Fans of Sesc in São Paulo: a study on hospitality and welcome

Fans del Sesc en São Paulo: un estudio sobre la hospitalidad y la acogida

Abstract

The study presents the results of an empirical research in the area of ​​hospitality and reception that intended to outline a profile of the participants of social networks’ groups of fans of Sesc in São Paulo, cultural and leisure center with 41 units in the state of São Paulo. The hypothesis is that this virtual group represents the institution's priority public: the trade, service and tourism worker, whom Prahalad calls the the pyramid bottom. For the theoretical basis, some of the concepts were sought in authors of hospitality, economics and culture. A questionnaire was then prepared with 17 questions - 14 of which were multiple-choice and with more than one selection and 3 were open - divided into three sections: the first one, that selected those who participated in any of the selected Facebook groups; the second, to outline a brief socioeconomic profile; and the third, which sought to better understand attendance and participation in the activities of the Sesc in the state of São Paulo. The research was available from November 26 to December 4, 2017, with 224 valid answers. From a statistical and exploratory character for subsequent descriptive analysis, the questionnaire was applied in three groups of fans selected by number of participants. At the end of the analysis, it was possible to present a brief overview of the profile of the fan of Sesc, participant of groups of Facebook, and that perceive the relations of hospitality with the employees of the institution.

Keywords:
Hospitality; Welcoming; Cultural Center; Fan; Pyramid bottom

Resumen

El estudio presenta los resultados de una investigación empírica en el área de hospitalidad y acogida que pretendió trazar un perfil de los participantes de grupos en las redes sociales de fans del Sesc en São Paulo, centro cultural y de ocio con 41 unidades en el estado de São Paulo. La hipótesis es que este público virtual representa al público prioritario de la institución: el trabajador del comercio, servicios y turismo, que Prahalad denomina la base de la pirámide. Para la fundamentación teórica, se buscó, por lo tanto, en autores de hospitalidad, acogida, economía y cultura algunos de los conceptos. Se elaboró ​​entonces un cuestionario con 17 preguntas - siendo 14 cerradas de múltiple elección y de más de una selección y 3 abiertas -, dividido en tres secciones: la primera, que limaba quien no participaba de ninguno de los grupos de Facebook seleccionados; la segunda, para trazar un breve perfil socioeconómico; y la tercera, que intentó comprender mejor la asiduidad y participación en la programación de las unidades del Sesc en el estado de São Paulo. La encuesta estuvo disponible desde el 26 de noviembre al 4 de diciembre de 2017, con 224 respuestas válidas. De carácter estadístico y exploratorio para posterior análisis descriptivo, el cuestionario fue aplicado en tres grupos de fans seleccionados por número de participantes. Al final de los análisis, se pudo presentar un breve panorama del perfil del aficionado por el Sesc, participante de grupos de Facebook, y que perciben las relaciones de hospitalidad y acogida de los funcionarios de la institución.

Palabras-clave:
Hospitalidad; Acogida; Centro Cultural; Fan; Base de la pirámide

Resumo

O estudo apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa empírica na área de hospitalidade e acolhimento que pretendeu traçar um perfil dos participantes de grupos nas redes sociais de fãs do Sesc em São Paulo, centro cultural e de lazer com 41 unidades no estado de São Paulo. A hipótese é a de que este público virtual representa o público prioritário da instituição: o trabalhador do comércio, serviços e turismo, que Prahalad denomina de a base da pirâmide. Para a fundamentação teórica, buscou-se, portanto, em autores de hospitalidade, acolhimento, economia e cultura alguns dos conceitos. Foi elaborado então um questionário com 17 questões - sendo 14 fechadas de múltipla escolha e de mais de uma seleção e 3 abertas -, dividido em três seções: a primeira, que limava quem não participava de nenhum dos grupos do Facebook selecionados; a segunda, para traçar um breve perfil socioeconômico; e a terceira, que procurou entender melhor a assiduidade e participação na programação das unidades do Sesc no estado de São Paulo. A pesquisa ficou disponível de 26 de novembro a 4 de dezembro de 2017, totalizando 224 respostas válidas. De caráter estatístico e exploratório para posterior análise descritiva, o questionário foi aplicado em três grupos de fãs selecionados por número de participantes. Ao final das análises, pôde-se apresentar um breve panorama do perfil do aficionado pelo Sesc, participante de grupos do Facebook, e que percebem as relações de hospitalidade e acolhimento dos funcionários da instituição.

