Development of Street Audience Experience (SAE) Scale.

Abstract

Street performance (busking) has gained a higher social status in the 21st century. Recently, scholars have argued for its merit in contributing to the quality of urban life. Past studies of street performance have focused on performers and performances; there is a research gap in the literature calling attention to studying street performance from an audience perspective. A Street Audience Experience (SAE) scale was developed based on a Hong Kong sample through an exploratory and a confirmatory stage over 3 parts of study. In the exploratory stage, interviews and a quantitative survey were conducted and followed by an exploratory factor analysis to inform a hypothetical factor model. In the confirmatory stage, another survey was conducted and followed by a confirmatory factor analysis to validate the model. Six factors of street audience experience were confirmed: emotion, intellect, interaction, novelty, place, and technique. Based on the SAE scale, the relations between the audience's experience of street performance and their behavioral intentions are also discussed.

Effect of Street Performance (Busking) on the Environmental Perception of Public Space

“…Preference is a common notion in studies related to public space ( Herzog, 1992 ; Herzog and Gale, 1996 ; Herzog and Leverich, 2003 ; Herzog and Bryce, 2007 ). As discussed earlier, past studies revealed that the presence of street performance was associated with an attractive surrounding environment ( Doubleday, 2018 ; Ho and Au, 2018 ; Ho et al, 2020 ). Hence, we hypothesize that:…”

“…Literature regarding street performance has concentrated on the history of street performance ( Campbell, 1981 ; Cohen and Greenwood, 1981 ; M. Smith, 1996 ), case studies of the street performances in specific locations ( Prato, 1984 ; Harrison-Pepper, 1990 ; Tanenbaum, 1995 ; Marina, 2018 ), and life stories of street performers ( Moore, 1974 ; Press and McNamara, 1975 ; Condos, 1976 ; Palmquist, 1984 ; Gomes, 2000 ; Rebeiro Gruhl, 2017 ). Others have studied street performance from the economic ( Kushner and Brooks, 2000 ), legal and legislative ( McNamara and Quilter, 2016 ; Juricich, 2017 ), urban design and policy ( Astor, 2019 ; Clua et al, 2020 ), and spectator experience ( Ho and Au, 2018 ; Ho et al, 2020 ) perspectives. Last but not least, there is the discourse that street performance can enhance people’s experience of public space ( Simpson, 2011 ; Doughty and Lagerqvist, 2016 ; Doubleday, 2018 ), and that is of interest to the current paper.…”

“…” and “ This performance made me feel I belonged to this place. ”; Ho and Au, 2018 ; Ho et al, 2020 ). In Santa Monica, shoppers of a shopping promenade thought that street performance was important to the attraction of the area ( Doubleday, 2018 ).…”

Field study of audience experience in contemporary circus: An exploratory study on the impact of audience's expertise

“…Most recently, Ho and Au (2018) developed a Street Audience Experience (SAE) Scale-the model we adopt in the current work-for measuring the audience experience of street performance (i.e., performance or entertainment in public spaces with the intention of seeking voluntary donations from passers-by). The scale was developed and validated through a series of qualitative (interviews with street performers and street audience) and quantitative (surveys and factor analysis) studies with consideration given to performing-art forms inclusive of typical circus skills.…”

“…(Yes/No). Audience experience was measured using the SAE Scale developed and validated by Ho and Au (2018). The scale consists of six subscales (Emotion, Intellect, Novelty, Place, Interaction, and Technique), each composed of four items.…”