This paper provides an overview of the current state of academic research in event-tourism and its impact on the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Through a ...systematic review and bibliometric analysis of 159 articles, this study reveals a moderate alignment between the literature on sustainable event tourism and the UN SDGs. However, certain SDGs, such as No Poverty, Zero Hunger, and Gender Equality, have limited research attention in this context. This study also sheds light on under-researched stakeholders including sponsors, associations, and academic institutions. Drawing on the theory of change proposed by the UN Development Group and stakeholder analysis, the findings presented in this study serve as a bridge between theoretical frameworks and real-world applications. This study provides tangible solutions and strategies for aligning event-tourism practices with the principles and targets outlined in the UN SDGs.
Web accessibility is an important aspect of creating an inclusive event or meeting. This study examined a total of 278 websites' accessibility of various event sectors using AChecker. The findings ...explain the identified known problems of the websites by different event sectors (professional event management association events, convention centers, and tradeshows) based on Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) 2.0. In addition, the results contribute to the methodology of web-accessibility research suggesting that the exploratory factor analysis could offer web designers a practical improvement plan based on the unique interrelationships among the detected items of each criterion.
Festivals provide economic, social and cultural benefits to the communities in which they occur, and contribute to event tourism and destination marketing. This research reports a meta-analysis of ...the festival literature to evaluate the factors that contribute to festival satisfaction and loyalty. Attributes were classified into six categories: activities, authenticity/uniqueness, concessions, environment, escape and socialization. The analysis revealed that festival activities (program, entertainment, thematic activities) and environment (atmosphere, convenience, facilities) are the most important determinants of satisfaction and loyalty. Two perceptions were evaluated: cost/value and service quality. The analysis revealed that cost/value is important for both satisfaction and loyalty, whereas service quality is relatively unimportant. Satisfaction with the festival is strongly related to loyalty. The findings suggest that festival planners should focus on providing an enjoyable program in a comfortable environment at a reasonable price. This strategy will cultivate repeat attendance and stimulate future visits to the festival destination.
•Meta-analysis is used to evaluate factors that influence festival satisfaction and loyalty.•The most important attributes are festival activities and environment.•Perceptions of cost/value have stronger relationships than perceptions of service quality.•Festival satisfaction is strongly related to festival loyalty.
As COVID-19 compels the event industry to embrace a digital transformation with innovative and safer ways of organizing events, investigating event attendees' emotional responses and behavioral ...intention toward virtual sporting events becomes extremely important for event stakeholders. However, there is little empirical research on what factors lead to event participants' hedonic benefit, which is a crucial determinant of satisfaction and revisit intention in the context of virtual sporting events. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model, this study therefore develops and examines a conceptually comprehensive model on the interrelationship between mobile app attributes, hedonic benefit, satisfaction with event experience, and revisit intention in the context of a virtual race event. Results identified user interface attractiveness and perceived usefulness as significant determinants of hedonic benefit which, in turn, affect satisfaction with event experience and revisit intention. Further, the results revealed that hedonic benefit mediates the relationships. The findings of this study provide significant theoretical and managerial implications for both researchers and practitioners who are interested in the use of mobile apps in virtual race events.
This study explores the experience of in-person esports events from attendees’ perspectives by integrating the co-creation concept into the experience economy framework. The study adopted a ...mixed-methods approach to investigate the underlying psychological mechanism of attendees to actively participate in experience co-creation. The quantitative results validated the experience economy scale within the esports event context. Facilitated by Leximancer, qualitative findings revealed that co-creation elements are key ingredients that contribute to the quality of event experiences. The co-created experience at in-person esports events involves interactions among multiple actors, the physical environment, and other contributing factors that shape the overall experience. The study identified four key dimensions as crucial factors in co-creating a high-quality esports experience: shared fantasy world, immersive experience, social-learning experience, and active engagement. The proposed framework sheds light on a better understanding of the quality of experiences in esports events and provides valuable insights for industry practitioners.
Purpose
This study aims to explore how professional event associations’ recovery strategies are perceived by members and to measure the consequent influence of the perceived fit of recovery ...strategies on organizational identification (OI), consistent behavioral intentions and long-term commitment intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from current members of professional event management associations who work not only as event planners but also as service providers in the hospitality and tourism industry. The authors used partial least squares structural equation modeling to test the proposed model.
Findings
The perceived fit between recovery strategy and internal domains, the self in particular, was found to be the most important in exerting effects directly on OI, and its indirect effects are significant on all the behavioral intentions toward the association, while the perceived fit of recovery strategy with external domains, especially the industry, was not significant with any of the other factors.
Practical implications
The findings from the present study provide professional event association leaderships with significant managerial implications in establishing a sustainable business model to retain current members and increase their intentions toward consistent engagement and long-term commitment.
Originality/value
Stepping forward from the strategic management and organizational behavior literature in the private sector, the authors shed light on a crisis recovery mechanism of professional associations in the event industry, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first such attempt in the event management literature.
This study investigates web-accessibility problems of global trade show websites based on WCAG 2.0 (Study 1), and the quantitative results are compared with the qualitative document analysis of ...various web-accessibility policy-related documents treated as complementary data to support the triangulation of study findings and theory-building (Study 2). Ultimately, based on specific mentions of People with Disabilities (PWDs) in the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this study takes the perspective of macro-level social capital to connect the dots between web accessibility issues identified in the trade show industry and achieving the relevant SDGs.
Purpose
By integrating stimulus-organism-response theory and uses and gratifications theory, this study explored the salient gamification factors that satisfy the gratifications of conference ...attendees in the context of an event gamification mobile app and their relationships with conference engagement, continuance intention and word-of-mouth.
Design/methodology/approach
The questionnaire was developed in Qualtrics and administered on a gamification application called Goosechase during an annual hospitality conference. The proposed hypotheses were tested using the partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The gratifications of social presence, education and entertainment through a gamification mobile app influences attendees’ engagement during the conference while achievement gratification does not. Positive effects of conference engagement on their continuous intention and WOM have been also validated.
Originality/value
By adopting a unique integrated approach that utilizes UGT and S-O-R framework, while considering conference engagement as work-related engagement, this study offers a fresh perspective on gamification apps and discusses its theoretical and practical implications in depth.
