Predicting event tourists’ gambling decision: the cross-level effect of brand equity

Abstract

Purpose

The scant literature on MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourists’ gambling behavior calls for a need to explore how their decision to gamble (hereafter, “gambling decision”) may unfold. Consequently, several questions germane to the inter-relationships among event tourists’ characteristics, casinos attributes, and gambling behaviors remain largely unaddressed. This paper aims to address the void in the literature by investigating event participants’ gambling decision.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected based on two samples, and a multilevel design was used to test the proposed model. Demographic and event-related participant characteristics were examined as antecedents of gambling decision at the individual level. Event goers’ accommodation characteristics such as brand equity and type of hotel were explored as cross-level effects on the individual-level factors and relationships.

Findings

Results of the study illustrate a joint influence – in terms of both direct and moderating effects – of individual-level and organizational-level characteristics on gambling decision. In particular, brand equity moderates the relationships leading from demographic and event-related characteristics to gambling decision.

Practical implications

The inter-relationships among events, accommodations and casinos present an opportunity for hospitality practitioners to better integrate these three services in a more coherent experiential offering for the ever-demanding MICE attendees. Findings also help practitioners to justify their targeting strategy.

Originality/value

The proposed framework presents the dynamic nature of the hospitality industry in which the event, hotel and casino sectors are interdependent, a picture hitherto prevented by the single-level oriented nature of gambling and hospitality research which largely focuses on the individual perspective. Given the dynamic nature of the hospitality industry, the findings elucidate a complex interdependency of customer needs.

Citation

Wong, I.A., Fong, H.I.V., Leong, A.M.W. and Li, J.X. (2019), "Predicting event tourists’ gambling decision: the cross-level effect of brand equity", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 2951-2969. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-05-2018-0434