One Person Plays Multiple Roles: The Diversified Roles and Functions of Convention Project Hosts by SEM Methods

Zhou, Jie; Zhao, Mengjie; Yang, Qi

doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7680005

Mathematical Problems in Engineering

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Volume 2022 | Article ID 7680005 | https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7680005

One Person Plays Multiple Roles: The Diversified Roles and Functions of Convention Project Hosts by SEM Methods

Jie Zhou,¹Mengjie Zhao,¹and Qi Yang²

Academic Editor: Wei Liu

Received28 Jun 2022

Accepted08 Aug 2022

Published25 Aug 2022

Abstract

In a convention project, the relationship between the host and professional conference organizers has an important impact on the convention project promotion. However, as an important stakeholder of the convention, the role of hosts in the project is less concerned and studied. Therefore, based on theories of project governance, this paper combines the role of the convention project hosts from the perspective of the project sponsors and formulates the convention hosts’ role measuring scale with the project sponsor measuring scale. Then, through content validity analysis and exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the scale was optimized and nine items were finally determined. The study found that the hosts of the convention project play three roles in the convention project, the customer role, the controller role, and the supporter role, and verified through the SEM that all three roles have a positive effect on the convention project performance.

1. Introduction

The convention industry has become an important part of the global tourism industry, and the success of the convention project is the micro basis of the healthy and sustainable development of the convention industry. The host and the professional conference organizer (PCOs) are the two core subjects of the convention project, among which the professional conference organizer of the convention project is the main body of the project management and operation, which is responsible for meeting the objectives and improving the satisfaction of the attendees [1]. Therefore, a large number of scholars have explored the motivation of the attendees, to guide the professional conference organizers to improve the performance of the convention projects to the needs of the attendees oriented [2, 3]. In contrast, the host of the convention project, as the initiator of the project, is not the direct subject to meeting the participants, but there is a principal-agent relationship between the host and the professional conference organizer [4]. Therefore, according to the principal-agent theory, the initiator group for each program should ensure that the governance arrangements are appropriate [5], to reduce the principal-agent conflicts and promote the sustainable satisfaction of the strategic objectives of the project. Undeniably, governance failure has always been considered one of the most prominent reasons for project failure [6]. However, the existing research results rarely excavate the core influencing factors of convention project success from the perspective of project governance subjects (convention project host). Correspondingly, in industry practice, the role of the convention project hosts is usually weakened, and the phenomenon of “emphasizing management, neglecting governance” is more common in the process of project operation [7].

According to the principal-agent theory, as the initiator of the convention project, the host is the owner of the project [8], has the right to claim the residual value of the convention project, and pays more attention to the long-term stable income of the project. In contrast, the professional conference organizer as the manager pays more attention to the short-term income that can increase his or her own income in the main contract [4]. In the context of the conflict between the interests of the host and the professional conference organizer, the blurry responsibilities can trigger the “internal person” control of the project, and the strategic value of the project is difficult to obtain the correct understanding and implementation [4]. The short-term benefits of management-driven convention projects have been more focused on, while the long-term value of governance-driven convention projects is often ignored. For example, professional conference organizers, driven by short-term interests, only focus on the size of the customer, ignoring the quality of the client; pays attention to the economic value, ignoring the brand value; focus on the satisfaction of the guests and participants and ignore the interests of other stakeholders; pays attention to the direct economic value; ignores the derived social effects; and so on [9]. As the findings of KPMG and PMI in the field of project management, only about 40% of the project results meet the strategic objectives of the initiator or owner [10].

