Why People Play at Work: A Theoretical Examination of Leisure-at-Work

ABSTRACT

Postmodern perspectives on work and leisure acknowledge the interwoven nature of these domains, an example being the increasing number of organizations intentionally incorporating leisure into the employee experience. Existing research, however, provides no specific theoretical guidance regarding the potential impacts of strategically integrating recreation activities into the work domain. Thus, based on positive organizational scholarship and leisure science theories, we build an individual level model describing the phenomenon of leisure-at-work (LAW). We propose LAW activities have the ability to produce feelings of personal expressiveness at work as moderated by employees' perceptions of the activities. Personal expressiveness then mediates LAW activities' ability to promote the development of organizational commitment, work engagement, and resilience among employees.     

Serious Leisure and Recreation Specialization: An Uneasy Marriage

A case is made to wed research on serious leisure and recreation specialization. Before such a marriage can occur, the strengths and differences of the two perspectives must be examined. In this article, four important contributions of the recreation specialization are put forward that will further our understanding of serious leisure and intense forms of leisure. These are (1) there is diversity among participants involved in the same leisure activity, (2) we can quantify recreation specialization and serious leisure, (3) there are gradations of seriousness and specialization, and (4) there are practical applications of understanding that participants vary along a specialization continuum.     

Prediction of leisure participation from behavioral,normative, and control beliefs: An application of the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen 1985, 1987) is offered as a comprehensive framework for understanding of leisure participation. Salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs, theoretically the basic determinants of behavior, were assessed with respect to five leisure activities: spending time at the beach, jogging or running, mountain climbing, boating, and biking. College students completed a questionnaire containing measures of these beliefs and of global expressions of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. One year later the participants reported how often they had performed each behavior in the preceding 12 months. Behavioral beliefs were found to partition into beliefs about affective reactions and beliefs about costs and benefits. Participation in leisure activities was influenced by these affective and instrumental beliefs, as well as by normative beliefs about the expectations of important others and by control beliefs about required resources and other factors that impede or facilitate leisure participation.     

Sexual Minority Adults at a Seasonal Home Campground: An Examination of Common,Unique, and Diverse Leisure Motivations

We examined the motivations of sexual minority adults to vacation at a sexual minority-focused campground and how sexual orientation identity management was associated with leisure motivations. Twenty-nine men and 12 women who owned seasonal homes participated. In responses to open-ended questions, participants expressed many of the motivations typically associated with seasonal home leisure (e.g., socializing, escape, relax). The most frequently mentioned motivation was the sexual minority focus of the campground. The more participants were “out” in everyday life, the less likely they were to mention the sexual minority focus of the campground as a motivation for being there.     

生产性旅游:一个初步的理论探讨

生产性旅游具有重要的理论和现实意义。本文首先分析了生产性旅游存在的客观基础：闲暇活动的二重性;接着,从旅游层次、旅游在休闲活动中的核心地位以及旅游供需的角度具体地分析了旅游的生产本质。本文还构造了一个生产性旅游模型,旅游者从中获得人力资本和社会资本,这些旅游效益决定着人们的旅游决策。最后,本文还提出了八种主要的生产性旅游活动。     

Entering the Minds of Serial Murderers: The Application of Forensic Leisure Science to Homicide Research

ABSTRACT

Years ago, a small handful of leisure scholars suggested that serial murder may be a form of leisure. However, to date this possibility remains virtually unexplored. This article draws from recent research to share reflections and rich, new insights on how leisure science may provide important contributions to serial homicide researchers and law enforcement personnel. At the same time, exploring such intersections offers leisure scholars new ways of understanding familiar concepts and theories. Possibilities for future research are discussed.     

Involvement with the equipment component of sport: Links to recreational commitment

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the involvement many sports participants have with relevant sports equipment. A structural model is presented which proposes a positive relationship between equipment involvement and recreational commitment. The model also identifies several possible outcomes of equipment involvement such as product spending levels and opinion leadership regarding the equipment. The model is tested using LJSREL analysis for a sample of recreational runners. Results confirm that both equipment involvement and recreational commitment are multidimensional constructs. Amount of running experience was found to be negatively related to perceptions of equipment importance, whereas psychological commitment to running had a positive effect. Behavioral commitment was not significantly associated with the perceived importance of running equipment, although there was a postive link with equipment knowledge. Equipment involvement was found to be a significant predictor of spending levels and opinion leadership.     

