Mia Stokmans

Reading attitude and its effect on leisure time reading

Abstract Empirical cultural participation studies show that socio-demographic variables that are indicative for social class can explain differences in cultural participation, for example reading behavior. However, Bourdieus theory on cultural capital suggests that social class is only indirectly linked to cultural participation since shared experiences associated with particular class positions are shaped into enduring dispositions that generate consistent cultural behavior. This study focuses on the direct effect of these enduring dispositions on reading works of fiction in leisure time. The enduring dispositions are conceptualized and operationalized by means of the attitude towards ‘reading fiction’. The research question regards the effect of reading attitude on reading behavior given controls for the variables gender, income, educational level, age, and amount of spare time. To investigate this question, a convenience sample (n = 185), consisting of rather frequent fiction readers, was asked to fill out a questionnaire. Reading attitude was operationalized by twenty-four Likert items referring to the consequences or functions of reading fiction. Based on reliability and factor analyses, three functions of reading were identified as separate aspects of reading attitude: enjoyment, escape, and development/utility. Regression analyses showed that reading attitude positively affects reading behavior, when the socio-demographic variables, and the amount of spare time are controlled for. The effect of reading attitude on reading behavior is mainly attributable to the effect of the enjoyment aspect.

A descriptive model of the decision making process of buyers of books

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Genre categorization and its effect on preference for fiction books

In the domain of cultural products, sets of products categorized together on the basis of perceived similarities constitute a genre. When studying the process of genre categorization, any item can be viewed as the prototype of a genre plus a list of variations. The more an item resembles the prototype, the more this item is viewed as typical of the genre. The present study focuses on the extent to which the categorization of a fiction book cover by genre helps to single out the most preferred book. It is hypothesized that the typicality of a specific genre, identified by a books front cover, affects the preference for that book. In an experimental setting, frequent and infrequent readers (N = 32) were asked to judge the typicality and to state their preference for thirteen book covers from two different genres (literature and mystery). The results show that 77 percent of all covers were classified correctly as to genre. Furthermore, the more representative a book was for a particular genre, the greater the preference for the book.

The impact of experiential variables on patterns of museum attendance. The case of the Noord-Brabant Museum

Abstract Over the last twenty years, museum attendance has grown steadily. Increasingly, participation rates are being viewed as indicators of the success and legitimacy of policy in a given field of culture. Consequently, museums have become more interested in gaining insight into factors that affect museum attendance. This paper focuses on variables that shape patterns of attendance of those who are already museum-goers. It is assumed here that assessments of the experience visitors have with museums serve to explain variations in patterns of attendance. Variables measuring museum experience range from the preference for a museums collection of modern art to specific titles to rebates on admission prices. Very probably, such variables mediate between socio-economic background variables and outcome measures such as frequency of annual museum attendance and choices of specific shows, i.e., a show documenting important events of World War II and a show presenting neo-classical sculpture. The research is exploratory in nature: it identifies a number of experiential variables and assesses their effects on patterns of attendance and selections of those who are already museum visitors. Data were collected at a Dutch provincial museum with an archeological and an art collection.

The attention paid to new book releases on a display table

Abstract This study regards the attention paid to books presented on a table in a bookstore. In order to study this topic, a distinction was made between occasional and regular buyers of books. It was hypothesized that occasional and regular buyers differ in the attention paid to books on a presentation table. Another variable which has an effect on the attention paid to books presented on a table is whether or not a book buyer had a prior intention to buy a specific book (title, author or genre). For the regular buyers it was hypothesized that whether or not they had a prior intention to buy a specific book, they would still pay attention to books on a table. In the case of occasional buyers it was hypothesized that they would only pay attention to books on a table if they had no idea what book to buy. It turned out that occasional and regular buyers differ in the attention paid to books on a presentation table. Occasional buyers act more intensively around the display table but remember fewer titles correctly than regular buyers. Whether or not a regular or occasional buyer had a prior intention to buy a specific book has a significant effect on the attention paid to books on a display table. But the hypotheses regarding this variable, as stated above, were not confirmed. It turned out that buyers (occasional as well as regular) with a specific intention to buy a book paid more attention to books presented on a table than buyers (occasional as well as regular) without such an intention.