According to the definition of PMBKO, a sponsor refers to “individuals or groups that provide resources and support for projects, project sets, or project combinations responsible for creating conditions for success [11].” To put it simply, a project sponsor is an individual or organization that provides economic or material support for the project [12]. However, relevant research on project governance has consistently shown that the role of sponsors is far from limited to the support of resources [13]. The project sponsor has been conceptualized as a multidimensional structure [14, 15], and a clear definition and active commitment to the sponsor's role is important for optimizing the governance framework [16] and promoting the success of the project [17, 18]. At present, different scholars have discussed the specific work responsibilities that project hosts should undertake or the skills they should have from different perspectives, such as communication with the management teams [19], motivating the management team [20], explanation and assessment of strategic objectives [21], risk prevention and control [22], political and financial support [23], and so on. Therefore, based on the characteristic attributes of the host-organizer relationship of the convention project, this paper will conceptualize the responsibilities of project sponsors formed in the existing research results, form the diversified roles of the convention project host (customer, controller, and supporter) and their core functions, and use factor analysis to verify the proposed three roles. On this basis, the impact of the three roles of the host on the convention project performance is tested by the structural equation model. The research results of this paper are used to clarify the relationship between the host and the professional conference organizer of the convention project. At the same time, it contributes to strengthening the positive role of the host, meeting the needs of the governance of the convention projects, and promoting the realization of the strategic value of the convention projects.

2. Literature Review and Definition of Convention Project Hosts’ Roles and Functions

2.1. Customer Role and Information Communication Function

Although the end user of the convention project is the participant, from the perspective of the principal-agent relationship, the direct principal of the professional conference organizer is the host, that is, the host hires the professional conference organizer to perform its duties, to meet the demands of the host. The relationship between the host and the professional conference organizer is a kind of business exchange essentially [24]. Therefore, the host is the project delivery and service object of the organizer, that is, in the convention project governance framework to play the role of the customer.

The matching of demand and supply is the logical basis of service product opening and design. Therefore, the host, as the customer, is necessary to carry out an efficient docking with the management main body of the project (the organizer) [25], which not only needs to effectively transfer the service demand to the management team of the service provider, that is, to clearly define the project’s goal, vision, and other information [20], but also needs to timely understand the interests and demands of the project management team through the construction of open relationship [26]. In other words, as the host of the customer role, its core function is “information communication.” Relevant scholars have also pointed out that the high-quality communication skills of the project initiators are critical to the success of the project [19, 27, 28].

According to the core functions of the customer role and drawing on the existing research results on the communication function of the host in project management, from the perspective of “transmitting” and “acquiring” information from the host to the organizer, this research constructed the measurement items of the convention project host’s customer role and information communication function as shown in Table 1. The measurement items in Table 1 reflect the specific tasks of the host of the convention project based on the role of the customer, which mainly includes two aspects: first, through communication, to make the organizer clearly understand the host’s needs, including the host’s strategic intention and goals for initiating the project (C1), the difference in the importance of each work and goal (C2), and the criteria for the success of the project (C3), to form the guidelines for the organizer to promote the project and second, to timely understand the organizers’ interests (C4) through communication, with a view to achieving a balance of service supply and demand.

2.2. The Role of the Controller and the Supervisory and Incentive Function

Although the hosts who assume the role of the customer can convey the strategic intention and expected objectives of the project to the organizer, according to the core point of view of principal-agent theory [29], driven by self-interesting, moral hazard of the convention project organizer as an agent will appear [30]. Accordingly, the “opportunity behavior” that sacrifices the client’s interests to satisfy personal interests will make it difficult for hosts to achieve their goals [4]. Therefore, while assuming the customer identity, the host needs to play the role of a controller, construct a perfect governance mechanism, and ensure that the objectives of the project are consistent with the objectives of the fund supporters [31] so that the direction of the project is consistent with the expectations of the project.

According to the causes and potential behavior deviation of the principal-agent problem, the host of the convention project plays the role of a controller and undertakes the basic function of “supervision and incentive.” On the one hand, prevent the “opportunistic behavior” of professional conference organizers through effective monitoring of project progress and management decisions [32]. On the other hand, through an effective incentive mechanism to promote the interests of professional conference organizers and hosts, thereby reducing principal-agent conflicts [20].

According to the core function of the controller role and the relevant research results of the supervision incentive function of the host in project management, this study constructs the measurement items of the role of the host controller and the supervision incentive function of the convention project, from the perspective of moral hazard avoidance and the compatibility mechanism of the main undertaking interests, as shown in Table 2. The measurement items in Table 2 reflect the specific tasks of the host of the meeting project based on the role of the controller, which mainly includes the question items M1 to M3, which emphasize the supervisory function of the host and prevent and correct the deviation of the actual progress of the project from the expected objectives; questionnaire item M4 mainly strengthens the scientific design of the incentive mechanism; and contributions to the objectives of the host and the professional conference organizer are tend to be consistent.

