Classical music concert attendance and older adults: A goal-directed approach

Older adults are a lucrative consumer market. In finance and health markets, considerable at- tention has been devoted to understanding their preferences and the factors that influence their decisions and behaviors. In a classical music concert context, older adults are extremely impor- tant; despite accounting for half of all attendees in most countries, little theory-based research explains classical music attendance in general and by these older adults in particular. Using the Model of Goal Directed Behavior (MGB) as a foundation, we collected data from attendees and propose a revised model to capture the behavioral processes involved in the formation of posi- tive word of mouth communication among these consumers. A modified version of the MGB predicted 57% of the variance in word of mouth and the model/data fit statistics were acceptable suggesting that the revised MGB is a robust and viable option when considering leisure behavior or engagement.