Attending virtual academic conferences: the roles of financial support from universities and researchers’ career stage

Universities generally provide financial support, such as travel grants or conference subsidies, for researchers to attend academic conferences, and motivations for attendance vary across different career stages. Amid tightening financial constraints for academic institutions, rising travel costs, and the improved infrastructure of virtual academic conferences (VACs), VACs offer a cost-effective means to enhance inclusiveness. Drawing on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, we examine whether lack of financial resources motivates academics to attend VACs and whether this relationship is stronger for early career scholars. Using pre- and post-conference survey data from 197 attendees of two large academic management conferences, we conducted regression analyses to test our hypotheses. Our study contributes to equity, diversity, and inclusion research by empirically demonstrating that VACs can level the playing field for underprivileged academics lacking financial support. We extend COR theory by showing that academics facing resource loss use VACs to regain valuable resources, addressing the underexplored process of resource acquisition. Furthermore, we advance VAC literature by applying a resource conservation lens, moving beyond the dominant technology acceptance perspective, and by providing the first time-lagged evidence that intention to attend VACs predicts actual attendance. Findings offer theoretical and practical implications for fostering inclusivity in academic conferences.