Palavras-chave:
Hospitalidade; Acolhimento; Centro Cultural; Fã; Base da pirâmide

1 INTRODUCTION

The present study shows the results of an empirical research in the field of hospitality that, in an exploratory way, sought to measure the satisfaction of Sesc self-proclaimed fans in São Paulo, a cultural and leisure center with 41 units in the state of São Paulo (Sesc São Paulo, 2017). The theoretical framework identifies the concepts of hospitality and welcome, the bottom of the pyramid (Prahalad, 2017), and cultural centers.

Thus, the objective is to present an overview of the profile of Sesc fans, in groups in the social network Facebook, attending the institution and that perceive hospitality and welcome of its employees, here representing the host.

This positive relationship is important for any commercial establishment to create a connection with consumers, thus enabling a more genuine exchange relationship, even if it is a financial transaction (Binet-Montandon, 2011; Gotman, 2009; Telfer, 2004). For this reason, research on the impact of hospitality on the experience and consumption of culture, and on the entertainment of this cultural center visitor is justified.

The objective of this survey was to describe the socioeconomic profile and the experience of Sesc centers-goers who are members of "Aficionados pelo SESC-SP [SESC-SP Fans]", "SESC" and "SESC - Troca de ingressos [Exchange of Tickets]" fan groups.

Therefore, considering these fans members of groups on social media, the hypothesis to be tested is that this online universe represents the physical universe of the target audience of Sesc in São Paulo: workers in commerce, services, and tourism, mostly of low- and-middle income, represented here by the bottom of the pyramid of CK Prahalad.

In the following pages, we present a literature review for hospitality, welcome, cultural center, fans, and bottom of the pyramid which is the conceptual foundation of this research. At the end, we verify if the objective of the study was met and present future avenues of research, mainly because this study is exploratory and a descriptive statistical analysis.

2 HOSPITALITY AND WELCOME IN CULTURAL CENTERS

In this study, the concepts are understood within a framework, from now on, called the scene of hospitality (Camargo, 2004; Montandon, 2011). In this context, the encounter is studied in four moments (arrival, reception, gift, and farewell), chosen among those observed by Montandon for being consistent with the reality of the object (Sesc in São Paulo). Moreover, we consider the moments, also described by Alain Montandon (2011), of receiving, staying and leaving. As actors of this encounter, the roles of host and guest are represented here by respectively the Sesc employee and the center attendee-visitor. Figure 1 depicts this framework.

Figure 1
The scene of hospitality of Sesc in São Paulo

This study focuses on hospitality in commercial settings, encompassing both the commercial and social domains, defined by Lashley (2004) and Camargo (2004), since in Sesc cultural centers these domains overlap. Thus, the concept of hospitality is based both on authors who study gift exchange in settings where there is a financial return, as the English and the Americans, and on authors whose approach is in terms of society, culture, and tradition, as the French. Therefore, we draw mainly on Pitt-Rivers (2012), who examined the laws of hospitality; on Boudou (2012), who studied the rites and types of guest and host; and on Telfer (2004) to address the characteristics of being hospitable (hospitableness).

In order to understand the concepts of reception in the context of a private sociocultural institution, the authors in the theoretical foundation are: Binet-Montandon (2011), who examines the social ties through reception, and Grassi (2011), who presents the passage from the outside to the inside and the ritual of reception and, also, Boudou (2012) who addresses the rites of hospitality.

