Transforming trade fair services in the post-Covid-19 era: A perspective from China

Abstract

Covid-19 dramatically changed the way businesses operates. The focus of this paper is virtual trade fairs organized by trade fair organizers in China whose service delivery model was transformed to meet the new needs of customers. Using one well-grounded case and several rounds of interview data in three stages, the paper aims to explore the impact Covid-19 has generated on the event services sector and how SERVQUAL could be applied in an emerging virtual setting.

Keywords:

• Covid-19
• service quality
• SERVQUAL
• trade fair
• virtual trade fair

Introduction

Trade fairs are critical to the business-to-business (B2B) marketing mix (Smith, Gopalakrishna, & Smith, 2004). Traditional physical trade fairs (PTF) provide physical platforms for participants to have face to face interaction (Sarmento & Simões, 2019). PTFs bring together a great magnitude of potentially interested customers (Godar & O’Connor, 2001; Gopalakrishna & Williams, 1992). Virtual technology is widely adopted in the convention and event industry nowadays. Virtual exhibitions, conferences, and museums allow audiences to visit beyond the reach of physical spaces. The importance of “clouding” is increasingly recognized in the event industry: the flexibility and stability of trade fairs are now supported by cloud technology. Ease of tracking attendance and receiving rapid responses are now possible through the virtual trade fair (VTF). With the aid of virtual technology, exhibitors can respond to buyers’ needs and interact with them in real-time. Some advanced functions have been developed to search for buyers and target audiences, enhance customer relationship management, and forge online transactions; on-site tracking and post-data mining are also burgeoning techniques (Singh, Shukla, & Kalafatis, 2017).

Service quality improvement represents a pivotal aspect of industry and business development. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) proposed SERVQUAL, a set of basic measurements across a broad spectrum of service quality studies. The SERVQUAL scale is predominantly used to measure perceived service quality (Geigenmüller, 2010). Research that has addressed service quality measurement of a physical event is not scant but SERVQUAL, examined in a virtual setting, is limited. While these studies are of strong theoretical and practical value, the focus on measuring real-world events may be insufficient for virtual world praxis. As research into the VTF is still in its infancy, this study intends to use SERVQUAL as a basis to understand VTF service quality. The purpose of the empirical study is not to examine VTF using the SERVQUAL scale its original form; rather, this study aims to investigate the adoption and acceptance of virtual events based on the accumulated understanding of the SERVQUAL approach. A research question is raised: is the SERVQUAL model an appropriate tool for measuring service delivery quality in the VTF world and what would be relevant to measure up a virtual setting?

The intended contributions of this study are the following: First, we draw out the growing research and empirical importance of the virtual service context through the application of SERVQUAL. This study fosters a greater awareness of how trade fair organizers opt for a digital function to maintain their service during emergencies like Covid-19. Secondly, this research aims to identify new dimensions to advance the theory. Thirdly, this research aims to compare and contrast the physical and virtual B2B worlds. We offer an early insight into understanding the role of virtual business or trade events and how they are differently perceived by attendees. It is important to ensure that appropriate virtual events are developed to catalyze the participants’ experiences in the virtual environment. Being aware of the wants and needs of event participants, trade fair organizers will make careful and strategic choices in offering virtual event services. This paper argues that the adoption of a virtual world involves multifaceted factors. A complex rather than unified attitude toward the virtual world might shed light on advancing our knowledge of virtual event services.

The paper is organized as follows: First, we set the theoretical background with a discussion of VTF. Followed by a brief overview of these concepts, service quality, and SERVQUAL are outlined, and findings from existing studies of measuring trade fairs are also incorporated. Then we present the research design and report findings in the methodology session and draw conclusions. Finally, we discuss implications and limitations in the closing section.

