1. Introduction
Business tourism, also known as meetings, incentives, conferences, and-exhibitions (MICE) tourism, has emerged as a significant contributor to the global travel and tourism industry in recent years. The growth of business tourism can be attributed to the rise of globalization and technological advancements that have made it easier for companies to conduct business on a global scale. In addition, business events have become a vital platform for the exchange of knowledge, networking, and business development. As a result, destinations, particularly emerging ones, are investing heavily in developing their MICE infrastructure to attract business travelers and capture a share of this lucrative market [
1].
In developing economies, business travel is often a key contributor to the growth of the wider travel and tourism sector [
2]. By attracting business events and visitors, these economies can boost their overall tourism industry, generate significant long-term benefits for the host community [
3], and increase their brand recognition. Hence, many emerging destinations are making a concerted effort to attract business travelers and grow their business-tourism sector.
As Generation Z becomes an influential consumer group and a growing cohort in business tourism, understanding the driving factors that influence the participation by members of Generation Z in business events, such as conferences, is becoming increasingly crucial for the success of the MICE-tourism sector [
4]. The consumer behavior, purchasing decision-making styles, and travel characteristics of Generation Z individuals have been the subject of several previous academic and commercial studies [
5,
6,
7]. However, there is a significant research gap in the business-events sector when it comes to Generation Z, with most relevant commentary limited to industry-related media instead of academic research [
4]. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the factors that influence the motivations Generation Z individuals to attend conferences. The study will concentrate on Generation Z in Serbia, a developing economy in southeastern Europe where, according to the Strategy on Tourism Development of the Republic of Serbia 2016–2025 (the Strategy), MICE tourism is regarded as a high-priority tourist product. The Strategy recognizes MICE tourism as an essential driver of economic growth, job creation, and regional development, with a particular emphasis on attracting international business events and conferences to the country. In recent years, the country has hosted several high-profile international events, which have helped to boost its profile as a MICE-tourism destination [
8].
The study aims to address the following research questions:
What are the dimensions of the conference-attendance motivations of Generation Z individuals?
Are there differences in terms of respondents’ gender, level of education, employment status, and previous conference attendance that affect the motivations of Generation Z individuals to attend conferences?
This study has important implications for the conference industry in general, and for Serbia in particular, as it provides valuable insights that can help organizers and destinations to attract more Generation Z participants and enhance their conference experience.
3. Methodology
From June 2021 to January 2022, an online survey was administered to members of Generation Z, specifically targeting students from Serbia who were born in 1995 or later. Considering the increasing interest among conference organizers in second-tier destinations, this study holds significant importance, as it specifically focuses on Serbia—an emerging economy with considerable potential for hosting international conferences and various types of business events.
The survey questions used in this research were derived from a study conducted by Pavluković et al. [
4], which focused on exploring the motivations of Generation Z individuals to attend conferences. The survey was divided into two sections. In the first section, there were 37 items that aimed to assess the factors that influence the decision-making process for attending conferences. Respondents were required to rate the importance of these items on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not at all important) to 5 (very important). The second section of the survey focused on gathering sociodemographic information about the respondents, including gender, age, current program of study, employment status, and their conference attendance within the past five years.
A link with an invitation to participate in the research was distributed to students attending the University of Novi Sad, one of the major universities in Serbia, using the university’s social media accounts (Facebook and university email addresses). All students aged up to 27 were invited to complete the survey. Participation in this research was completely voluntary and anonymous. The respondents were familiar with the goals and purposes of the research. A total of 208 valid questionnaires were collected. Pallant [
46] suggested that an acceptable sample size falls within the range of 150 to 300, while MacCallum et al. [
47] proposed that for conducting both descriptive and factorial analyses, a sample size of 100 to 200 observations would be sufficient. The respondents were mainly students who studied tourism management, hotel management, geography, economy, psychology, chemistry, mathematics, and software engineering. The obtained data were processed by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 23, which was used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) calculus; for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) calculus, the authors applied R and RStudio (lavaan 0.6-16, semPlot 1.1.6, psych 2.3.6 and semTools 0.5-6 packages). For the final analysis, an independent
t-test, and one-way ANOVA, the authors again used SPSS.