2.3. The Role of Supporters and the Function of Resource Supply

The customer role of the host is to make the project organizer understand the expected goal of the project, and the role of the controller is aimed to make the organizer have the willingness to achieve the project goal. However, when the necessary conditions for achieving the project goal are lacking in the process of project promotion, it will be difficult for the organizer to transform the willingness to achieve the goal of the host into reality. Therefore, as the initiator, the host needs to play the role of project supporter [34] to help the professional conference organizer achieve the objectives of the project. Accordingly, the core function of the host, as a supporter, is to provide resource support for the project (tangible and intangible) [23] to create conditions for the success of the project (PMBOK).

According to the core function of the supporter role, taking the existing research results as a reference, and based on the difference between the type and function of the supplied resources, the measurement items of the host’s role as supporter and the resource supply function of the convention project are constructed. As shown in Table 3, the measurement items reflect the specific tasks of the host, that is, the supporter-based convention project in Table 3, which mainly includes the following: S1 mainly emphasizes the financial support provided by the host for the project; S2–S4 mainly highlight the host’s stakeholders’ resources (social capital) that are provided by the host for its credibility and influence, such as the venues, media resources, and client resources; S5 mainly emphasizes the knowledge resources provided by the host for the project; and S6 mainly emphasizes the information resources provided by the host for the project.

3. Convention Project Performance and Research Hypothesis

Convention performance is the main reference index for judging the success of the convention project. Existing studies have mostly measured the convention project performance from the perspective of participants by measuring the effectiveness of the convention, the degree of communication, and the satisfaction of participants [35, 36]. Few studies have evaluated the performance from the perspective of the organizer. As the organizer of the convention, the host and the organizer jointly serve the convention project. In order to explore the convention project performance from the perspective of the organizer, this article introduces the concept of “project success.”

Among the judging indicators of project success, the project success triangle model has the highest recognition and is the most important factor for measuring project success. Oisen proposed a project triangle model in 1971 and pointed out that the evaluation of project success can start from three dimensions: cost, time, and project quality. Many scholars then evaluated the success of the project with reference to Oisen’s measurement indicators [37]. This article introduces the project success triangle model to evaluate the convention project performance. Based on the scales of Bryde [14], Müller et al. [32], and the characteristics of convention projects, this paper measures the performance of convention projects from three aspects: time, budget, and quality. The specific measurement items are shown in Table 4.

According to the definition and analysis of the roles and functions of the convention project host, the customer role and its function make sure that the professional conference organizer can accurately understand the convention project performance objectives and requirements, including time, cost, and quality, and the controller role and its function make sure that the professional conference organizer has the willingness to promote the implementation of the project according to the convention host’s performance objectives, and the supporter role and its function make sure that the professional conference organizer has the conditions to promote the project implementation according to the convention host’s performance objectives. The three roles ensure the success of the convention project from different perspectives and play a positive role in improving the convention project performance. According to the above analysis logic, the research hypotheses are as follows: H1: the commitment level of the convention host’s customer role has a significant positive effect on the convention project performance H2: the commitment level of the convention host’s controller role has a significant positive effect on the convention project performance H3: the commitment level of the convention host’s supporter role has a significant positive effect on the convention project performance

4. Methodology

To ensure the efficiency of questionnaire recovery, according to the principle of convenience [8], the research team takes the conference industry employees who have contacted or cooperated with the team members as the research object, and the questionnaires are distributed and collected through the Internet.

4.1. Questionnaire Development Based on the Content Validity Test

In this paper, we will measure the responsibilities of the host perceived by the professional conference organizer through a questionnaire survey, carry out exploratory factor analysis, and obtain three roles of the host before the factor structure examination.

