholders in large-scale spiritual events (e.g., pilgrimages), these events have also been demonstrated to be the source of a significant detrimental impact on the environment–mainly caused by human flows and the tremendous amount of waste disposal. In this project, we focus on one large-scale spiritual events in Brazil, specifically on Juazeiro Norte and Círio de Nazaré pilgrimage sites.

How do stakeholders in large-scale spiritual events (i.e., consumers, religious leaders, businesses, government, environmental activists and organizations, and marketers) negotiate the tensions between value creation and destruction in this context? 

This project is based on an ethnographic data collection strategy initiated by the first author in 2019, and was extended in 2022 with the collection of additional data. It includes participant observation, field notes (53 days of immersion), ethnographic and in-depth interviews (N=75), and audio-visual material (hundreds of photographs and videos).