Leisure Opportunities and Fatigue in Employees: A Large Cross-Sectional Study

The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between perceived leisure availability and fatigue in working individuals and the extent it mediates the known association between work hours and fatigue. A sample of 7,154 working individuals (ages 20–59) was drawn from the Austrian Health Survey 2006–07. The associations were determined using stepwise logistic regression analysis. Individuals perceiving few opportunities for leisure activities had a 2.7 greater likelihood of having prolonged fatigue (95% CI = 2.05–3.29) than those with sufficient leisure, after controlling for relevant confounders. Furthermore, the positive association between weekly hours of work and fatigue was mediated to a greater part by leisure opportunities, indicating that working long hours leads to fatigue by limiting leisure opportunities. The results of this study suggest that the perceived availability of leisure is a source of health and well-being in working individuals.     

Asian North Americans' Leisure: A Critical Examination of the Theoretical Frameworks Used in Research and Suggestions for Future Study

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to critically examine the theoretical frameworks employed in the existing research on Asian North Americans' leisure and to offer insights into additional theories that might be used in future research on the topic. The study reviewed three major theoretical frameworks employed by previous research in the field of leisure studies: (1) assimilation and acculturation theory, (2) ethnicity-based theories, and (3) self-construal. The study also provides recommendations for alternative theoretical approaches that could be used in investigations of Asian North Americans' leisure, including racial discrimination and stereotyping, the multiple hierarchy stratification perspective, transnationalism, and cultural and social capital.     

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.     

Older Men's Perceptions of Leisure and Aging

As the North American population ages, detailed research will be needed to understand the leisure experiences of older adults. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of leisure and aging among a sample of older Canadian men. Data were collected among 15 men aged 60–70 using individual interviews and follow-up focus groups. Data were analyzed thematically and four themes emerged: the interplay between leisure and work, the desire to “give back” to family or to the community through leisure, the individual purpose of leisure choices, and viewing constraints as a reflection of priorities rather than as barriers.     

Governing Working Bodies Through Leisure

This paper focuses on what appears to represent the consummate extension and blurring of distinctions between work and leisure, with employers providing some form of leisure opportunities for their employees at, or associated with, the workplace. Empirically, the paper draws upon investigations undertaken with three Scottish-based case study organizations conducted from 1999 to 2001. The results showed that healthy leisure forms are central to contemporary active leisure initiatives at work, but that the docile assimilation of these messages is neither universal nor without contestation.     

北京五类人群休闲方式的比较与分析

随着生活水平的不断提高,人们对于休闲活动的需求也越来越大,也越来越重视休闲在自己生活中的地位.本文通过对北京五类人群的调查与研究来了解北京不同阶层人群的休闲方式的不同之处,以及他们选择休闲方式的决定因素和制约因素,从而揭示休闲在人们生活中的重要地位,倡导不同阶层人群选择健康与积极的休闲方式.     

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.     

Family Leisure Functioning: A Cross-National Study

The purpose of this study was to, first, determine whether positive relationships between family leisure (involvement and satisfaction) and family outcomes (cohesion, adaptability, family functioning, and satisfaction with family life) were present in a multinational sample, and second, determine whether the core and balance model could provide a consistent framework for between country comparisons of relationships between family leisure and family outcome variables cross nationally. Families were recruited from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Data were analyzed using blocked multiple regression models, and generalized linear models to compare relationships across countries. Overall, findings indicated positive relationships between family leisure and family outcomes were consistent across all five countries. Some differences in relationship strength, not directionality, occurred primarily in family leisure involvement rather than family leisure satisfaction.     

For Those to Come: An Introduction to Why Posthumanism Matters

Abstract

As the introduction to the special issue of Leisure Sciences dedicated to interdisciplinary theorizations and practices productively informed by our posthuman predicament and currents within posthumanist thought, this article sets the stage, tone, and itinerary for a series of articles examining the various potentials posthumanism affords. As such, we attempt to connect multiple ways posthumanism may be taken up with key concepts, linguistic identifiers, and onto-epistemological shifts that may open upon important differences in how we live, think, and relate with human and nonhuman entities. Resisting melancholic laments at the failures of humanism, we urge for an affirmative, upbeat, and visionary approach to set a different trajectory for our future. This article is intended to serve as a point of departure for scholars desiring to experiment with what posthumanism can do to generate changes and accelerations for a more humane, if not less human-centric, future.     