Theoretical concepts

Virtual trade fairs

Trade fairs are believed to be efficient and effective in promoting and publicly displaying a firm’s services and products (Herbig et al., 1997; Lee-Kelley, Gilbert, & Al-Shehabi, 2004). Buyers attend trade shows in the hope of discovering new products, meeting potential suppliers, discussing the present products with exhibitors, comparing alternatives, and gathering information. Trade fairs play a crucial role in generating and developing international business networks and mobilizing initial market entry (Geigenmüller, 2010; Gottlieb, Brown, & Drennan, 2011). Gottlieb and Bianchi (2017) suggest that trade shows are cost-effective for collecting business leads. Trade fairs line up opportunities for suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors to meet in a specific location where potential buyers meet and information is exchanged (American Marketing Association, 2007). A VTF, by contrast, is an exhibition held in cyberspace, but which has usually been viewed as an extension of the physical trade fair (Su, Yen, & Zhang, 1998). With the growth of information technology, the value of trade fairs has been challenged as customers have gradually begun to rely on the Internet to acquire information. VTFs are thought to be cost-effective because there are no time limits or geographic boundaries (Geigenmüller, 2010) although Sarmento and Simões (2019) believe that VTFs cannot fully replace the features of PTFs. Being immersed in an experience produces sensorial stimuli in the buyers (Rinallo, Borghini, & Golfetto, 2010), and positive business emotions are distributed (Kirchgeorg, Springer, & Ka, 2009). Visitors to PTFs are able to have more direct experiences by touching, smelling, hearing, and experiencing the product (Borghini, Golfetto, & Rinallo, 2006). During the Covid-19 pandemic, VTFs have become unrivaled. Trade fair organizers avail themselves of VTFs to offer opportunities for firms to exhibit products in a virtual world and meet potential buyers.

Service quality and SERVQUAL

A service is defined as “a change in the condition of a person or a property belonging to an economic entity, brought about as the result of the activity of some other economic entity, with the approval of the first person or economic entity” (Menezes, Lima, Aquere, & Amorim, 2020, p. 3). A prevalent and widely applied model of service quality is SERVQUAL, which has been widely used in various disciplines and has received considerable recognition in service marketing. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) identified service quality dimensions in terms that describe service encounter characteristics (reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurances, and tangibles). Although SERVQUAL receives critical comments, this concept acts as a basis to understand quality in the event industry (e.g., Bojanic & Rosen, 1994; Getty & Thompson, 1994). Traditional SERVQUAL research had measured service quality in many contexts, however, it has not gone unchallenged. SERVQUAL has been criticized for empirical problems including unstable dimensionality and low reliability, and the operationalization of SERVQUAL may have different interpretations as well (Ladhari, 2009). SERVQUAL may not be sufficiently robust to measure service quality across different industries and context. It has also been suggested by some researchers that the items of each dimension should be reworded to customize it for each service environment or fine-tuned to fit specific organizations in specific sectors (Asubonteng, Mccleary, & Swan, 1996; Ladhari, 2009). This is because much of a dimension’s score is determined by the industry and the types of services.

Parasuraman et al. (1988) proposed five dimensions of service quality. Responsiveness is the willingness to help customers and carry out the service quickly and punctually. Reliability refers to the ability to deliver the service accurately. Assurance is defined as the employees’ knowledge and competence and their ability to inspire reliance and trust. Empathy refers to the ability to understand the customer and make efforts by the service provider to understand the customer. Tangible refers to the ­appearance of physical facilities, equipment, or staff uniforms.

Methodology

Research setting

A qualitative, case-based method is appropriate for investigating novel phenomena and inductively analyzing the nature of the research question (Yin, 2003). As Yin explains, the case-based method is preferable in situations in which “the main research questions are ‘how’ or ‘why’ questions [and] a researcher has little or no control over behavioral events and the focus of the study is a contemporary phenomenon in depth and within its real-world context, especially when the boundaries between phenomenon and context may not be clearly evident” (Yin, 2014, p. 216). The case adopted in this study is based on a focal phenomenon (Fletcher, Zhao, Plakoyiannaki, & Buck, 2018). Such phenomena with relevance to VTF investigated without pre-determined theoretical assumptions were often emerging by the time of paper publication (Fletcher et al., 2018). The research team aimed to locate a case that adjusted their services along with Covid-19 and re-adjusted their service in a post-Covid-19 era. Thus, the case is selected to “provide the flexibility to capture, document, and conceptualize a phenomenon that lacks plausible existing theory and empirical evidence” (Fletcher et al., 2018, p. 759).

Data sources

Trade associations organize a wide array of events, such as the provision of trade fairs and conferences services to member firms (Bennett, 1998; Bennett & Robson, 2001, 2011). Part of a larger study, trade associations were selected as a major source of informants for this study. Three stages were involved in this study. First stage is to explore one typical case followed by application to multiple cases in the second stage for the extrapolation purpose and followed by third stage to revisit the first focal case with reflection. Alongside, interactive elements, such as virtual-conference and workshop held during trade fairs were all investigated rather than virtual booths.