旅游伦理概念及理论架构引论

旅游伦理是近年来旅游研究关注的一个焦点。由于旅游伦理的研究尚处于起步阶段，旅游伦理概念尚未形成共识。本文在有关的旅游伦理研究文秩基础上，对旅游伦理的概念、旅游伦理的主体、基本问题和理论框架进行了初步讨论，目的在于提供一个初步旅游伦理概念和理论框架。旅游伦理是伦理学的应用学科，是关于旅游者和旅游利益相关者的道德学说；旅游伦理主体是旅游者和旅游利益相关者；旅游伦理的基本问题是关于旅游利益和旅游道德的关系问题；旅游伦理基本理论框架应包括旅游伦理意识、旅游伦理关系和旅游伦理实践。     

Research note: work to leave,leave to work: motivations of the Jobbymoon takers: evidence from focus group interviews

ABSTRACT

This research note examines the factors driving the phenomenon of the ‘jobbymoon’, the practice of undertaking travel between jobs, which has become increasingly popular in recent years. Spawned by the growing transience of job stability, particularly among the millennium generation, the jobbymoon pertinently embodies the blurred if not entangled lines between work and leisure, and therefore is rich in its research implications. Focus group interviews were conducted to identify and evaluate the factors motivating peoples to take jobbymoons. Interviews from focus groups yielded six main categories of motivators, thereby preliminarily revealing the unique relationship between work and leisure as embodied in the jobbymoon. This note claims its research significance in identifying and investigating a special emerging byproduct of work-leisure interactions in the contemporary society, and its findings of the key motivators of the jobbymoon can serve as practical references for product development and marketing efforts for this niche leisure segment.     

Managing Heritage Volunteers: An Exploratory Study of Volunteer Programmes in Art Museums Worldwide

This study addresses the paucity of research on volunteer management in art museums and heritage attractions. Based on the results of surveys and interviews with volunteers and managers from international art museums, it identifies three sets of promising practices that appear to increase the performance of volunteer programmes: (1) building a community of volunteers; (2) enhancing volunteers' learning experiences; and (3) fostering the self-management of volunteers. Taken together, these practices offer evidence for the value of the ‘serious leisure’ concept in the theory and practice of volunteer management.     

The Critical Relationship between Climate Change Awareness and Action: An Origin-Based Perspective

While it is now widely accepted by scientists and governments that human activity contributes to climate change, there is a lack of understanding whether this realisation is now gaining greater attraction with the general public than it had 5 or 10 years ago. Additional gaps in knowledge relate to the link between awareness and action, which could be hypothesised to have become stronger in light of evidence being produced of some projected climate changes occurring already. This article examines climate change awareness and the link with travel-related decision-making by adopting an under-utilised origin perspective in Wellington, New Zealand. The findings, generated by a household mail survey, indicate that the majority of the respondents are aware of tourism's contribution to climate change and think that it is likely that their lives in New Zealand will be negatively affected by climate change. However, when examining the respondents' recent holiday decision-making, it is evident that for the overwhelming majority, climate change awareness does not appear to influence travel-related decisions. This article concludes by discussing demand-focused measures aimed at reducing the GHG emissions generated by tourism.     

Self-Transformation in Go Games: An Autoethnographic Study of a Serious Leisure Pursuit

ABSTRACT

This article combines both analytical and evocative autoethnographic study of Go to illuminate Confucian self-transformation and to contribute to Robert Stebbins's conceptions of serious leisure. As an analytical autoethnographic study, this article interweaves the author's personal experiences of playing Go with theoretical discussions. The author argues that whereas Stebbins's analysis of durable benefits from serious leisure is individualist, Confucian self-transformation encourages a relationalist approach and that the latter approach could be a remedy for the shortcomings of the former one. As for the evocative part of this article, the author uses some devices of fictional writing to tell a lifelike story of an unforgettable Go game. This story invites readers to put themselves in the author's situations, to taste the sweet fruit of the author's serious leisure pursuit, and to reflect on their own leisure experiences.     

Pacific Area Tourism: A Guide to Key Sources of Tourism Statistics

Abstract

During the period 1988 to 1995 Korean outbound travel increased by 526% to 3,818,740 in 1995. The rapidity of this increase has caught many destinations unprepared. One such example is Australia which has only recently recognised the potential of Korean tourism. Australia's tourism industry has yet to recognise that Korean tourists have expectations that differ from those of other Asian visitors and as a result has failed to provide a product that lives up to the promotional images of Australia contained in tourism marketing campaigns. Issues such as cuisine, language difficulties and poor itineraries are identified as major problems. This article will examine the problems Australia faces in developing a range of services and products suitable for Korean tourists.     