"Hospitality is a way of living together, governed by rules, rites, and laws" (Montandon, 2011, p.31). Among the various etymologies of the word hospitality, Benveniste (1995) finds a link with Mauss's studies in his book “The Gift”, in which he focuses on the relationships that are created between different peoples, sometimes strangers, in an encounter that happens in the physical (geographic) space of one or the other. Both Mauss (2003) and Benveniste refer to the ritual of potlatch - the act of giving what one has to others in the community as a form of retribution, in the first place, for having won all that. Then, studying words from different languages and ethnicities, such as guest, host, possess, hostile stranger, and enemy, appear to signify this encounter between strangers or not.

Montandon (2011) recalls Homer's remark in Odyssey about the behavior of the host and the guest in this ritual, the scene of hospitality. Among the micro scenes that follow formulas and rules, four of them unfold here: the arrival, the reception, the gift exchange, and the farewell; since the other moments focus more on hospitality in the domestic domain or when lodging is involved.

The first stage of this encounter, in a commercial and social context such as a cultural center, may be the arrival: "everything starts on that threshold, on that door that is knocked on and opens to an unknown, strange face" (Montandon, 2011, p. 32). This stage is linked to that of Boudou (2017), the separation, giving rise to rapprochement. Upon arrival, the guest is halfway between a hostile stranger and that of a member of the community (Binet-Montandon, 2011).

The reception offers the service, the welcome after crossing the threshold, which Boudou also calls the "margin", better expressed by waiting time than by space. In the case of the commercial establishment, the reception is when the visitor feels welcome and well received in that space.

Once hospitality begins to develop, the gift can take place in a gesture, something that differentiates the welcome from any other. It is at this moment that the gift becomes visible: the host gives the guest a gift, who feels obliged to reciprocate, either with a gesture or with another token. However, in gift-giving time lags between giving and reciprocating are fundamental, for hospitality "presupposes a one-way relation between host and guest" (Boudou, 2017, p. 113).

It is time for farewell. Montandon recalls the three-day rule that many cultures take as a proverb, since this length of time defines "the framework and boundaries: a time to welcome, a time to stay, a time to leave" (2011, p.34). In keeping with the author’s perspective, the aim of hospitality is not to integrate, it is something between exclusion and inclusion. In this logic, the outsider will, little by little become a member of the community; but at the same time, if a symbolic space is established in communication, the guest will always be a stranger within the group (Binet-Montandon, 2011). Boudou reinforces this idea that hospitality ceases when the guest is integrated when, the author argues, it helps to solve:

[…] the dilemma of an encounter that cannot lead to integration (a marriage would be necessary, for example), granting the foreigner a status of too much importance to be temporary. [...] the community hierarchizes this relationship and legitimates through hospitality. (Boudou, 2017, p. 111)

Obviously, in a commercial establishment that does not offer lodging the time to leave is another; the idea is that after reception and having enjoyed the service or product is time to leave.

Finally, as in every scene, we have the actors. In this case, these are the host and guest roles that resort to rites, through customs and traditions, to govern the relationship in a positive (hospitality) or negative (hostility) way.

2.1 The roles in the scene of hospitality

In the encounter, as explained previously, the actors studied here are the Sesc employee, representing the host, who receives his guest, the visitor. Even if the roles can be reversed in different situations, or if the host receives another guest (a new colleague, a supplier, an artist, etc.), the option in this context is to consider the second as the visitor; a customer from the commercial point of view, an attendee from the institution perspective.

Both participants in this scene have their interests in this relationship, whether relevant or not to hospitality (Lashley, 2004; Telfer, 2004), since there are mutual obligations and reciprocity dictated by unwritten rules (Pitt-Rivers, 2012; Lashley, 2004). These rules are followed in traditions coined by the culture of each people or region, as Mauss’s (2003) cycle of gift-exchange: one gives and the other receives. The reasons, as Telfer (2004) points out, should be based on generosity to have a real intention of hospitality, the author describe these hospitable qualities in the host as ‘hospitableness’. In the case of the visitor, because we are not dealing with lodging spaces, Boudou's classification of outsiders (2017) according to their intentions is the most adequate to this kind of actor. As these intentions may be different, we chose the most appropriate ways of this outsider arriving at a commercial establishment: the newcomer (to be initiated), the danger (to be eliminated), the guest (to be welcomed), the difference (to be understood), and finally the stranger himself (to be familiarized). At the same time, host and guest, for lack of knowledge, are a threat to each other. Boudou (2017) also explains that the outsider, the stranger, can present himself as a risk to the society in which he arrives, since at first sight his intentions are not known. In turn, the host is also a mystery, as he can be either hospitable or hostile.