4. Results
4.1. Study Sample Characteristics
The sample size comprised 208 participants who fell within the Generation Z age range. The majority of the participants were female, accounting for 61% of the respondents. Furthermore, a significant proportion of the participants were unemployed (67.8%) or pursuing postgraduate studies (60%). It is noteworthy that over two-thirds of the respondents had prior experience attending conferences within the last five years (
Table 3).
4.2. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)—Generation Z Conference-Attendance Motivations Scale
To explore the dimensions of Generation Z members’ conference motivations, a principal component analysis (PCA) was carried out with Varimax rotation. To test the assumptions for conducting the PCA, Kaiser’s measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity suggested that the data were suitable for factor analysis, with Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) values = 0.775 and
p = 0.000. The optimal number of factors was determined by a range of cut-off criteria such as an eigenvalue near to one, percentage of variance, item communalities, factor loadings, and parallel analysis [
48]. Items with loadings lower than 0.5 or with cross-loadings were discarded from further analysis [
49]. Based on the parallel analysis and scree plot suggestions, 10 items with factor loadings lower than 0.5 were extracted from the further analysis and a six-factor solution for the motivation of Generation Z individuals was suggested, which explained 51.17% of the variance (
Table 4). The results presented a clean factor structure with relatively higher loadings on the appropriate factors. The Cronbach’s alpha for the six motivation factors varied from 0.589 to 0.887, suggesting high internal consistency. The factors were labeled based on the core variables that constituted them.
4.3. Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA)
The latent-factors measurement model was estimated to check for innate construct validity and reliability using CFA. Initial model fit indices showed good results and good fit indices, except for the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) which was above the threshold (comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.873 (>0.9), Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) = 0.857 (>0.9), RMSEA = 0.085 (<0.08), standardized root mean squared residual (SRMR) = 0.100 (<0.08), and degrees of freedom (DF) = 378, p < 0.000), thus revealing potential problems associated with the model. Therefore, the modification indices needed to be used. Six items in total, with high residuals, were excluded (M22—well-known, reputable speakers, M23—interesting conference theme, M29—fun social events as part of the conference, M19—family support/family responsibilities, M10—time required to travel to the conference destination, M11—location close to home), thus defining a model with the satisfactory fit (CFI = 0.942, TLI = 0.932, RMSEA = 0.069, SRMR = 0.080, DF = 253, p < 0.000). The final scale for Generation Z conference-attendance motivation included six latent factors, with 23 items in total.
Factor one, “green and digital conference experience” (F1), captures the idea that a conference is environmentally responsible and digitally connected, with a strong online presence and digital program materials. It also suggests that the conference provides a rich and collaborative environment for sharing and generating ideas. Factor two, “educational and professional opportunities” (F2), comprises six items related to knowledge and experience that an individual can gain through a conference program and in contact with other participants. The third factor describes “conference costs” (F3), including transportation costs, accommodation costs and conference registration costs. Factor four, “destination and conference stimuli” (F4), refers to the conference destination’s attractiveness/scenery/sightseeing/shopping opportunities and weather, which can stimulate an individual to attend a conference. Factor five, “stimulating factors” (F5), is associated with the set of social components and previous experiences which can encourage an individual to participate in a conference. The last factor, “conference accessibility” (F6), is presented through two variables related to the spatial accessibility of a conference and safety at the destination.
The convergent validity of each dimension was examined by calculating the score of the average variance extracted (AVE) [
50]. A substantial convergent validity is achieved when all item-to-factor loadings are significant and the AVE score is higher than 0.50 within each dimension, but an AVE higher than 0.40 is still acceptable if the composite reliability (CR) is higher than 0.60 [
50,
51]. The results showed that all dimensions had an AVE higher than 0.40 and a CR higher than 0.60 (
Table 5), which indicated good convergent validity.
The discriminant validity was then checked by comparing the square root of each AVE with the correlation coefficients for each latent construct. Fornell and Larcker [
50] noted that the discriminant validity is guaranteed when the square root of each AVE is greater than the correlation coefficients estimate. The authors also applied the heterotrait-monotrait ratio (HTMT) to check the discriminant validity, where the HTMT criterion is met if the HTMT ratio is close to one [
52]. Some authors suggested a cut-off value of 0.85 [
53,
54], whereas others propose a cut-off value of 0.90 [
55,
56].