Drawing on the methods of scholars such as Müller et al. [32] and Joslin and Mülle [38], this paper took the project leaders of professional conference organizers (PCOs) of the separated conference project between the host and the organizer in China as the research object; based on the information and perception of the conference project that the respondents were responsible for or participated in recently, the five-point Likert scale (from strongly disagree to strongly agree) was used to evaluate the questions contained in the role of the conference host and the performance level of the conference project.

In this paper, the division of the host’s role and the corresponding measurement items constitute the hypothesis of the survey scale and factor structure. According to the summary results of Tables 1–3, based on the literature study of research, the total number of measurement items for the role and function of the host is 14. Although each measurement item is supported by the relevant research results in the field of project management, to a certain extent, it reflects the effectiveness of the questionnaire, but there are some differences in the governance system between the convention project and the general project. To ensure that the related research results of the hosts’ responsibilities in the general project are applicable to the convention project, this paper examined the content validity of the preliminary questionnaire proposed above.

Based on the method of Musawir et al. [39], we test the content efficiency of 14 measurement items by the method of Lawshe’s content validity ratio (CVR) [40]. First of all, according to the research experience and industry experience, the research team selected 13 experts in the field of convention and exhibition as the object of pre-research, including 4 scholars engaged in convention and exhibition research for a long time and 9 industry experts with many experiences in hosting and organizing the convention project. And 13 experts measured the role of the host in the initial questionnaire and evaluated 14 items related to the specific responsibilities of the host, in which the importance level of each item is divided into “essential,” “useful, but not essential,” and “not necessary.” Finally, according to the proportion of “essential” experts, the content validity of each item is tested according to the calculation method and validity criteria of Ayre and Scally [41].

Based on the above testing methods and steps of content efficiency, questions S2, S5, and S6, out of the 14 initial questions measured in this paper, the host as the supporter, did not pass the content efficiency test, and their CVR was less than 0.538. Therefore, this also shows that the hosts are weak in support of working site selection, management training, and environmental identification, and they are mainly the basic management functions of the convention host.

After deleting the items that failed the content efficiency test, this paper finally retained the 11 final measurement items used to measure the role of the host. Set five-point Likert for each question scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree, which was used to measure the level of responsibility of the participants to evaluate the responsibilities of the most recent convention project.

4.2. Sample Acquisition Process and Results

To guarantee the recovery efficiency of the questionnaire, this paper is based on the principle of convenience [8], and the research team takes the convention practitioners who have contacted or have cooperative relations as the research object and adopts the way of the network as the channel to issue the questionnaire. The total survey lasted for 2 weeks. It added up to 255 copies of the questionnaire; 114 copies of the effective questionnaire were collected; the questionnaire return ratio was 45%; and the proportion of the sample quantity and the potential variable measurement items reached the standard of 5:1.

Although the sample is relatively small compared with the individual-level study, from the perspective of our method, the number of samples meets the proportion requirement between the number of samples and potential variable measurement items proposed by Hair et al. [42]. According to the existing research results, the research samples of Zwikael and Smyrk [43] and Müller et al. [32] project governance are 102 and 121, respectively, which shows that the research sample in this paper basically conforms to the basic rules and quantity of sample acquisition in the field of project management.

5. Results

5.1. Descriptive Statistics Analysis

As shown in Table 5, a total of 114 questionnaires from 34 cities were collected in this study. A total of 98.2% of the respondents had the experience of hosting the convention, and 68% of the respondents had 5 years or more working experience in the convention. In terms of position distribution, 59.6% are middle and senior management personnel, and 40.4% are ordinary members, covering all levels of the organizing team of the convention project hosting team. According to the number of hosts, the convention can be divided into single host and Co-hosted by Multiple hosts, with a ratio of nearly 1:1.

5.2. Exploratory Factor Analysis

The credibility and validity of the questionnaire were measured. The KMO test coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.880 (more than the standard of 0.5), and the significance probability of the chi-square statistical value of the Bartley sphere test was 0.00 (less than 0.05). Therefore, the questionnaire had good structural validity and was suitable for factor analysis. Cronbach’s α coefficient value of the 11 test items used to measure the host’s role was 0.882, indicating that the questionnaire had a high degree of credibility.