In Stage 1, the case study data collected included open-ended question interviews. The China International Clothing & Accessories Fair (CHIC) was chosen as a critical case. As one of the most influential and largest fashion-related shows in China, CHIC has become a channel for those foreign brands seeking a foothold in the China apparel market, as well as an effective platform to present their brand to the Chinese consumers. The organizer tailored the form of its PTF for exhibitors and visitors and continued in a hybrid event mode. The dynamics of this case made it clearly representative and worthy of investigation. We conducted in-depth interviews with project managers of CHIC who were in charge of the overarching projects and involved in each phase. We also conducted another in-depth interview with the third-party company which provided VTF website development. They were the most suitable informants, not only because they have a thorough understanding of the whole event but also because they are project managers, which means they are the crux of such projects, orchestrating information and liaising with multiple teams. In Stage 2, semi-structured interviews were conducted to add more depth to the investigations with a broader scope of actors, including trade fair organizers, trade associations, and their member firms as well as representatives of a production house. These covered traditional industries like tea, medicine, and freight forwarding, and new technology like software and outsourcing. New emerging industries like AI, incubators, and cross-border e-commerce were also included in the sample. In Stage 3, the researcher revisited the field and collect further data from those previous informants. Moreover, the researcher approached the organizers, exhibitors, visitors, and third-party company of CHIC after one year to explore the ever-changing attitude toward PTF and VTF (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Data collection stage.

A total of 28 interviews were conducted (see Appendix A) over a thirteen-month period from October 2020 to November 2021. Senior administrators of trade associations were interviewed to share their insights on organizing events. Some of their member firms participating as exhibitors and visitors were also interviewed. They frequently attended association events in their respective industries and were considered as experts for the research questions. Representatives of production houses, third-parties who provide outsourced service to trade fair organizers, were interviewed because of their expertise in addressing technical problems emerging from virtual events. Although the research team intended to collect interview data in person, international travel plan was prevented by the Covid-19 outbreak. Therefore, the interviews were conducted through WeChat video. Data collection ended when theoretical saturation was reached (Yin, 1994). All interviews, which were conducted in Chinese and translated into English, were recorded with the permission of the interviewees and typically lasted 40–60 min. Selected quotes and examples have been translated into English.

Data analysis

Using NVivo software, the interview transcripts were coded to identify key themes and patterns (Gioia, Corley, & Hamilton, 2013). This method provides both rich and deep theoretical descriptions of the “contexts in which organizational processes occur” (Gioia et al., 2013, p. 17). Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyze, and report patterns or themes that emerged from the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Themes and patterns were identified using abductive reasoning. During Stage 1, an inductive approach was performed that three initial themes emerged: interaction, cost, and ease of work. These three themes are the results of analyzing and grouping the prominent and recurring themes on similarities to help us grasp the VTF phenomenon being studied. We then started to associate raw data from Stage 2 interviews with the emerging themes. To gain an understanding of SERVQUAL in a virtual world, we categorized raw data into first-order descriptive codes reflecting the application of SERVQUAL. The five scales of SERVQUAL were developed based on the identification of keywords, phrases, and quotes from participants. We followed a deductive approach with the analyses being informed by the established knowledge of SERVQUAL drawn from previous trade fair research. A pre-defined list of codes was used and helped us focusing the coding on those issues that are known to be important in the trade fair literature. For example, promptness and willingness are two crucial indicators of responsiveness that we match the transcripts to illuminate how trade fair organizers showcase these indicators. After deductively developing these first-order codes into second-order concepts, we aligned the second-order concepts with higher aggregate dimensions of SERVQUAL. Data were gathered by summarizing personal experiences and cross-checking experiences between trade associations and member firms as well as production house ­representatives (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Data structure and selective coding of the SERVQUAL dimensions.

