It’s Not Just Black or White: Effects of Ambivalence on Residents’ Support for a Mega-Event

Residents can simultaneously possess positive and negative evaluations of mega-events hosted in their communities. The coexistence of positive and negative evaluations is attitudinal ambivalence. The extent to which ambivalence influences resident support for tourism development or mega-events has not been examined empirically. This article investigates residents’ ambivalence toward the 2010 Shanghai Expo and empirically tests the effects of ambivalence on residents’ intentions to support mega-events. Results show that Shanghai residents experienced the highest level of ambivalence during the event, and ambivalence negatively affected residents’ support of mega-events in general. Also, ambivalence was found to moderate the relationship between event satisfaction and support intention. The positive influence of satisfaction on support intention was found to be significant only when ambivalence was low.