In this sense, the motives, or interests of each of the actors contribute either to a relationship of hospitality or hostility, and it is then up to the host company to ensure that hospitality is a quality in its employees. In this way the hospitality may be more recurrent in exchange relations with this unknown visitor that arrives.

There are also cases in which the visitor of this establishment creates a connection with the space, the company, and its employees, i.e., the host, who shifts from stranger to friend. Telfer (2003, p. 65), speaks of reception as a way of being friendly (thinking of the host's relationship with guests), an invitation to intimacy, an offer of "a share in the host's private life." This feeling of being at home and making the other feel at home can turn the guest into a host when he is so comfortable that he invites other acquaintances to visit the space, thus becoming a host, even if temporarily. This relationship is termed by Lugosi (2008) meta-hospitality, when he studied the behavior of customers of commercial food establishments who exchanged roles for a few moments when they felt welcomed in that space.

Still on the relationship between host with his guests, both Boudou (2017) and Pitt-Rivers (2012) mention the rules and rites that permeate it. The tradition and culture of each people bring rules that, albeit not written, are innate in that community and regulate a moral and ethical code of acceptance. Boudou adds that the "ritual of hospitality proceeds from a reversed hierarchy, the double purpose of which is to make inter-group sociability possible while preserving intra-group integrity" (2017, p. 104). That is, hospitality functions as a ritual of contradictory elements - the certainty of the encounter and the uncertainty of intentions - that is identifiable, repeatable, and has its actors within a space and over a period. Hospitality, then, acts as a protection for both actors in this encounter, "it is a gesture of compensation, of equalization, of protection" (Grassi, 2011, p. 45), since the unknown becomes known giving rise to a relationship (and in a more positive way, as expected) after these rites of passage: from the street to the threshold and from the threshold to the interior, "the threshold marks a border, a passage, and its transposition implies tacitly, for the guest, acceptance of the rules of the other" (Montandon, 2011, p. 32).

3 THE BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID AND SESC FANS

The guests, in this context, are fans of Sesc. Despite knowing the host well (the institution) they are still unknown to the company. However, they interact mediated by social media and there is a positive relationship between belonging to that community and well-being (Chadborn, Edwards, & Reysen, 2017; Reysen, Plante, & Chadborn, 2017). These fan communities have a common interest (Chadborn et al., 2017), and in this case it is the cultural and sports center program. And who is this fan who enjoys free leisure activities?

"More than 4 billion people live at the BOP [Bottom of the Pyramid] on less than US$ 2 per day" (Prahalad, 2017, p. 48). The assumption is that Sesc's target audience - workers in commerce, services, and tourism - would fit into this concept. Prahalad examines the economic pyramid that illustrates the world's income-generating capacity and points to this large untapped market as an opportunity that represented US$ 5 trillion in purchasing power in 2005.

In this context, it is important to know this customer through partnerships between small and large companies and the third sector. In doing so, they become relevant to the local community, since they can produce and sell with quality. In this way, Prahalad understands that it is possible to make a profit and to eradicate poverty in the world, but, for example, in the case of Brazil, as mentioned by Karnani (2016), this poverty line would not mean the same, since Brazilians would be poor with income less than US$ 3,927 a year. This would include classes C, D, and E and would make the base of the pyramid overestimated.

Even so, for this group, autonomy positively affects life satisfaction (Martin & Paul Hill, 2012), hence the alignment with the institution's policy of promoting personal autonomy and interaction, valuing people (Sesc São Paulo, 2017).