Findings and discussion

Case finding: China International Clothing & Accessories Fair (CHIC)

CHIC was scheduled to be held in March 2020, but no trade shows were allowed because of the pandemic. Given the need to keep physical distance among people, all exhibitions across China were canceled. The organizers canceled the event but hoped that they could hold it in April. However, they realized it was still impossible to launch the show then and made the final decision to launch a virtual trade show in April rather than wait until May, because the fashion industry is seasonal. The CHIC organizer developed an applet that provided the technical base of the VTF. Although the virtual CHIC in April 2020 attracted 160,000 visitors, in fact, an exhibitor reflected that the virtual CHIC is not as effective as the ­physical CHIC:

“Chinese people have a saying: you make friends before you do business. So, this kind of offline communication and meeting was not easy to build trust and allow sellers and buyers to become friends. It is characteristic that a physical trade fair allows feeling, touching, and seeing the product/service live. Particularly for CHIC industry, you want to touch the fabric.” (BJTA1O1)

A summary of the differences of VTFs identified by the interviewee is given in Table 1.

Table 1. New features and problems of online trade fairs.

	New features of online trade fairs	New problems of online trade fairs
Visiting the show	Quickly locate the enterprises or products they are interested in according to the exhibition area name, enterprise name, product category, and other keywords Live streaming. You can ask the booth model to try them on and display the clothing to the visitors.	The applet is a plug-in program in WeChat and all the users must install WeChat. It is the prerequisite for foreign users. Although visitors are able to configure the design of the clothing, they cannot feel the fabric and texture of the clothing.
Business matching	The domestic exhibitors showcased the clothing and have in-depth business talk with foreign buyers through virtual meeting. International buyers from Italy and Pakistan joined the match making through Tencent Meeting online.	Translation is a key issue for successful business matching. Some online business matchings were conducted with three parties, for example, a buyer was in Italy, a supplier in China and a translator was in another location. Whenever a party has a poor signal, the business matching process slows down.
Workshop	Nineteen industry workshops were held, at which industry experts were invited to share the expertise and knowledge on different themes.	Maximum number of participants of Tencent meeting makes the procedure intricately compound. The volume of Tencent meeting attendees did not accommodate the capacity of over 300 pax. This added extra workload for the organizer to repeatedly remind interested attendees to enroll as “first come first served.”
Interaction	If you are interested in cooperation, you can give more information of name, contact information, category, labels and details of the requirements. Clicking “Publish” conveyed the information to the target enterprise.	It is not real-time chat

Revisiting CHIC and interviewing some exhibitors and visitors has led us to more granular understandings of VTF. An exhibitor firmly confirmed that her company would never showcase at VTF again. They appreciated the effort made by the trade fair organizer to train or coach them to do live streaming step by step in 2021 while the organizer did not have training for these new technology gadgets to appeal to visitors in 2020. Yet the exhibitors were disappointed with VTF. AS BJTA1M1 stated:

“The communication is not interactive at all. The buyer enquiry went to somewhere in the app through email and I must reply by logging in my email firstly. It is not user-friendly. As an OEM manufacture, the buyer will recognize the size and compacity of your firm at PTV, I have plenty sample and a huge booth. You cannot expect a buyer will confirm order merely through VTF. They have no idea if your firm is capable or qualified. We can showcase our products and gain trust at PTV. When PTV kicked off again, I met several buying offices which are very likely to be our potential customers”

When following up CHIC case, it is worth noting that the trade fair app was inactive. BJTA1O1 confirmed that the app was only active during the trade fair. The main purposes of using this app are: (1) the exhibitors fill in the information for the exhibition catalog; (2) real-name identification of exhibitors; (3) sign-up for on-site activities. It is far from being a “never ending trade fair” claimed as the strength of VTFs.

Interview findings of other trade associations

Based on the information revealed in the first stage case studies, the research team raised more specific questions, focusing on the emergent themes. The interviews in the second stage and third stage yielded rich information. BJTA1O1 informed that they have prepared some prerecorded presentations delivered by some foreign speakers for a forum. As well as this, they purchased a new system because there were three language translations involved. It took them extra effort to work out how to address the real-time translation and compare different systems. BJTA7M1 ­appreciated the organizer’s effort and noted that:

“The virtual conference bridges the distance. Virtual event connects people at any time and any country. Cross-border interaction is enhanced a lot because of virtual events.”

Our findings reflect the event organizer’s ability to accommodate member firm expectations to launch a conference and offer the opportunities for industry intelligence exchange. The conference met with success and increased access for attendees. Credited to the virtual format, representatives of the AI industry were able to attend without having to travel and industry knowledge could be shared. SHTA1O1 commented:

“Now there is tension between China-Australia relations. The dialogue between China and Australia on AI is uninterrupted. This is where our association plays a role. For example, scholars want to attend the conference to gain industry knowledge. A virtual conference would create this opportunity.”

