Assessing the impact of mobile technology on exhibition attendees' unplanned booth visit behaviour

Abstract

This study examines the effect of the booth Recommender system (BRS) embedded in a mobile device on the goals of exhibition attendees, based on two main theories that are unplanned behaviour and goal frame theories. Previous studies have overlooked the importance of the unplanned behavioural effectiveness of IT devices for understanding motivation and delivering unexpected outcomes at exhibitions. The BRS offers customized, personalized, and advanced information to attendees; experiences with the BRS lead to unplanned behaviour. In this paper, we distinguish several goal frames, including hedonic, gain, and normative goals, which contribute to the relationship between continued BRS use and unplanned booth visits. Continued BRS use directly influences revisit intentions to an exhibition and contributes to unplanned booth visits. We analysed data from 508 attendees at a franchise exhibition using structural equation modelling (SEM) method. Our research empirically determined that goal framing theory and unplanned behaviour via continued BRS use embedded in a mobile device are connected. Continued BRS use in an exhibition can contribute to attendees' impulsive behaviour and can induce them to return to an exhibition. The results and implications are discussed.