An exploratory factor analysis was carried out on each item of the host’s role, and three factors with eigenvalues greater than 1 were extracted, and the cumulative contribution rate was 69.43%. The maximum variance method is used as the rotation method to generate the factor load matrix after rotation (as shown in Table 6). Because item S1 had a double load (the load of the item in both factors is greater than 0.5), the item was deleted. Other items were loaded more than 0.5 in their respective factors, and the items can be retained.

The final factor F1 retained four items, C1, C2, C3, and C4; F2 retained three items, M1, M2, M3, and M4; and F3 retained two items, S3 and S4. According to the meaning of each factor corresponding to the item, the three factors can be named as customer, controller, and supporter. The credibility analysis was carried out on the factors after the deletion of the item; Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.844; and Cronbach’s α coefficient was 0.766. Cronbach’s α coefficient of the two items in the role of quantity supporter was 0.870, which passed the reliability test, which showed that the consistency of each measurement item was good.

5.3. Confirmatory Factor Analysis

The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the fitting degree of the model and the data can be accepted (χ² = 52.2, df = 32, χ²/df = 1.631, NFI = 0.906, TLI = 0.944, CFI = 0.960, RMSEA = 0.075), but a load of the factor M3 was less than 0.5 and deleted one item, which loading value was less than 0.5, and the remaining nine items were retained. The retained items were analyzed again, and the fitting degree of the deleted model with the data was found to be better; the ratio of the chi-square to the degree of freedom was less than 4; the RMSEA was less than 0.08; and the GFI, CFI, NFI, and TLI were all greater than 0.9, as shown in Table 7.

As shown in Table 8, the results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that Cronbach’s α values of each dimension of the host’s role were more than 0.7, which indicated that the scale had good credibility. The combination credibility of the three roles was more than 0.7, which indicated that the internal quality of the model was good. After adjusting the model, the load of all indexes in each dimension was more than 0.6, and the average variance extraction of the three dimensions was more than 0.5, which indicated that the data had high convergent validity. The correlation between the factors is shown in Figure 1.

5.4. Impact of the Role of the Host on the Convention Project Performance

The convention host plays multiple roles in the convention project. To explore the impact of different roles on the convention project performance, this article introduces the triangle model of project performance and measures the project performance from three dimensions: time, budget, and quality. This article uses AMOS to build a structural equation model to explore the impact of each role on the performance of the project.

5.4.1. The Impact of Customer Role on Convention Project Performance

The convention host plays the role of the customer and undertakes the function of information communication in the convention project. Through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, it can be seen that the role of the customer includes four measurement items (C1, C2, C3, and C4), and the convention project performance includes three measurement items (SU1, SU2, and SU3). Based on this, this paper constructs a structural equation model and tests the model. The model is shown in Figure 2.

The path coefficient and model fitness index of the model are shown in Table 9. The results showed that the model and data had a good fit (χ² = 18.691, df = 13, χ²/df = 1.438, GFI = 0.955, NFI = 0.949, TLI = 0.973, CFI = 0.983, RMSEA = 0.062, RMR = 0.031). The path coefficient of the causal relationship between “customer role” and “project performance” was 0.423 and passed the significance test at the 1% level, which indicated that the customer’s role assumed by the host had a significant positive impact on convention project performance. H1 is confirmed by the empirical results, which shows that effective communication between the convention host and the professional convention organizer can make the organizer better understand the objectives of the convention project, to improve the convention project performance.

5.4.2. The Impact of Controller Role on Convention Project Performance

The convention host, as the owner of the convention project, has legal responsibility for the project. The host needs to assume the function of supervision and incentives and reduce the agency conflict through effective supervision and incentives to ensure the smooth progress of the convention project. Through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, it can be known that the role of the controller includes three measures (M1, M2, and M4). To explore the effect of the role of the controller on the performance of the convention project, this paper constructs the structural equation of Figure 3.

