Determinants of the consumption of cultural events

Consumers in developed countries face shrinking leisure time. Furthermore, with increasing incomes, consumption of cultural events has become a large industry in many countries. Such changes suggest that it is important to understand how people spend reduced leisure time and what affects their decisions. Unfortunately, relatively little is known about preferences of leisure consumers.

Our study was designed to address this gap in the literature. Specifically, it assesses Israelis’ preferences for cultural events. Israel is closely linked to Europe, in general, and to the EU, specifically, being an associate member. Thus, consumer preferences would be indicative of preferences in other developed countries, especially in Europe. We propose consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence, role-relaxation, and personal values as three antecedents for consumption of such events. The data mostly support the hypothesized impacts of these antecedents. The findings are used to suggest research and managerial implications.