The relationship between international exhibition activities and psychic distance: A study on Chinese company representatives who come to exhibitions in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to understand the relationship between international exhibitions and psychic distance that is perceived by people against countries. International exhibitions are generally accepted as an essential activity for international trade because they provide commercial opportunities by gathering buyers and sellers at the same place at the same time. On the other hand, psychic distance concept is a relevant phenomenon to explain the obstacles and difficulties, which occur in international trade due to differences between countries. The literature consists many studies that discuss international exhibitions or psychic distance topics however research that investigates the link between those are limited. In this study a quantitative research was undertaken to examine the relationship between international exhibitions and psychic distance. Data was collected through a survey from foreign visitors who had come to Turkey for industrial fairs. Six international exhibitions in Istanbul were visited and final dataset which was composed of observations from 100 Chinese company representatives. According to findings, the hypothesis that states a negative relationship between international exhibition attendance and psychic distance was not supported. On the other hand it is found that the psychic distance was decreasing as the number of Chinese representatives' sole customer visits in Turkey increases. This study is expected to contribute to international business literature by challenging the benefits of costly international exhibition activities and underline the importance of typical customer relationships in international trade.