4 CULTURAL CENTERS - SESC IN SÃO PAULO

Cultural centers are spaces to keep culture alive (Coelho, 1986, apudSilva, 2013), a collective construction of human interactions and therefore, a dynamic entity.

This is the context wherein Sesc is inserted in the state of São Paulo.

Since 1946, the year of the creation of the Social Service of the Commerce - Sesc by entrepreneurs in the commerce and service sectors (Sesc São Paulo, 2017), the institution has introduced innovative models of culture activities and non-formal education. From high culture to popular culture, from social tourism to environmental education, from health programs to programs aimed at different age groups, and from sports to leisure, the program of activities and services offered aims to serve all audiences, contributing to the creation of memorable and meaningful experiences. With 41 cultural and sports units (until December 2017 and still expanding) in the state of São Paulo, it develops actions of informal and permanent education "in order to value people by encouraging autonomy, contact and interaction with diverse expressions and ways of thinking, acting, and feeling” (Sesc São Paulo, 2017), the institution also has pioneering programs, such as Mesa Brasil, which collects food donations from companies and takes them to welfare organizations duly assisted by the Sesc nutrition team. The activities are complemented with online actions of the SescSP Portal, SescTV programs, products of the Sesc brand and Sesc Editions, as well as of the magazine E and the periodicals Mais 60 (Over 60) and Cadernos de Cidadania (Citizenship Booklets), which disseminate and record the action of Sesc beyond the physical facilities of the units.

At the beginning of its activities, the institution only served workers in commerce and services, however, over time, the service extended to the entire community, without leaving aside its target audience, now encompassing also workers in the tourism sector. In 2013, the institution turns its attention to the so-called workers in commerce, services, and tourism, limiting the access to certain spaces and activities to other customers, in order to ensure the service to its target audience.

5 METHODOLOGY

The exploratory quantitative survey was conducted among three groups on Facebook, selected by number of members and, mainly, by the motto: Sesc fans. The research instrument was built in Google Forms and consisted of 17 questions. It was applied from November 26 to December 4, 2017 in that social networking service. The objective was to understand the socioeconomic profile and the experience Sesc centers users that are members of fan groups on Facebook.

This statistical and descriptive survey was composed of 17 questions of which 14 closed-ended multiple choice (more than one answer) and 3 open-ended questions. The first question (In which of Sesc fan groups do you participate?) was a screening question since the idea was to focus only on members of those groups. Thus, among Sesc fans groups on Facebook with the largest number of participants, four were pre-selected:

• 1) Aficionados pelo SESC-SP [SESC-SP fans] - 3,947 members (Nov. 16, 2017) Administrators (not workers): Valdeci and Márcio

• 2) SESC - Troca de Ingressos [Exchange of Tickets] - 2,037 members (Nov. 16, 2017) Administrators (not workers): Tadeu, Taciana, and Rodrigo

• 3) SESC - 1,061 members (November 16, 2017) Administrator (former worker): Vanderlei

• 4) "Das Antigas" Sesc [“Old times”] - 505 members (Nov. 16, 2017) Administrators (workers): Umberto, Maria, and Vanessa

To obtain a less biased result, the group "Das Antigas" [“Old times”] Sesc was discarded because the administrators are Sesc employees, therefore, they could interfere with postings and moderation. It was also the group with the fewest members, which facilitated exclusion from research.

The three groups selected for the survey were: Aficionados pelo SESC-SP [SESC-SP fans], SESC-Troca de Ingressos [SESC - Exchange of Tickets], and SESC. All of them post events schedules, in addition to more specific postings, like offers for purchase and sale of tickets (Tricolor, Ferreira, & Oliba, [s.d.]).

The questionnaire was divided into three sections: the first, screened out any respondent who did not participate in any of the selected groups; the second section, socioeconomic profile; and the third, which sought to better understand attendance and participation in the programming of Sesc centers in the state of São Paulo; even if groups members are from other states (Gomes, [s.d.]).

The link was posted in these groups on November 26, 2017 and the return was immediate, totaling, for the total period, 243 responses. Of these, 224 were validated, i.e., participations of actual members of the group.

