Product shift in recreation settings: Findings and implications from panel research

Abstract

Resource managers often rely on data from recreation users as one of the inputs for long‐term decisions, but product shift (users responding to changing social or environmental conditions by changing their definition of the recreation experience) may confound the reliability of such information. In this study, we used panel data to examine the product shift phenomenon related to social conditions and describe resulting management implications. The same individuals who participated in a 1977 study of floaters on the Rogue River were contacted in 1991. As predicted by the product shift phenomenon, results indicated that in a situation in which use levels are increasing (a) visitors are more likely to change experience definitions than to become dissatisfied, (b) experience definitions change toward higher density experiences, (c) on‐river encounter norms increase, and (d) perceived crowding does not change. Other findings ran counter to product shift theory: Norms for off‐river encounters did not increase to accommodate additional contacts, and user satisfaction decreased slightly. Management implications suggest a need for well‐defined experience opportunities as well as objective monitoring to document site characteristics over time.