Low-Carbon Literacy of Exhibitors in the Exhibition Industry in China

Abstract

While low-carbon and environmentally friendly construction by the exhibition industry has gradually improved, there is a lack of relevant research on whether exhibition-relevant personnel have corresponding low-carbon knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours to jointly assume the responsibility of developing low-carbon exhibitions. This research draws on the literature regarding low-carbon literacy and applies it to the exhibition industry to preliminarily assess the level of low-carbon literacy in China. A questionnaire was formulated through expert surveys and a pre-test. During the formal investigation, 412 valid questionnaires were obtained from exhibitors at seven Chinese exhibition events. The results revealed seven important dimensions of low-carbon literacy in exhibitions, namely, altruistic behaviour, values, low-carbon sensitivity, locus of control, low-carbon knowledge, low-carbon consumption, and action strategies. Low-carbon knowledge and low-carbon sensitivity ranked at the bottom, and middle- and high-level managers and exhibitors with large booth areas exhibited relatively insufficient performance regarding some low-carbon literacy factors. Based on the results, insights for exhibition management and future research directions are proposed in this paper.