Individual attention was given to the different needs of member firms because it is essential to provide tailor-made services to show empathy. This allows the trust and confidence of the member firms and at the same time increases their loyalty. BJTA7O1 understands start-ups’ worries about capital rupture and has organized a set of roadshows for financing purposes:

“We organized roadshows of a few projects for some SMEs which need financing. Since offline roadshow are not allowed to organize during the pandemic, we organized this kind of online roadshow activities.”

The previous literature review contends that virtual events are cost-effective. These include booth design and construction, and display transport as well as staffing travel expenses. However, while companies may save staff travel costs and booth construction, investments in both hardware and software, particularly software security systems are paid little attention. The equipment is required to interact electronically and to participate in VTFs, at least for sellers (Anderson, 2006). BJTA7M4 mentioned that their office purchased a large number of specific headphones and microphones:

“Online activities are actually quite complicated. It also needs a lot of technology and innovation. It is not like a zoom meeting where you showcase the products in front others. But regarding live streaming, you use two or three big screens, and purchased many kinds of equipment.”

Although disruptive technology makes the virtual events sustainable in Covid-19, some organizers and participants prefer face-to-face events. “Interactive” and “engagement” are mentioned throughout the interviews, including interactive components, that keep audiences engaged. It is not, though, as inspiring as real-time face-to-face interactions. BJTA1O1 also mentioned that the exhibition mission from Germany rejected showcasing at the trade fair although the mission had been given funding from the government. It seems the reason the exhibitors are devoid of interest is that they value the onsite feedback. BJTA7M2 described:

“Online conference misses inspiration because Chinese prefer talking face-to-face. Chemistry might happen and resulted into unexpected outcome.”

The conference applets allow scholars and industry practitioners to communicate but interactive talk is missing, as quoted from GDTA3O1:

“I can raise my hand and interrupt you whenever I have got a question and the remote meeting is not effective for interactive academic or business discussion.”

Networking and engagement gain prominence in motivating people to attend the conference and a face-to-face meeting is clearly more effective than virtual meetings (Pittman & McLaughlin, 2012). However, the findings revealed from our interview, irrespective of online and offline, are that distraction exists. People will be distracted by opening unnecessary tabs and not focus on the meeting. Most informants admitted to multi-tasking by answering emails and doing other work.

Previous studies confirmed that face-to-face interaction can transfer complex messages and stimulate trust. Those studies offer a fine-grained understanding of the processes underlying “being there.” It is believed that face-to-face contact has higher credibility, promoting relationship building, and generating market knowledge as well as potential business leads. The physical trade fair is irreplaceable, a fact that is particularly true in Chinese culture, BJTA7M3 emphasized a classic Chinese network approach:

“Online means that the depth is not as good as in person meeting. Holding beer or tea, we will definitely communicate in an in-deep way.”

VTFs are considered as a supplement to physical shows rather than replacement, as no substitute has been found for the effectiveness of face-to-face interaction. As GDTA4O1 explained:

“… the physical trade fair will always be a priority, VTF cannot overcome the human experience. VTF is a supporting role but not replaces physical trade fair. In person contact cannot be replaced by anything.”

Apart from lacking an interactive component, the technology of the virtual world is not advanced. At the technical level, the traditional fair website is mainly graphic display, and the investment is affordable, basically buying a virtual server can solve the problem. However, the platform for VTFs is based on cloud computing. In principle, it can support massive users to access and collect all kinds of data, and big data analysis. It can be configured and expanded on the functional level, and the display interface can be multi-style and personalized. This greatly improves the user experience of the platform. BJTA2T2 commented:

“Many VTF websites are not professional, not appealing. The chat function is poor, cannot truly discern customer demand, the communication ‘ability’ of both the ­supply and demand is 0.”

AI and VR are aspects of VTFs, but application of AI/VR is constrained. As BJTA2T1 commented, the AI image is not vivid and appealing enough, at least at this moment, to attract people to visit an online fair:

“VTF must be a trend for online worlds but the technology is not very mature, an online exhibition must be trenchant. VTFs regardless in China or abroad, are not so popular because of technology insufficiency. For example, AI is not good enough and that’s why people don’t want to pay for online trade fair ticket.”

This was confirmed by BJTA2T2 who argued that the current virtual technology is not vivid and appealing enough to replace the face-to-face communication:

“If the online exhibition is to be done in the later stage, VR needs to make the effect very life-like, like face-to-face.”

