Motivators of attendance at eco-friendly events

Abstract

This study identifies the factors that attract U.S. residents to eco-friendly events. To achieve our research objective, we obtained data (N = 1,115) from a cross-national, web-based survey distributed to consumers 18 to 65 years of age living in the continental United States. The questionnaire was comprised of five multi-item summated rating scales adapted from the research literature: (1) environmentalism importance; (2) event motivation (push and pull factors); (3) event values; (4) event retention; and (5) sociodemographic information. Data analysis was performed using the SAS^® Enterprise Miner^TM version 14.1. It identified four intrinsic push factors: “social status promotion,” “making a connection with the environmentally knowledgeable people,” “self-remediation,” and “learning about up-to-date environmentally sustainable products and practices.” There was one extrinsic pull factor: “location.” The findings can help tourism policy and decision makers, planners, marketers (e.g., destination marketing organizations, convention and visitor bureaus), and academic specialists in destination management and marketing.

Keywords:

• Eco-friendly event
• event motivation
• green event
• push and pull factors
• sustainability management in events

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Notes

1 Decision Tree® analysis https://www.saedsayad.com/decision_tree_reg.htm

2 Segment profile node analysis https://documentation.sas.com/?docsetId=emref&docsetTarget=p0on7fl364bwivn1wnku1xwhdx5j.htm&docsetVersion=14.3&locale=en

3 Number(s) in parenthesis indicate scale rating of node

Additional information

Funding

This research was partially funded by Iowa State University (grant number: FSU 0000009).