Value equity in event planning: a case study of Macau

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how value equity and its subdimensions of service quality, cost, and convenience drive customer satisfaction among business and leisure travelers who are attending events (e.g. conventions, expositions, parades, cultural events) in Macau, China. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a survey of 322 leisure and 91 business travelers who were present at 40 different major events in Macau, using a questionnaire that was designed by practitioners, academics, and tourism governmental authorities. The data were used to support the structural framework, and group comparison modeling was employed to show that a respondent's leisure or business travel status serves as a moderator between value equity and customer satisfaction. Findings – The results show that though value equity is positively related to customer satisfaction among both business and leisure travelers, some major differences exist regarding how these groups respond to an event's marketing actions that promote value and how they derive satisfaction from value. For example, leisure travelers place more emphasis on a venue's space and layout than business travelers. In terms of satisfaction, business travelers place more importance than leisure travelers on service quality but are less sensitive to an event's price. Research limitations/implications – The paper extends the value equity literature by applying the concept to event planning. The paper suggests that event planners should consider designing and implementing marketing actions that focus on value equity, in addition to traditional planning that relies on the service marketing mix. Given that the study's scales were adapted for use at 40 different venues in Macau, event planners may need to modify the scale items for their respective locales. The authors also put forth recommendation regarding expanding the SERVQUAL survey. Originality/value – Although value equity has been explored in hospitality/lodging, the concept is relatively unexplored in event planning. In addition, this paper shows how group consensus using the Delphi method among tourism academics and practitioners can yield a set of reliable service quality, cost, and convenience scales that may apply to a series of event venues.