LEGO^® Serious Play^® in multi-method tourism research

Abstract

Purpose

In the past decade, scholars across social sciences shifted their attention towards creative and dynamic research methods. Despite the growing popularity of LEGO^® Serious Play^® method across social sciences, few studies applied the method in tourism and hospitality research. This method represents a powerful tool which uses a toy to solve problems, explore ideas and achieve objectives in business, research and community work. This paper aims to provide insights into qualitative multi-method approach incorporating LEGO^® Serious Play^® to gain a deeper understanding of hosts-guest experiences in volunteer tourism exchange programme.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical material mentioned in the paper is based on an interpretive study investigating hosts-guest experiences on organic farms. The study used a multi-method approach, and the data were collected through unstructured interviews, observation, reflexive notes and LEGO^® Serious Play^® workshops with 32 participants in total.

Findings

The paper highlights the benefits and limitations of the qualitative multi-method study, specifically focusing on LEGO^® Serious Play^® as a novel approach for tourism and hospitality research.

Originality/value

This study contributes to making the current body of knowledge on qualitative multi-method methodologies and creative visual methodologies in the field of tourism and hospitality. As such, the paper provides an overview of the LEGO^® Serious Play^® method. Specifically, this exploratory paper brings attention to how and to what end existing LEGO^® Serious Play^® has been modified and adopted in this multi-method study. Furthermore, the paper highlights the future use to benefit the tourism and hospitality academics and industry professionals.

Citation

Wengel, Y. (2020), "LEGO^® Serious Play^® in multi-method tourism research", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 1605-1623. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-04-2019-0358