2026-05-23T18:55:18Zhttps://riubu.ubu.es/oai/request

oai:riubu.ubu.es:10259/116842026-05-22T00:09:08Zcom_10259_6193com_10259_4147com_10259.4_106com_10259_2604col_10259_6194

Co-creating value: the events sustainability index for a rural case Díez Hernández, Julieta Antón Maraña, Paula Moreno Molina, Adrián Event management Value co-creation Triple bottom line assessment Rural music festival Plan-Do-Check-Act framework Creating shared value theory Desarrollo rural Festivales musicales Rural development Music festivals Purpose This study tests a synthetic, multistakeholder framework for evaluating the sustainability of music festivals, fine-tuning it to rural settings, overcoming the traditionally accepted treatment of economic, sociocultural and environmental impacts separately to provide a synthetic contextualized and commensurable score. Design/methodology/approach Building on the triple bottom line and creating shared value perspectives, the framework integrates heterogeneous indicators into a single index which normalizes data for commensurability, incorporates both captured and uncaptured value, and applies stakeholder-informed weighting aligned with locally prioritized sustainability development goals (SDGs). Operationalized through a Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, the method was piloted in the AlpakaFest, volunteer-driven cultural festival set as a Regional Social Observation Lab in Hacinas (Spain), combining resident (N = 64) and participant (N = 470) surveys, expenditure data and carbon footprint analysis. Findings The framework successfully integrates economic, sociocultural and environmental data into a single Events Sustainability Index, capturing both tangible and intangible value. Its application to AlpakaFest highlights the strong sociocultural benefits of rural festivals while exposing trade-offs between economic gains and environmental impacts. Practical implications The approach equips organizers, policymakers and local stakeholders with a decision-support tool to benchmark festival impacts, identify sustainability trade-offs and embed continuous improvement into event governance. It also broadens the scope of event management research by demonstrating how small-scale, rural festivals can act as laboratories for sustainable development. Originality/value By synthesizing diverse impacts into a transparent, comparable index, this study advances beyond one-dimensional evaluations and responds to recent calls for frameworks that operationalize co-creation and shared value in rural event settings. The financial support received by the Spanish Universities' Ministry under the University Teachers' Training Programme (FPU/00605-2021 and FPU/00606-2021) 2026-05-21T11:17:22Z 2026-05-21T11:17:22Z 2026-03 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion 0025-1747 https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11684 10.1108/MD-09-2025-2928 1758-6070 eng Management Decision. 2026 https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-09-2025-2928 Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Emerald Publishing https://riubu.ubu.es/bitstream/10259/11684/4/Diez-MD_2026.PDF.jpg Hispana TEXT http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ RIUBU. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Burgos https://hdl.handle.net/10259/11684