The Effect of Adinkra Symbol Patronage on Tourism Growth in Ghana: The Mediating Role of Youth Awareness

Abstract

The study assessed the relationship between the patronage of adinkra symbols (AP) and the growth of Ghana’s tourism sector (TG), through the mediating effect of youth awareness (YA), using descriptive statistics and multiples regression analysis and the PROCESS Micro analytical tool of IBM SPSS. Results showed that for every unit increase in youth awareness (YA), there is a 66.90 % chance of increasing tourism growth (TG) in Ghana, provided that all other factors are held constant. Also, when tourists patronize more products with adinkra symbols, a unit increase in AP will cause about 81.40 % chance of increasing the growth in tourism (TG) along the areas studied in Ghana. Further assessment of the mediating effect of YA, increased AP increases TG and the effect of AP on TG is higher when youth are more aware about adinkra symbols, thus when YA increased. It is recommended that more attention is focused on the relevance of youth education on the cultural heritages and adinkra symbols, and that the Ghanaian government invests more in value creation and marketing of the adinkra-related tourism industry.

Keywords: Adinkra symbols, cultural heritage, youth awareness, tourism.

DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/52-05

Publication date:October 31^st 2019