Longitudinal Leisure Activity Profiles and Their Associations with Recovery Experiences and Job Performance

We aimed to identify longitudinal leisure activity profiles among working adults and their links to recovery experiences and job performance. Leisure activities, recovery experiences, and job performance were investigated among 831 employees using survey data collected in spring 2013 (T1) and 2014 (T2). Through latent profile analysis (LPA), four stable longitudinal leisure activity profiles were identified. “Social Sports(wo)men” (46%) engaged in physical and social activities but rarely in creative or cultural activities. “Active Artists” (23%) pursued all leisure activities, particularly creative activities. “Socially & Culturally Inactives” (17%) exercised frequently but seldom engaged in social, cultural or creative activities. “Inactive Soloists” (14%) spent little time on physical activities. “Active Artists” reported most beneficial recovery experiences and job performance. Our results corroborate the importance of leisure activities (particularly diverse and creative activities) in facilitating recovery from work stress and job performance.     

Location,location, location: women’s leisure in rural Australia

For many women living in rural Australia the location of both leisure and work is the family farm, a location that defines their identity as a ‘women of the land’. This paper investigates the impact of geographical location in shaping the leisure activities of rural women living in the Yass Valley Region of Australia. Using an interpretive research perspective and a process of narrative inquiry, data for the study were obtained from women born between 1946 and 1964 through open-ended, in-depth interviews. A thematic analysis of the data revealed that for these women the specific geographical location had a strong impact on the types of leisure activities available in which they were able to participate. The findings from this study suggest that for older women in rural Australia, the specific geographical location can facilitate or inhibit the degree of involvement in community leisure activities that engender social capital among older women living in these locations.     

基于委托——代理理论的饭店企业员工敬业度提升模式研究

提高员工敬业度是企业实现高效人力资源管理的关键。本文基于委托—代理理论,提出建立有效的激励约束机制以提升员工敬业度;并针对饭店基层员工设计了薪酬、工作本身、职业发展3个激励因素和管理制度、人员督导、现代化设备使用3个约束因素进行实证研究。结果表明：（1）饭店目前的薪酬体系缺乏激励效应,管理者应构建富有激励导向的科学合理的薪酬管理体系来提高员工敬业度;（2）目前饭店管理制度没有很好发挥提高员工敬业度的作用,管理者在完善管理制度的同时,应该建立与管理环境相适宜的具有中国特色的企业文化来保证制度有效性的发挥,做到刚性管理与柔性管理的完美融合;（3）人员督导能有效提高员工的敬业度,受到代理人的欢迎,这与一般企业所说的代理人厌恶委托人的监督,导致敬业度降低不符合,体现了饭店委托—代理关系的特殊性。     

Why Do People Leave? a Study Of Nonsupervisory Restaurant Employees’ Polychronic Time Use Preference and Turnover Intention

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to present a comprehensive view on the associations among polychronicity, job satisfaction, work engagement, and turnover intention within a restaurant context. Using a sample of 252 servers in full-service restaurants, structural equation modeling results found that polychronicity positively linked with job satisfaction, work engagement, and turnover intention. An indirect effect from polychronicity to job satisfaction to turnover intention was found. Results can assist restaurant managers in selecting candidates that best fit their organization. It will also assist employees in determining which career path best matches their personality traits.     

Accessing leisure in an unfamiliar society via mobile instant messaging: A case study of academic sojourners visiting South Korea

ABSTRACT

This paper explores how academic sojourners, unfamiliar with the local language and culture, accessed casual leisure through mobile instant messaging during a short stay of one or two semesters in South Korea. Ninety-six English-speaking academic sojourners on Korean government scholarships covering tuition, room and board in exchange for contact with local university students seeking informal English language practice took part in this study. They represent a shift in academic sojourner mobility from outbound Asian students seeking language study in English-speaking countries to inbound English-speakers providing language support within Asia. Qualitative analysis revealed how casual leisure, the features of South Korea’s advanced digital environment and mobile instant messaging chat rooms coalesced. The findings show how local digital practices complement casual leisure access and how digital practices can become casual leisure despite limits in language ability and cultural understanding. It recommends further exploration of links between leisure, digital environments and mobile instant messaging in other research settings that are experiencing flows of globally mobile populations.     

