Exhibitor satisfaction in business-to-business trade shows : Understanding performance patterns from Vavra's Importance Grid perspective

Tradeshows are an essential instrument in the marketing of goods and services. Thus, the fair and tradeshow business has become a multi-billion dollar industry, in which trade fair organizers earn the biggest share of sales with exhibitors, paying fees for exhibition services. In order to increase service quality on trade shows, trade fair organizers strive for achieving a high level of exhibitor satisfaction. Despite its major importance for the fair and tradeshow industry, instruments to poll exhibitors satisfaction remain very basic. This research focuses on exhibitor satisfaction in a business-to-business context. The paper contributes to the field of trade show research by (1) exploring relevant issues of exhibitor satisfaction, (2) developing a measurement approach, (3) collecting data from a number of 362 exhibitors in business-to-business trade shows and 404 exhibitors in business-to-consumer fairs, and finally (4) omparing results upon the Vavra's importance grid.