The results show a sample of this universe of Sesc fan groups in São Paulo, according to the analysis that follows.

6 ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

The first question screened out those not members of the selected groups.

Chart 1
Question 1 - Participation in groups

Of the valid responses (224 out of 243), the majority (49.4%) were from the largest group, which maybe justifies the greater participation. After all, the administrator Márcio Nunes Ribeiro makes clear that the group's goal is providing knowledge, encourage the meeting, friendship, sharing, and generosity among Sesc-SP fans (Ribeiro & Silva, [s.d.]). It is also noted that this is the most participative and organized group, sharing relevant information for all.

Nineteen people responded to the survey without attending any group, most likely because they were tagged in the comments by group members, as posts are not closed to outside audiences.

The second section included eight questions aimed at the socioeconomic profile of the respondents, one of which is only for those who have full credentials (Sesc enrollment) to find out if they are credential holders or dependents.

Chart 2
Question 2 - Full credential

The majority, 151 people, answered positively, showing that the groups are in general formed by workers in commerce, services, and tourism enrolled in Sesc. Of that total, 122 were credential holders.

The question about age presented the options that included the adolescent (less than 18 years); the young adult (18 to 29 years old); the adult aged 30 to 59 years divided into two age groups; and the elderly, over 60 years old.

Chart 3
Question 3 - Age

The result shows that there are almost no adolescents in the group (only 1), since in theory the entry into the social network studied here should be only for people over 18 years. Another low result was for the age group above 60 years old, with only 17 responses to the survey. The predominant age is, then, adults, mostly between 30 and 45 years.

For the next question, about gender, it was decided to include more options than is usual in surveys, to know the real profile of the fans and considering that the audience of Sesc is well diversified (as already shown in Chart 3, about age).

Chart 4
Question 4 - Gender

Respondents could choose from six options, which included the cisgender and transgender male, cisgender and transgender female, nonbinary, and other not listed. Most respondents identified themselves as cisgender females (two thirds), and only five people answered that they did not identify with any of the listed genders (2.2%).

With regards to education, the results showed that most respondents surveyed have completed high levels of education.

Chart 5
Question 5 - Education

Only 4 respondents have not completed either elementary or high school, and 109 had a graduate degree, accounting for almost half of the sample. This universe may not be the same as the credential holders and visitors of the units of this cultural center, however, since Facebook groups share information on shows and other cultural events, it is noticed that education is a repertoire factor for those interested in Sesc programs.

Another question that indicates a differentiated public in this sample is the sixth, on whether the respondent is the provider of the family.

Chart 6
Question 6 - Provider of the family

The answer of 97, against 127, of non-providers may suggest that many respondents are dependent family members, since they are mostly young people (up to 45 years old, 152 out of 224).

The family income is the question that would most represent here the target audience of SESC, the one corresponding to Prahalad’s ‘bottom of the pyramid’ concept. Survey question seven addressed the household’s income of the sample.

Chart 7
Question 7 - Family income

Almost 80% of the respondents’ households earn between R$ 1,874 and 4,685 or more, adding up the income of the whole family. In Brazil, considering Critério Brasil (Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Pesquisa, 2016), the sample would be predominantly considered in socioeconomic classes C and B, i.e., with high purchasing power.

The last chart presents the answers to the question about the number of family members.

Chart 8
Question 8 - Family size

Almost half of respondents’ families have up to two people, a reflection of small families in Brazil today, mostly couples with few children (the option “more than 3” had 62 answers).

From the socioeconomic results obtained stands out that the sample subjects belong to a high social class, dependent on the family, and young adult. Given that the family has few members and the level of education is high, perhaps most of the respondents are students who live alone and are supported by the family living in another city. According to the hypothesis raised in this study, that this online universe represents the physical universe of the target audience of Sesc institution in São Paulo, the poor and low- and middle-income worker at Prahalad’s bottom of the pyramid, it can be stated that the hypothesis does not hold and therefore can be rejected.

