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What Makes a Good Conference? Analysing the Preferences of Labor Economists

Author

Listed:
  • Borghans, Lex

    (Maastricht University)

  • Romans, Margo

    (ROA, Maastricht University)

  • Sauermann, Jan

    (IFAU)

Abstract

Conferences are an important element in the work of researchers, requiring substantial investments in fees, travel expenses and the time spent by the participants. The aim of this paper is to identify the preferences of participants with respect to conference characteristics. Based on a sample of European labour economists, preferences are measured using the vignette approach where participants are asked to choose between hypothetical European Association of Labour Economists (EALE) conferences. We find that the keynote speakers are the most important element in the preference for a conference, followed by the location of the conference. There is substantial heterogeneity in the taste of labour economists especially with respect to location, though the link between preference parameters and measured characteristics like gender, age and seniority is limited. Factor analysis suggests that the variety in preferences can be best described by a latent variable that reflects the weights people put on content versus fun.

Suggested Citation

  • Borghans, Lex & Romans, Margo & Sauermann, Jan, 2010. "What Makes a Good Conference? Analysing the Preferences of Labor Economists," IZA Discussion Papers 4870, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp4870
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    2. Arie Kapteyn & James P. Smith & Arthur van Soest, 2007. "Vignettes and Self-Reports of Work Disability in the United States and the Netherlands," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 461-473, March.
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    4. Myong Jae Lee & Ki-Joon Back, 2007. "Effects of Destination Image on Meeting Participation Intentions: Empirical Findings from a Professional Association and its Annual Convention," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 59-73, January.
    5. Bruno S. Frey & Silke Humbert & Friedrich Schneider, 2007. "Was denken deutsche Ökonomen? Eine empirische Auswertung einer Internetbefragung unter den Mitgliedern des Vereins für Socialpolitik im Sommer 2006," Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(4), pages 359-377, November.
    6. Daniel McFadden & Albert Bemmaor & Francis Caro & Jeff Dominitz & Byung-Hill Jun & Arthur Lewbel & Rosa Matzkin & Francesca Molinari & Norbert Schwarz & Robert Willis & Joachim Winter, 2005. "Statistical Analysis of Choice Experiments and Surveys," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 183-196, December.
    7. Jouke Van Dijk & Gunther Maier, 2006. "ERSA Conference participation: does location matter?," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 85(4), pages 483-504, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Guenther, Isabel & Grosse, Melanie & Klasen, Stephan, 2014. "Attracting Attentive Academics. Paper, Person or Place?," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100392, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    2. Isabel Günther & Melanie Grosse & Stephan Klasen, 2017. "How to Attract an Audience at a Conference: Paper, Person or Place?," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 18(4), pages 468-491, November.
    3. Humburg, Martin & van der Velden, Rolf, 2015. "Skills and the graduate recruitment process: Evidence from two discrete choice experiments," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 24-41.
    4. Poulissen, Davey & de Grip, Andries & Fouarge, Didier & Künn, Annemarie, 2021. "Employers’ willingness to invest in the training of temporary workers: a discrete choice experiment," ROA Research Memorandum 003, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    5. Gerhard A. Wuehrer & Angela Elisabeth Smejkal, 2013. "The knowledge domain of the academy of international business studies (AIB) conferences: a longitudinal scientometric perspective for the years 2006–2011," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(2), pages 541-561, May.
    6. Christiane Hellmanzik, 2013. "Does travel inspire? Evidence from the superstars of modern art," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 281-303, August.
    7. Katrin Auspurg & Annette Jäckle, 2017. "First Equals Most Important? Order Effects in Vignette-Based Measurement," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 46(3), pages 490-539, August.
    8. Jelena Smiljanić & Arnab Chatterjee & Tomi Kauppinen & Marija Mitrović Dankulov, 2016. "A Theoretical Model for the Associative Nature of Conference Participation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(2), pages 1-12, February.
    9. Royuela, Vicente, 2012. "Regional Science trends through the analysis of the main facts of the 51st ERSA Conference," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 24, pages 13-39.
    10. Vicente Royuela, 2012. "What about people in European Regional Science?," Working Papers XREAP2012-12, Xarxa de Referència en Economia Aplicada (XREAP), revised May 2012.
    11. Mesfin G. Genie & Nicolas Krucien & Mandy Ryan, 2021. "Weighting or aggregating? Investigating information processing in multi‐attribute choices," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(6), pages 1291-1305, June.
    12. Martin Falk & Eva Hagsten, 2018. "The art of attracting international conferences to European cities," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(3), pages 337-351, May.
    13. repec:jtr:journl:v:7:y:2013:i:1:p:34-46 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Poulissen, Davey & De Grip, Andries & Fouarge, Didier & Künn-Nelen, Annemarie, 2023. "Employers’ willingness to invest in the training of temporary versus permanent workers: A discrete choice experiment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    random-coefficients model; conference participation; economics profession; vignette-method;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A11 - General Economics and Teaching - - General Economics - - - Role of Economics; Role of Economists
    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations
    • C25 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions; Probabilities

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