12355: Attending Virtual Academic Conferences: The Roles of Financial Support And Career Stage (session 26253)

Against the backdrop of ever tighter financial conditions for academic institutions worldwide, skyrocketing airfare, and the potential benefits to enhance the inclusiveness of academic conferences, we draw on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to examine whether lack of financial resources motivates attendance at virtual academic conferences (VACs). We also examine whether early career stage further intensifies one’s needs to acquire resources by attending VACs. Our sample is composed of 197 VAC attendees of two large academic management conferences, that were collected pre and post VACs. We conducted regression analyses using an SPSS Macro approach to examine our hypotheses. We found that academics who lack financial resources have higher intention to attend VACs, which in turn, are more likely to actually attend VACs. This relationship is especially stronger for those who are in their early career stage. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

view paper (if available)