How Consumers' Need for Variety and Social Consumption Influences Festival Patronage and Spending

This paper investigates the influence of motivational goals such as variety seeking and social consumption on consumers’ patronage and spending at craft beer festivals. In doing so, we develop and test a number of hypotheses by examining information collected via means of a survey questionnaire proposed in 2017 to visitors of a large beer festival in the UK. Findings of our analysis unveil how cognitive engagement affects individuals’ behavior with regard to responding to and financially engage with beer festivals. Results also identify cognitive engagement as an important mediator of the effects related to variety-seeking and social consumption. From a managerial perspective, findings reveal important attributes affecting consumers’ drivers towards craft beers, contributing to understand which dimension of consumer engagement influence their behaviors. Overall, the study provides fresh empirical evidence in terms of identifying and recognizing consumers’ behaviors with regard to defining future trends in the craft beer sector.