The third and last section, about the experience in Sesc units, begins with a question about the frequency of visit.

Chart 9
Question 9 - Frequency of visit

The sample regularly visits the units, since the majority (140) goes at least once a week to a unit of Sesc. Only 13 (5.8%) people answered that they rarely go to Sesc.

Question 10 sought to know if there is participation of this public and its dependents in physical-sports activities (water aerobics, aquatic exercise, physical activities, Sesc sports program, multifunctional exercise, and running, walking and bicycle clubs) and non-formal education of Sesc (Curumim, for children from 7 to 12 years old, and Juventudes, for adolescents from 13 to 29 years old).

Chart 10
Question 10 - Enrollment in permanent activities

Most of the respondents do not participate in any permanent activity, which may mean that these fans prefer to enjoy the cultural program of the Sesc units in São Paulo.

The last six questions concern the units that participants attend the most, like and dislike, and why. Respondents could choose one or more reasons from five categories: environment (cleaning, architecture, equipment, spaces), service (employees and contractors), program (activities offered), social interaction with other visitors, and accessibility (location, universal accessibility, public transportation service, proximity to home or work). The answers are summarized in Tables 1 to 3, below.

Table 1
Question 11 - Most attended units and reasons

Most attended units	Reasons
Pompeia (52)	Program (64%)
Belenzinho (44)	Accessibility (54.7%)
Pinheiros (41)	Environment (34%)
Vila Mariana (19)	Service (15.7%)
Others (67)	Sociability (11.7%)

• Source: Search data

Table 2
Question 12 - Preferred units and reasons

Preferred units	Reasons
Belenzinho (66)	Program (61%)
Pinheiros (51)	Environment (56.5%)
Pompeia (50)	Accessibility (34.5%)
Bertioga (14)	Service (27.8%)
Others (42)	Sociability (16.1%)

• Source: Search data

Table 3
Question 13 - Less preferred units and reasons

Less preferred units	Reasons
Carmo (35)	Accessibility (52%)
Bom Retiro (18)	Environment (26%)
Consolação (13)	Program (23.3%)
Itaquera (11)	Service (13%)
Other or None (146)	Sociability (9.4%)

• Source: Search data

Regarding the experience of the respondents in the units of the Sesc, it can be noticed that the strongest reasons given for visiting or not a unit are the program, environment, and accessibility, while the social interactions and service do not have as much influence in their choices.

7 FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

It can be said that it was possible to present a brief overview of the profile of the Sesc fan, member of groups in the social network Facebook selected by the researchers, who perceive the relationships of hospitality and reception of the employees, here representing the host.

The hypothesis presented at the beginning of this paper is that the online fan population would represent the target audience attending the Sesc institution in São Paulo: workers in commerce, services, and tourism, mostly low- and middle-income people, represented by the bottom of the pyramid (Prahalad, 2017), was no supported by the results of the socioeconomic study. Respondents represented a high-income social class, dependent on the family, and young adult.

The section of the questionnaire on the experience in Sesc units also opened new avenues of research that could be carried out focusing on the institution-customer relationship through the employee's hospitality relationship with the attending public.

In the case of Sesc, a cultural and leisure center, and a commercial establishment that allows social interaction between visitors and the community, hospitality takes place from arrival to farewell. In due time, guest and host act in their roles to build a relationship of exchange. The visitors arrive, are received and welcomed, stay and enjoy their time, their experience in the institution, they interact with the employees who serve them and finally, say goodbye.

The gift, the exchange, the bond, and reciprocity are part of hospitality and its rituals (Boudou, 2012; Grassi, 2011; Montandon, 2011). Each encounter studied is unique since we are dealing with people and their unknown intentions. In the end, the circulation of the gift creates a new cycle and the future encounters allow for the hospitality to always happen.

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• Note:

  This research was funded by the Graduate Support Program for Private Universities - PROSUP (CAPES) and the Universidade Anhembi Morumbi.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  May-Aug 2018

History

• Received
  09 Jan 2018
• Accepted
  22 Feb 2018