The Impact of Attitudes, Word-of-Mouth, and Value Congruence on Conference Participation: A Comparison of Attending and Non-Attending Organizational Members

ABSTRACT

In the face of competition for limited vacation and leisure time, meeting planners and membership associations have traditionally been interested in how to attract new members and enhance attendance at organizational conferences. This study empirically investigates members' intentions to attend organizational conferences using an accessibility-diagnosticity framework (Feldman and Lynch 1988). Findings suggest that post-attendance attitudes are the most important factor predicting intentions to (1) attend a future conference and (2) recommend the conference to others. Furthermore, what one has heard about the conference (i.e., the buzz) and one's perceived congruence with the values of the organization are also found to be important when predicting attendance intentions. Implications and conference planning strategies are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Conference attendance
• conference attitudes
• word-of-mouth
• customer retention

Notes

1. Note that there are various differing estimates of figures such as total revenue generated and total trips taken in the convention industry as cited by numerous sources. Although estimates of these numbers vary widely, the substantial impact of the industry is beyond dispute.

2. Respondents understood that “intentions” to attend or recommend a future conference were within the context of a very similar type conference as that attended in the past (as retirees of the government organization noted above).