The previous studies on convention participant's satisfaction have usually considered the convention destination and convention program as major variables of composing convention. They have focused only on the relationships between the attributes of c...
The previous studies on convention participant's satisfaction have usually considered the convention destination and convention program as major variables of composing convention. They have focused only on the relationships between the attributes of convention destination and convention participant's satisfaction or convention program and convention participant's satisfaction. However, they neglected the relationships between the attributes of convention destination and convention program. If it is considered that participants consume the convention program as a product only when convention program is combined with the attribute of convention destination, it can be said that the attributes of convention destination have a significant relationships with convention program.
This study has an purpose on analyzing the influence of both attributes of convention destination and convention program design on convention participant's satisfaction, the attributes of convention destination on convention program design, and convention participant's satisfaction on post convention participation behavior.
In order to achieve these purposes of this study, the previous literature concerning the attributes of convention destination, convention program design, convention participant's satisfaction and post convention participation behavior was reviewed. On the basis of the literature review, a research model and hypotheses for empirical analysis were established. In order to verify the research model and hypothesis, data were collected from the 314 domestic participants who attended the international conventions held in Seoul and Jejudo, which have a convention program for more than 2 nights, consisting of meeting, social activity, and recreational programs.
The methods used for analysis in this study are as follows: (1) simple frequency analysis of the sample's general characters, (2) reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and correlation analysis to approve the internal consistency reliability and validity of multi-factor measurement scales such as the attributes of convention destination, convention program design, convention participant's satisfaction and post convention participation behavior, (3) cluster analysis to divide groups into convention participation purposes, (4) Structural Equation Modeling to analyze the effect relationships among the variables (5) T-test and ANOVA to verify the differences among the variables according to the purpose of convention participation, the population statistic feature and the type of convention participation.
The major findings from empirical analysis and their implication are as follows: First of all, the attributes of convention destination had a little direct influence on convention participant's satisfaction but not enough for significant level. So hypothesis 1 was rejected. This result showed somewhat different from that of the previous studies which concluded that the attributes of convention destination had an influence on convention participant's satisfaction. Of course, this result might show that the influence of the attributes of convention destination on convention participant's satisfaction is diminished since the convention program design is included as another independent variable, weakening the influence of the attributes of convention destination on convention participant's satisfaction. On the other hand, this result makes sure that convention program design must be relatively a more important independent variable than the attributes of convention destination in relation to convention participant's satisfaction. Second, convention program design had a significant influence on convention participant's satisfaction. It means that the more convention participants experience convention programs favorably, the higher convention participants feel satisfactory.
Third, the attributes of convention destination had an influence on convention program design. In relation to convention participant's satisfaction, the previous studies considered the attributes of convention destination and convention program as an independent variables but did not analyze the relationships between the attributes of convention destination and convention program. So we can't figure out if each independent variable gives a direct effect on participant's satisfaction or the level of participant's satisfaction can be different on the basis of relationships between both independent variables. This study proved that the attributes of convention destination gave a direct effect on convention program design which plays a role of mediation between the attributes of convention destination and participant's satisfaction.
Forth, convention participant's satisfaction had an influence on post convention behavior, which showed a similar result with the previous studies. It was also indicated that the more participants experience convention program favorably, the higher participants has an intention to attend and recommend for other people. So convention participant's satisfaction plays a role of mediation between convention program design and post convention participation behavior.
Finally, there were significant differences among the variables according to the purposes of convention participation, the population statistic feature and the type of convention participation.
The major findings of this study show that convention program design should be included as an independent variable and evaluated more importantly than the attributes of convention destination in relation to post convention participation behavior. It also indicates that convention organizers should pay more attention to convention program design and convention cities should invest more efforts and money on developing convention product in order to increase convention participant's satisfaction.