Why hotels give to charity: Interdependent giving motives

Previous studies assume that the motives behind corporate giving (CG) are independent, ignoring possible interactions and probably resulting in less accurate analyses. Therefore, this study uses analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) techniques to evaluate the relative importance and the interdependence of the critical motives behind hotel giving in Taiwan. This study presents three findings: (1) giving motives are highly interdependent; (2) economic motive is a cause; philanthropic and ethical motives belong to effect group; and (3) the philanthropic motive (0.368) is the most important, followed by economic (0.340) and ethical (0.292) motives. In short, hotels have a higher propensity to moral values in CG but without losing sight of their financial performance. Moreover, the economic outcome of CG is the core motive. Not only does it directly influence CG; it also indirectly affects CG through the other two effect motives.     

Testing Alternative Leisure Constraint Negotiation Models: An Extension of Hubbard and Mannell's Study

The purpose of this study was to test a model of the leisure constraint negotiation process proposed by Hubbard and Mannell. A multidimensional measure of physically active leisure was used to extend their findings to a sample of middle-aged and older adults in a metropolitan park setting. Volunteers and visitors (aged 50–87 years) of a Midwestern metropolitan park agency completed a self-administered questionnaire. Results of a two-step structural equation modeling procedure suggested a constraint-negotiation dual channel model. In this model, the negative influence of constraints on participation was almost entirely offset by the positive effect of negotiation strategies. The effect of motivation on participation was fully mediated by negotiation. The implications of these findings for studying constraint negotiation and active leisure in mid- to late-life are discussed.     

Data Mining For Hotel Occupancy Rate: An Independent Component Analysis Approach

The recent global financial crisis and the threat of a worldwide H1N1 influenza epidemic have greatly affected the tourism and hospitality industries around the world. Both hospitality practitioners and researchers are interested in finding analytical methods that enable forecasts to be made of hotel room demand under the uncertain conditions likely to affect the industry. In this article, a novel data mining technique called independent component analysis (ICA) is proposed to establish the major factors determining the hotel occupancy rate in Hong Kong. Then, extension of the model is suggested, incorporating these factors to decompose hotel occupancy rates and examine the effect of each factor on the hotel occupancy rate. Empirical findings show that outbreaks of infectious diseases, economic performance, and service price were the major determinants of the hotel occupancy rate in Hong Kong over the period studied.     

Dereifying family leisure: An examination of women's and men's everyday experiences and perceptions of family time

Abstract

The dominant ideologically based view of family leisure as fun for all may obscure the work associated with family activities and the unequal distribution of such work. In this time‐budget and interview study, the time that 46 families spent in family activities was analyzed by examining how much of this time was work and how much was leisure from the parents’ viewpoint. The data show that family activities were often experienced as work or involved a work component. Moreover, the mothers were significantly more likely than the fathers to experience family time (with spouse present) and time with children (with spouse absent) as work and less likely to report these situations to be leisure, x²(3, N = 728) 65.07, p < .01, and x²(3, N = 510) 34.93, p < .01, respectively. Thus, although family activities have some positive benefits and are valued by parents, they do involve work and this work is unequally divided between women and men. The contradictory aspects of family leisure, especially for women, are discussed in terms of the ethic of care as well as the ideology of familism.     

Those who come to pray and those who come to look: interactions between visitors and congregations

Religious tourism is a phenomenon that includes many different types of activities, from pilgrimages to visits to Notre Dame in Paris. While much of the literature relating to religious tourism concentrates on pilgrimage and those with religious intentions, little has been written of those who visit for other reasons and how these two groups interact. The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between the congregations and visitors at two major religious sites which receive significant numbers of visitors for other than religious reasons. This paper considers the views of visitors to two cathedrals in Australia who were surveyed to find out the reason for their visit and their feelings to the religious aspects of the cathedral and the congregation. Members of the congregations were similarly asked about their position in relation to the visitors. Another issue that was canvassed with both groups was that of entrance fees being charged at the cathedrals. It was found that the congregations are happy for the visitors to attend the cathedrals and participate in worship but that many dislike being observed. Neither group reacted positively in relation to the imposition of entrance fees.     

Active and Adjusted: Investigating the Contribution of Leisure,Health and Psychosocial Factors to Retirement Adjustment

Engagement in leisure activities during retirement and its relationship to retirement adjustment were investigated. Psychosocial mediators included mastery, self-efficacy for retirement (SE-R) and activities (SE-A), positive (PA) and negative affect (NA). Resources investigated included physical health and finances. Leisure activities examined were social, home entertainment, chores, light exercise, vigorous exercise, and education. Data were gathered from a sample consisting of 243 retirees. Direct predictors of retirement adjustment included finances, health, mastery, SE-R and SE-A. Social activities were the best predictor of a wide range of positive outcomes, including PA, mastery, SE-R and SE-A. Educational activities improved SE-R. Being involved in a broader range of activities was associated with PA, mastery and SE-A. Familiarity and enjoyment of activities were implicated in the maintenance and continuation of activities at post-retirement. Research findings have implications for aged-care and other retirement service providers, as well as for individuals.