Discussion and conclusion

This study examines the application of SERVQUAL dimensions in a virtual event context. Service quality possesses vital prominence in the suitability of trade fair services. Especially, service quality research on VTFs is needed to better design a service that meets the needs of various stakeholders, governments, member firms, and society within a turbulent change.

Responsiveness

Responsiveness is a dimension of service quality that usually measures the willingness and ability of the company or firm to respond to customers, providing quick service with proper timelines (Fida, Ahmed, Al-Balushi, & Singh, 2020; Johnston, 1997; Parasuraman et al., 1988). Our findings suggest that trade fair organizers were found to be responsive to member firms’ requests for VTF. They were actively changing service delivery in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic to address the wants and needs of the member firms, endeavoring to activate the event to address the ongoing threat of Covid-19. Taking the CHIC case as an example, the organizer responded to exhibitors’ and buyers’ calls to develop the applets for VTF as an unprecedented phenomenon. Responsiveness is critical in determining service quality and providing satisfaction and the absence of it produces dissatisfaction (Johnston, 1997).

Reliability

This is the ability to provide the promised service accurately and dependably. The term can also mean doing it at the promised time and doing what is promised. A lower level of reliability has been found in organizing virtual events. Although trade fair organizers have the flexibility and capability to shift between physical and virtual events, the service quality was considered not stable due to technical problems like those that affect the Internet. Arguably, even if they continue the events and resume industry sharing and exchanges which were interrupted by the pandemic, the effectiveness of virtual events is not perceived positively by either exhibitors or visitors. Notwithstanding, based on the prior experience accumulated during Covid-19, they are more cognizant of how to adapt to a virtual setting in a post-Covid-19 era, and thus a higher level of reliability of future virtual events might be predictable.

Assurance

Assurance is a dimension that demonstrates the provision of service with security and safety to the customers so that it will mitigate their worry and anxiety about the services provided to them (Fida et al., 2020). In terms of quality assurance proposed in this paper, it would be feasible to expand the application of SERVQUAL in event service if trade fair organizers organize the service with full technical support. To make the event happen safely, trade fair organizers must rehearse repeatedly and prepare back-up plans for possible Internet security problems. Assurance is less concerning with physical events but is more concerning with virtual events. Member firms raised concerns about privacy and confidentiality when meeting in a virtual world, whereas they feel more secure at the physical event service encounter. IP concerns make the exhibitors suspicious about releasing designs in VTFs and the CHIC organizer was unable to recruit exhibitor missions from overseas because they are more conscious of IP issues.

Empathy

Parasuraman et al. (1985) defined empathy as the company’s ability to provide care to the customers understand their concerns and needs. Regarding empathy, it can be seen that there was a good experience felt by the member firms that their interests were well attended to and prioritized and that they received individualized service. The member firms felt that the trade fair organizers were caring and considerate of their personal needs. Member firms appreciated trade fair organizers considering the social distance issue to promptly the change from physical to ­virtual events.

Tangibility

Tangible aspects measure quality from the infrastructure, through the equipment used, and the appearance of the employees (Menezes et al., 2020). However, the service of the online trade fair CHIC seemed to be hindered. The findings identified a lack of bandwidth as the main challenge with the technology. Further, the importance of basic infrastructure was confirmed repeatedly by the interviewees. Though emergent applets were user-friendly and multi-functional, their efficiency in a virtual world was not smooth and Internet pauses made all the actors involved frustrated. Gottlieb and Bianchi (2017) questioned the speed of data transmission to certain parts of the world, such as Africa or China, but our results showed an opposite finding: the bandwidth is so fast in China that the domestic sellers felt frustrated in making real-time contact with their overseas partners through a conference applet. Tangibility as a measure of service quality is more challenging for virtual events than physical events. However, sometimes this tangibility is determined by the infrastructure which trade fair organizers can do nothing about.

Our qualitative study shows that service quality in a virtual setting can indeed be related to the SERVQUAL dimensions of reliability, assurance, responsiveness empathy, and tangibility. However, we also learned that virtual events are not simple. It might be necessary to conduct exploratory investigations to ascertain the applicability of the existing SERVQUAL dimensions and the desirability of adding new ones. Emerging from our findings, interaction, costs, as well as ease of use, add another layer of understanding when launching virtual service events. These combine to produce a more effective VTF by enhancing interaction and facilitating user-friendly experiences.

