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.