The path coefficient and model fitness index of the model are shown in Table 10. The results showed that the fitting degree between the model and the data was acceptable (χ² = 5.784, df = 5, χ²/df = 0.723, GFI = 0.984, NFI = 0.978, RMR = 0.018). The path coefficient of the causal relationship between “controller role” and “project performance” was 0.361 , indicating that the hosts assume the role of controller and fulfill the supervision and control responsibility having a significant positive impact on convention project performance. H2 is confirmed by the empirical results, which shows that the effective supervision and incentive of the professional conference organizer can ensure that the organizers are more willing to act according to the objectives of the convention project, to improve the convention project performance.

5.4.3. The Impact of Supporter Role on Project Performance

In addition to the customer and controller roles, the convention host also plays the role of supporter in the convention project. The host guarantees the smooth implementation of the convention project by providing the organizer with tangible and intangible resources. Through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, it can be known that the role of the supporter includes two measures (S3 and S4). Based on this, this paper constructs a structural equation model and tests the model. The model is shown in Figure 4.

The path coefficient and model fitness index of the model are shown in Table 11. The results show that the model and the data had a good fit (χ² = 4.242, df = 4, χ²/df = 1.061, GFI = 0.986, NFI = 0.984, TLI = 0.998, CFI = 0.999, RMSEA = 0.023, RMR = 0.011). The path factor of the causal relationship between “supporter role” and “project performance” was 0.334 It showed that the supporter role of the convention project host had a positive impact on the project performance. H3 is confirmed by the empirical results, which shows that the effective resource support of the professional conference organizer can ensure that the organizer has the ability to achieve the objectives of the convention project, to improve the convention project performance.

Although the research sample in this paper meets the basic requirements, the overall research sample size is relatively small due to the limited number of objects that can be investigated. Therefore, in the structural equation model, if three latent variables are included in the model at the same time, the degree of freedom estimated by the model will be greatly reduced, and some of the model fitting indicators are relatively poor. In this regard, to ensure the fitting degree of the structure and the validity of the coefficient estimation, latent variables were introduced into the structural equation model in this study. Nonetheless, to maintain a robust structure, this study also introduced three latent variables into the model for the corresponding tests. Although some of the model’s fitting indicators were not ideal, the path coefficients of the three role variables on the performance of exhibition projects were significantly positive, which was consistent with the research conclusion of this paper.

6. Research Conclusions and Implications

6.1. The Conclusions of the Research

This paper makes a conceptual and deconstruction of the responsibility of the project host by combing the existing documents and makes clear the multiroles of the host and the core function of each role. Based on that, the author further explores the role and responsibilities of the host from the perspective of the convention project. The role of the convention project host in the whole project was determined by the exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, and the role measurement scale of the convention project host was constructed. In this paper, the role of the convention host in the convention project is divided into three aspects: the customer role, the controller role, and the supporter role. To further verify the rationality of the identified convention host’s roles, this paper examines the impact of each role on the convention project performance; the results show that the customer role, the controller role, and the supporter role all have a positive impact on the convention project performance. The conclusion shows that in the convention project, the host needs to play multiple roles (as shown in Figure 5) and has an important impact on conference performance.

As the entrusting party in the principal-agent relationship, the host plays the role of the customer in the convention project and is responsible for the demand transfer and information communication [19]. The host needs to define key indicators such as meeting the project target, priorities, and performance standards to the professional conference organizers (PCOs) and to communicate and coordinate with the stakeholders’ interests to ensure the success of the convention project.

As the owner of the convention project, the host also plays the role of controller and assumes the responsibility of supervising control and incentives. The host needs to pay attention to the risk identification and control of the convention project and establish an incentive system with the organizer. The convention host needs to follow the progress of the project in real time and provide support for the organizer’s decision-making to ensure the smooth progress of the convention project [31, 32].

As the initiator of the convention project and the owner of the resource, the host plays the role of a supporter and has the function of helping the organizer obtain the required resources. In the convention projects, the hosts mainly provide support for the media publicity and investment promotion work. The host utilizes its influence and its own resources to help the convention project enhance its influence and credibility, obtain sponsorship support, improve the brand value, and reduce the pressure of the organizer’s convention invitation work [23, 34].

