Understanding the Exhibition Attendees’ Evaluation of Their Experiences: A Comparison Between High Versus Low Mindful Visitors

ABSTRACTIn this paper we examine exhibition attendees' experience and mindfulness within the exhibition industry, and identify the role of mindfulness on the evaluation of their experience. In the service industry, customer experience plays a central role in increasing satisfaction and loyalty, and the concept of mindfulness contributes to positive customer experience. The empirical results of the paper reveal that the on-site and post-evaluation of exhibition attendees' experience are significantly different across various levels of mindfulness. In addition, several demographic and exhibition-related characteristics are statistically different between groups segmented by the level of mindfulness. Both theoretical and practical implications are covered in the discussion section.KEYWORDS: Exhibition attendeesexperienceservice qualitymindfulnesssegmentation Additional informationNotes on contributorsYeongbae ChoeAt the time of writing this paper, Yeongbae Choe was a PhD student at the National Laboratory for Tourism and eCommerce, School of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Temple University, 1801 N broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA. He is currently associated with the National Laboratory for Tourism and eCommerce, Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management, University of Florida, P.O. Box 118208, Gainesville, FL 32611-8208, USA (E‑mail: ychoe@ufl.edu).Sang-Min LeeSang-Min Lee is a Post-Doctorate Researcher, BK 21+ Group, College of Hotel and Tourism, Kyung Hee University, 1 Hoegi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130–701, Republic of Korea (E‑mail: ssmin-2000@hanmail.net).Dae-Kwan KimDae-Kwan Kim is a Professor, Department of Convention Management, College of Hotel and Tourism, Kyung Hee University, 1 Hoegi-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 130–701, Republic of Korea (E‑mail: kdk@khu.ac.kr).