Interaction

This study has assumed the importance of social and cognitive factors emerging from face-to-face interaction. The idiosyncrasy of face-to-face interaction could not be replaced by cyber interaction. Shapiro, Romano, and Mittal (2004) found that IT-mediated interactions expedite communication between exhibitors and visitors because this kind of interaction may protect visitors’ privacy and mitigate face-to-face communication pressure. However, this study found strong support for a face-to-face communication orientation. Personal interaction is essential for understanding and communication between parties (Godar & O’Connor, 2001). Personal interaction in the PTF favored the development of joint attitudes, languages, and understandings (Bathelt & Schuldt, 2008). A fair venue serves as a locale that can foster trust, relationship reinforcement (Sarmento, Farhangmehr, & Simões, 2015), and customer engagement (Sarmento & Simões, 2018). Face-to-face interaction can transfer complex messages and motivate trust under conditions of uncertainty (Bathelt & Turi, 2011). Emotions and moods generating trust between organizations are constrained in a virtual world and eventually, the virtual events serve purely as a source of information without enhancing social exchange (Geigenmüller, 2010).

Cost

The data demonstrate that virtual special events are not necessarily environmental-friendly and as economical as people would expect. Some trade fair organizers invested in purchasing updated equipment, which is costly. Nevertheless, the significance of VTFs is prominent amid a pandemic, while the obstacles in the widespread adoption of virtual reality applications were also evident. The interview data reveal that trade fair organizers rarely adopted online formats before the pandemic. Maintenance is also another important issue that is neglected by many trade fair organizers; VTFs need a professional team and a substantial investment. At this stage, VTFs do not represent a cost-effective alternative to physical product demonstration; trade fair organizers need invest in developing the platform, and exhibitor need train virtual booth personnel and design virtual booth with extra budget.

Ease of use

Adjusting to a virtual world is not a straightforward move but rather a compound process. Some interviewees mentioned that an additional workload is involved. Multi-day conferences that attract hundreds or even thousands of attendees can increase the complexity. Trial-and-error efforts are unavoidable, as when trade fair organizers outsourced service to a third-party to handle buyers’ enquiries. Our findings found that such third-party mediated interactive environments are incapable of offering sensory feedback to engage both exhibitors and buyers. A recurring theme during the interviews was the desire of the interviewees to employ more sophisticated technologies to interact with buyers in a more direct and prompter way. Unfortunately, this is still rather remote. Employees need greater expertise through training to handle the technology and manage virtual interactions with VTF visitors.

Further interview findings in Stage 3 pro-trade fair revealed that perceptions of PTF and VTF are closely related to the industry. From the perspective of the exhibitor, the cornerstone role of the exhibition is to present their new features, while hoping to find potential target customers to establish contact with. In this regard, exhibitors of tech companies would satisfy the visitors by showing their cutting-edge technology through VTF. Firms, such as Huawei and Apple are able to show what state-of-the-art offerings they have developed. Conversely, the exhibitors of physical product like clothing and food are unable to solicit the visitors using virtual booths.

A key purpose of this study was to compare and contrast both physical and virtual events. The differences between PTF and VTF were contrasted and consolidated in Figure 3. SERVQUAL dimensions are applicable in both in-person and digital settings. Some major advantages of PTF like building trust with buyers and fostering connections would be missing from VTF. Expenses of PTF booth construction are growing and unaffordable, and VTFs are considered as cost-effective as trade fair organizers normally offer them free or very low booth fees. The physical convenience of VTF allowing non-in-person participation was essential during travel limitations. Although VTFs enable easy access to the knowledge of exhibitors, visitors may not be interested in virtually visiting the booth for different reasons, such as an unattractive booth image or a misleading portal. The technology advancement in capitalizing on VTF is still needed to solicit traffic flows. Many exhibitors are equally exposed on the same exhibition platform, which will let foreign buyers compare prices excessively, hence cause the dilemma of traffic dilution.

Figure 3. SERVQUAL application and theorized difference between physical and virtual events.

Source: Developed for this study.

