Investigating exhibitors’ selling and non-selling motivations towards traditional festivals

Abstract

The paper aims to study the motivation of exhibitors for choosing small-scale traditional events by exploring selling and non-selling motivation factors from the exhibitors’ perspective in the context of traditional festivals where products are sold on site. While different researchers have examined the motivation of investing marketing efforts in exhibiting, this study investigates both selling and non-selling functions involved in exhibiting in the specific area of traditional festivals. The intensity of the link between exhibitors’ motivators and traditional festivals represents an understudied segment in this field. The research methodology includes an exploratory, questionnaire-based study on a sample of 137 exhibitors during the first day of the exhibition at two different, small-scale traditional festivals, questioning the differences between the non-selling and selling motivations. Results indicate that there is a statistically significant difference between the non-motivational and motivational factors affecting exhibitors of small-scale exhibitions. This paper contributes to the festival literature with the exhibitors’ perspective, bringing forward a framework of understanding for traditional festivals from the selling and non-selling motivators

Keywords

• exhibitors
• traditional festivals
• motivation