Table 6 shows that all values were below 0.85 (values mentioned in italics in brackets), indicating that there were no violations of HTMT
0.85, thus proving discriminant validity.
The square roots of the AVE values were all higher than the correlation values of the constructs compared to all other constructs; thus, the results confirmed that all dimensions had sufficient discriminant validity; see
Table 6 [
50,
57].
4.4. The Role of Socio-Demographic Variables
One of the objectives of the study was to examine the impact of various socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents on the extracted factors related to conference-participation decision-making, as perceived by members of Generation Z. To achieve this goal, the authors utilized the independent sample t-test to explore differences in gender, employment, and past conference-attendance experience. Additionally, an ANOVA test was conducted to assess differences in education levels.
The independent t-tests showed certain differences in responses based on gender and past conference-attendance experience. Females were more motivated than male respondents by F2 (educational and professional opportunities) (t = −3.114, p = 0.002) and F4 (destination and conference stimuli) (t = −2.347, p = 0.02). Respondents who attended conference(s) in the last 5 years were more motivated by F1 (green and digital conference experience) (t = 2.264, p = 0.029) and F2 (educational and professional opportunities) (t = 3.946, p = 0.000) than those who had not. Regarding employment status, there were no statistically significant differences between respondents in the importance of the extracted factors of conference-participation decision-making.
The results of the one-way ANOVA and post hoc LSD eest showed significant differences in the responses concerning the level of education for factors F2 (educational and professional opportunities) and F4 (destination and conference stimuli). Undergraduate students were the most motivated by F2 and F4, while postgraduates were moderately motivated and doctoral students were least-motivated (F = 6.301, p = 0.02; F = 3.479, p = 0.33).
5. Discussion and Conclusions
The present study was undertaken to address the current need for research that delves deeper into the factors driving Generation Z members’ attendance at conferences [
4]. By examining these motivations, the study aimed to contribute to a better understanding of conference-participation behavior among members of Generation Z.
The empirical findings supported the hypotheses H1a–d, highlighting the importance of six latent factors that influence Generation Z individuals’ motivations to attend conferences. These were green and digital conference experience (F1), educational and professional opportunities (F2), conference costs (F3), destination and conference stimuli (F4), stimulating factors (F5), and conference accessibility (F6). These factors encompassed various aspects, including environmental responsibility, digital connectivity, knowledge acquisition, networking, cost considerations, destination attractiveness, and accessibility. The findings aligned with previous studies on motivation factors [
58]. in the context of conference attendance [
15,
35], although such previous studies were not specifically related to Generation Z.
Additionally, the dimensions identified in this study can be closely linked to the core characteristics of Generation Z members [
16,
25,
27]. For instance, the focus on green and digital conference experiences aligns with Generation Z’s heightened environmental consciousness [
6] and reliance on digital technologies [
5]. The emphasis on educational and professional opportunities resonates with Generation Z members’ desire for continuous learning and career advancement [
16,
31]. Furthermore, the consideration of destination attractiveness reflects Generation Z members’ desire for experiences and social connections [
26,
29].
By establishing these connections, this study reinforces the relevance and applicability of the identified dimensions to Generation Z members’ unique characteristics and preferences. While past studies have predominantly employed exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to investigate the dimensions of conference attendees’ motivations, this study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to utilize confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to capture the underlying constructs of Generation Z members’ conference-motivations. By employing CFA, this study aimed to provide a more robust and confirmatory examination of the latent factors influencing Generation Z individuals’ motivations to attend conferences.
It is intriguing to note that destination characteristics, such as attractiveness, leisure activities, costs, and safety, along with educational and professional opportunities, have emerged as significant motivators for Generation Z members’ conference attendance in both Serbia (the present study) and China [
4]. This similarity in findings across different cultural contexts suggests that these factors hold universal importance in shaping the motivation of Generation Z members when it comes to attending conferences. This further emphasizes the significance of considering these factors when organizing conferences and targeting Generation Z attendees, regardless of the specific location.