Hard-Core Leisure: A Conceptualization

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research reflection is to describe a slice of serious leisure that we call hard-core leisure, which we define as a form of serious leisure that involves extraordinary commitment that is directed toward an “authentic” style of social world activity. Using examples from birdwatching, Civil War reenacting, and climbing, we explain how hard-core participants separate themselves from other participants in terms of what they believe are superior styles of participation and unusual degrees of effort, perseverance, and conduct. Too often, serious participants in any given leisure activity are seen as homogeneous in their attitudes and behavior. The concept of hard-core leisure makes problematic this assumption by bringing to light an extreme form of leisure participation.     

Make a loyal visitor: a study of leisure experience at Farglory corporate museum in Taiwan

Modern museum operation has evolved from simply providing the public with cultural and historical information to becoming a part of the tourism and leisure industry that provides “edutainment.” In response to intense competition and challenges, museums now place a strong focus on customer experience to elevate their appeal. Targeting newly established corporate museums, this study investigates the relationship between customer leisure motivation, leisure experience, and customer loyalty intention by using a structural equation modelling method. The results show that leisure experience mediates the effect of leisure motivation on loyalty intention. In other words, customer leisure motivation can lead to customer loyalty intention through leisure experience. The results further reveal that act experience dimension provided by corporate museums had significant effects. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

中小城市老年人日常休闲活动的时空特征——以常德市武陵区为例

日常休闲活动是老年人健康幸福生活不可或缺的部分。本研究以常德市武陵区为例,运用地理空间分析方法,按照需求-行为-设施分析思路,揭示城市老年人日常休闲活动需求与供给的时空规律。分析发现：（1）益智和康体是城市老年人主要休闲活动类型,休闲活动时间分配存在显著的类型差异,益智类平均时长最长,其次为康体类,公益类休闲活动的平均时长最短。（2）老年人户外休闲活动主要集中在10:00、15:00、19:00三个时间段,对应的活动空间主要集中在居住区、附近街道和城市广场、公园等,活动空间半径存在显著的类型差异。（3）老年人休闲活动需求以及建立在休闲活动需求上的闲暇行为与城市休闲设施供给总体空间匹配度较高,其中游憩类休闲活动与休闲活动设施的匹配度最高,其次是文化类活动,最后是康体类活动。据此建议,中小城市应进一步重视老年人日常休闲活动需求-行为-设施供给三个层面之间的匹配,加强老年友好城市与社区建设。     

Coping Strategies Used by Lodging Managers to Balance Work and Personal Lives: An Exploratory Study

The hospitality industry offers services to consumers around the clock, every day of the year. Lodging managers, in particular, are required to work long hours in a highly unpredictable and stressful environment. Consequently, a successful career in hotel management leaves little time for outside activities which often leads managers to leave such positions or the industry altogether. The purpose of this study is to explore the coping strategies used by lodging managers who have a successful balance between their work and personal lives. Eight coping strategies are identified by interviewing 15 lodging managers.     

Spillover Between Work and Personal Life for Lodging Managers

ABSTRACT

The hospitality and tourism industry is characterized by long and erratic work hours. Many jobs are unsuitable for working at home. The unique features of the lodging industry and the demands of lodging managers' jobs often have interfered with the personal lives and marital relationships of these managers. The situation may even lead to a decision to leave the specific occupation or the industry permanently. The primary goal of this research was to investigate the perspectives of Taiwan hotel managers' regarding work-personal life balance and its relationship to various demographic variables, such as gender, marital status, etc. Results indicate that very few of Taiwanese managers had difficulty balancing work and personal lives. Indeed, the majority of these managers reported their perception of success in balancing work and personal life as from neutral to very successful. No statistically significant differences were found between female and male managers in terms of perceived difficulty or success in work and personal life balance. Neither was there a significant difference among married or single female/male managers. Results also suggested that work interfered with personal life more frequently than personal life did with work.     

Music in the time-spectrum: routines,spaces and emotional experience

ABSTRACT

Music streaming, structured by an expanding network of social interdependencies (e.g. musicians, sound engineers, computer scientists and distributors) has made it easier to consume music in a wider number of social and private spaces and to a greater degree. This paper examines the emotional experience of contemporary music consumption by drawing from an Eliasian perspective, specifically Elias and Dunning’s sociology of leisure. We explore the relationship between work, spare time and leisure spaces, rather than examining specific spaces in isolation. We argue that music is used to demarcate, transition between, and blur space. Music plays an important role in facilitating the rhythm of routine, helping individuals to adjust to the demands of different spaces (based on varying intensities and immediacies of social pressures) and manage mood. The key characteristics of leisure that Elias and Dunning identify (motility, sociability and mimetic tension) are explored across the spectrum of time and space.