The host of the convention assumes its role in the convention project, can make a positive impact on the convention project performance, and is conducive to the project being held on time and on a budget [15]. The convention host plays the role of customer, controller, and supporter in the convention project and needs to perform the functions of information exchange, supervision and incentive, and resource support. Each role has a positive impact on the realization of project performance. The host should clarify its own role and assume corresponding responsibilities to ensure the smooth running of the convention project and improve the performance of the convention project [13].

6.2. Theoretical and Practical Implications

This paper discussed the role of the host from the perspective of the convention project and clarified the role orientation of the host, an important stakeholder of the convention. This paper introduces the theory of project governance, analyzes the convention project at the governance level, and lays a foundation for future research on the relationship between the main host and the convention governance.

This paper was based on the relevant research results of the project initiators and combined with the related research of the convention project to obtain the measurement questionnaire for the role of the convention project host and optimized questionnaire items with the opinions of experts and scholars in the industry. Through factor analysis, we determined the role of the convention project host and the main functions of each role and formed the role scale of the convention host, to lay the foundation for the follow-up research.

Through the investigation of the professional conference organizers (PCOs), we can understand the current role of the host in the industry. Clarifying the role of the host can make the organizer understand the responsibilities of the host more clearly, define the rights and responsibilities between the host and the organizer, and improve the working efficiency of the host. The role of the host plays an important role in strengthening the positive role of the host and realizing the strategic value and performance of convention projects.

Based on the multiple roles of project sponsors proposed by Crawford and Brett [23], combined with the specific conditions of convention projects and research on project governance, this paper builds a three-role structure of exhibition project sponsors. On this basis, the positive impact of different roles of sponsors on project performance is verified, which is also in line with existing research results on the impact of project sponsor roles [13, 15].

The three roles of the host (customer role, controller role, and supporter role) all have a positive impact on the convention project performance. For the convention host, during the implementation of the convention project, it is necessary to clearly define its own role and actively perform the functions of information exchange, supervision and encouragement, and resource support. For the convention organizers, they need to understand the responsibilities of the hosts, cooperate with the hosts, communicate in a timely manner, and urge them to perform their corresponding duties to ensure the smooth organization of the convention and improve the convention project performance [4, 13].

As a client, the host promotes the information communication between the host and the organizers so that the two parties can reach an agreed goal on a specific convention project, which is the key to promoting the orderly development and success of the project. Compared with the role of supervision and control, the host, as the client role, can effectively guide the project objectives and build an effective relationship between coordination and governance between the sponsors through information communication, which is more important to the success of the project [19].

Lee et al. [4] focused on the convention host’s role as a controller and its supervisory and incentive functions in their research on the relationship between convention project hosts and organizers. On this basis, according to the principal-agent theory and project governance research, this paper further expanded its role as a customer and supporter, as well as its functions of information communication and resource supply, and more comprehensively expounded the multiple roles and functional requirements of the host. At the same time, it also verifies the positive impact of the multiple roles and functions of the host on the project performance. Future research will also further analyze the multiple roles and functional utility of the host.

6.3. Research Limitations and Prospects

This paper combs out the role of the convention project hosts through the literature retrieval, optimizes the relevant responsibilities of the host team according to the investigation results, and finally confirms the three roles and the corresponding functions played by the host. There are some limitations in this paper: first, because of the limited number of samples collected in this paper, the results have some limitations. Second, the questionnaire mainly comes from the organizer, the follow-up study can consider the views of more stakeholders. In addition, this study mainly focuses on the role of the host and its impact on convention performance but does not involve the interactive relationship and impact between the host and organizer; the subsequent research can focus on the interactive effect between the host and organizer.

As for the role of the host, there is a large research space in the future. First, in the future, the self-perceived role of the host can be compared with the organizer’s feelings, to determine the reason for the difference in perception and strengthen the role orientation of the host. Second, this paper is about the role of the convention host with a summary study. In a follow-up study, it can concentrate on analyzing the different nature of the host and organizer and try to determine the difference in the host’s role performance in different situations and to understand the influence of the role of the host in different situations on the performance of the project.

Data Availability

The questionnaire recovery data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the major social science projects of the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission (2020JWZD23) and the project supported by the Asian Research Center of Nankai University (AS1807).

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