Although the virtual events made it possible to sustain communication during Covid-19, some organizers and participants still prefer a face-to-face event. Few interviewees believed they would swap to physical events once the pandemic ends. They firmly believe that a virtual world is not viable because of a lack of engagement and interaction. This does not support Rine’s belief (2000) that VTF might become a threat to the physical exhibition, at least for some industry sectors like jewelry. They place priority on face-to-face interaction in the hope of building trust and enhancing relationships. Our post-trade fair findings elaborated on the result of interviews conducted one year earlier. A gradually changing attitude is captured that experience of VTF is non-comparable to PTF. Against this backdrop, VTFs will not be readily taken into consideration once it is possible for PTF.

Managerial implications and limitations

A lesson from this pandemic crisis is to be prepared for a changing world full of uncertainties. The adoption of contemporary ICT, such as AI, 5G, and big data in business-to-business applications is an unstoppable trend. Trade fair organizers can use SERVQUAL to assess their own service quality and compare it with that of their competitors. Practitioners should recognize that expectations can vary among different segments of customers. The findings of this research imply that trade fair organizers should consider the most absent element of virtual world. For best practice, trade fair organizers should develop more interactive components. Further, the development of excellent content is essential to attract participants and avoid distraction. Certain challenges exist for trade fair organizers in matching the preferred service with the member firms. VTF, though not as valued as PTF, could be still used to provide information. Exhibitors could virtually publish product/service information. After viewing the exhibitor information, the visitors will communicate with the potential exhibitors before the exhibition and make an appointment for an on-site meeting beforehand. However, trade fair organizers must promote the trade fair to expose it to more targeted visitors. Advertising density is the key to affect the number of visitors and conversion rate of online exhibition booths. Trade fair organizers are expected to make more effort to promote the fair overseas by using personalized content marketing, reflecting the uniqueness of the exhibitors through various channel regardless conventional media including show websites, trade publications, direct email, or social media like Facebook and Instagram as well as TikTok.

Limitations and future research

This study is not without limitations. Eisenhardt (1989) argues that case studies can be a starting point for theory development and suggests that cross-case analysis of multiple case studies might provide a basis for analytical generalizability. Our research presents insights on which to build further data collection to enable generalization in the future. Although we examined the application of SERVQUAL dimensions in a virtual event setting, we do not test their validity and cannot generalize our findings. The data based on a small sample of firms reduced the ability of generalization. The findings cannot be statistically generalized to a larger sample given the qualitative nature of this study. The lack of most current quantitative data on a comparison between PTF and VTF should be overcome in future research. Future efforts should be made to minimize the limitations and particularly ensure its representativeness by a larger sampling of more trade fairs. Future research should provide empirical evidence by testing these dimensions with a large sample of survey data and such findings are needed for a better understanding of the topic.

Another limitation is that this study is limited to the China context. Future studies can replicate the findings in other countries. This research adapted and extended SERVQUAL to the largest emerging market. However, comparative studies might be conducted with the goal to identify if VTFs are perceived differently in Asian and Western markets. Different perceptions derived from the different contexts may represent a fruitful avenue for future research in the event sector.

In line with our findings, three elements were emerging as the factors to influence the service quality of VTFs. For future studies, comparing and contrasting in person and virtual should take into consideration the three elements in addition to SERVQUAL in measuring service quality: cost, ease of use, and virtual interaction.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Appendix A.

Interviewee code

Table

TA	Industry	TA as organizers	Member firms	Third-party production house
BJTA1	Chic	BJTA1O1 BJTA1O2	BJTA1M1 (Exhibitor) BJTA1M2 (Visitor)	BJTA1T1 BJTA1T2
BJTA2	General	BJTA2O2		BJTA2T2
BJTA3	Tea	BJTA3O1
BJTA4	Outsourcing		BJTA4M1 (Exhibitor) BJTA4M2 (Visitor)
BJTA5	Digital	BJTA5O1
BJTA6	General	BJTA6O1
BJTA7	Incubator	BJTA7O1	BJTA7M1 (Visitor) BJTA7M2 (Exhibitor) BJTA7M3 (Visitor) BJTA7M4 (Exhibitor)
BJTA8	Trade mark	BJTA8O1	BJTA8M1 (Visitor)
GDTA1	Medical	GDTA1O1
GDTA2	Outsourcing	GDTA2O1
GDTA3	Freight forwarding	GDTA3O1	GDTA3M1 (Visitor) GDTA3M2 (Visitor)
GDTA4	E-commerce	GDTA4O1
SHTA1	AI	SHTA1O1
Total (28)		14	11	3

BJ: Beijing; GD: Guangdong; SH: Shanghai.