The present study confirms that Generation Z members have a strong interest in sustainability. Therefore, conferences that incorporate eco-friendly practices and address social and environmental issues can create a more engaging and more meaningful experience for Generation Z attendees. Moreover, as Generation Z mostly comprises students who are often faced with financial challenges, the costs of attending conferences emerged as an important factor in the present study, as well as in previous studies on conference attendees’ motivations [
15,
41]. Hence, in order to appeal to Generation Z individuals and encourage their participation, conference organizers should consider offering affordable registration fees, providing discounted rates specifically for students, or even extending travel and accommodation assistance. Such measures can help alleviate financial barriers and make conference attendance more accessible and appealing to members of Generation Z.
The importance of studying Generation Z members’ motivations lies in their unique characteristics and expectations, compared to those of previous generations. As members of a generation that grew up with advanced technology, Generation Z individuals have distinct requirements that need to be considered when designing conferences. Factors such as networking opportunities, technological integration, personalization, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness are likely to influence their decisions to attend conferences. They also prioritize networking and seek opportunities to connect with industry professionals and keynote speakers. Technology plays a significant role in their lives, so incorporating social media integration and interactive applications can enhance their conference experience.
In addition, Generation Z is an important demographic to consider when targeting young MICE attendees. As they are currently building their careers through professional and educational activities, they represent a significant portion of the young workforce. Capturing the attention and loyalty of Generation Z attendees can have long-term benefits. When they form positive experiences and associations with events and organizations early in their careers, they are more likely to continue their patronage and participation in the future. By establishing a strong connection with this demographic now, event organizers and businesses can potentially foster long-lasting relationships that extend well into the next decade and beyond.
This study also investigated the impact of socio-demographic characteristics on conference-attendance motivations. The results supported all hypotheses except for H2c, underscoring the significance of gender, levels of education, and previous conference experiences in shaping Generation Z individuals’ motivational factors to attend conferences. The independent sample
t-tests revealed differences in motivation based on gender and past conference attendance experience. Female respondents showed higher motivation than male respondents in terms of educational and professional opportunities (F2) and destination and conference stimuli (F4). These findings aligned with similar studies conducted by Lopez Bonila et al. [
45] and Pavluković and Cimbaljević [
35], which discovered a gender-based difference in motivation among conference attendees. These consistent results suggest that gender may play a significant role in shaping the motivational factors related to conference-participation decision-making, particularly in relation to educational and professional opportunities, as well as destination and conference stimuli. Additionally, respondents who had attended conferences in the last five years exhibited higher motivation in green and digital conference experience (F1) and educational and professional opportunities (F2) than those respondents who had not attended conferences.
Regarding employment status, no statistically significant differences were found in the importance of the extracted factors for conference-participation decision-making. Therefore, H2c was not supported. These findings suggested that employment status may not significantly differentiate Generation Z members in terms of conference-attendance motivation, due to the fact that the current composition of this generation primarily consists of students. The one-way ANOVA results demonstrated significant differences in motivation based on the level of education for factors F2 (educational and professional opportunities) and F4 (destination and conference stimuli). Undergraduate students exhibited the highest motivation, followed by postgraduates, while doctoral students demonstrated the lowest motivation. As a result, factors such as gender, past conference-attendance experience, and levels of education may play a more substantial role in shaping the motivation of Generation Z individuals to attend conferences than their employment status. However, it is important to note that as Generation Z members transition into the workforce, their employment status may become a more influential factor in their conference-attendance motivation.
Overall, this study sheds light on the complex factors that shape Generation Z members’ motivations to attend conferences, as well as the impact of socio-demographic variables on this process. The results are relevant for various stakeholders in business tourism, including convention bureaus, destination-marketing organizations, destination-management companies, professional conference organizers, meeting planners, and venues. Particularly in the current challenging times, where increasing attendance is a common struggle, the findings of this research could be valuable for these intermediaries and suppliers.
However, it is important to note that the findings are based on self-reported data from a specific sample of Generation Z respondents—students from Serbia—which may limit generalizability. Future research could explore additional socio-demographic factors and employ a larger and more diverse sample to further enhance the understanding of conference-attendance motivation among Generation Z members. It is worth noting that motivations identified in this study may vary among individuals within Generation Z, as they are a diverse group. Conducting further research specifically targeting Generation Z members’ motivations toward conference attendance, particularly in different countries or geographic regions, can provide deeper insights and help conference organizers and host destinations cater to their unique needs and maximize the benefits derived from these events.