“More Than Just a Run in the Park”: An Exploration of Parkrun as a Shared Leisure Space

ABSTRACT

Over the last 13 years, parkrun has grown from a small time trial in Bushy Park, London, to become a global social movement. During this time, much has been claimed about the potential health-related benefits from participating, but comparatively little attention has been given to the social reasons for attending. The aim of this study was to better understand the meanings of participation for both runners and volunteers using an intrinsic case study that focused on a specific event, Colwick parkrun in Nottingham, England. Building on literature that positions leisure sites as third places, the article seeks to enhance our understanding of parkrun as a community-based initiative. Data collection included observation, participant observation, semi-structured interviews (N = 19), and a survey (N = 235). Several themes emerged, suggesting that participation in parkrun provides an inclusive leisure space for casual sociability, as well as facilitating a shared experience of exercising with others.     

More is better? The influencing of user involvement on user loyalty in online travel community

Since user stickiness is low in most online communities due to user easy transferability, assessing the influence of user involvement on user loyalty is paramount. Using an online travel community and a four-level consumer cognitive structure model as a theoretical basis, this study combines semi-structured interviews and scenario-based questionnaires to investigate this relationship. Results suggest that breadth of involvement has an inverted U-curve effect on user loyalty, while depth of involvement has a positive influence. Sense of virtual community both moderates and mediates the relationship between breadth of involvement and loyalty, but does not moderate and only partially mediates depth of involvement and loyalty. Both service value to peaceful life and service value to social integration partially mediate user involvement and loyalty, but service value to social recognition does not.     

Serious Leisure as an Avenue for Nurturing Community

Using a communitarian framework to explore relationships between individuals and community, survey research was used to examine relationships among volunteers’ personal value orientations of individualism and collectivism, experiences of volunteering as serious leisure, and perceptions of sense of community and social cohesion. Based on survey responses from 300 current volunteers at ten voluntary organizations, findings linked collectivism and individualism to serious leisure, which in turn strongly associated with sense of community and social cohesion. In these empirical findings, serious leisure emerged as a pathway for nurturing community.     

休闲活动与主观幸福感

为了探讨休闲活动与主观幸福感之间的关系。文章采用休闲问卷、正性负性情绪量表和生活满意度量表对460名员工进行了调查。结果表明：（1）性别、是否有孩子等人口学变量影响休闲活动;（2）休闲活动对主观幸福感中的正性情绪和生活满意度有显著的正向预测作用,对负性情绪没有预测作用。     

Who Goes to Metropolitan Parks? A Latent Class Analysis Approach to Understanding Park Visitation

This study aimed to identify typologies of park visitors and to examine associations among these typologies and socio-demographic characteristics. In 2013, intercept interviews were completed with 794 adult park visitors at two large parks located in Melbourne, Australia. Latent class analysis identified three classes of visitor: physically active visitor, with dog (12.4%); physically active visitor, with no dog (35.7%); and infrequent, low active, social visitor (51.9%). Respondents who were older and owned a dog had higher odds of being in Class 1 and Class 2. Respondents who had children had higher odds of being in Class 3. Respondents who reported poor health were less likely to be in Class 2 than in Class 3. Park users can be distinguished by the behaviors in which they engage. Understanding typologies of visitors will assist with the development of intervention strategies to optimize park visitation and park-based physical activity.     

乡村旅游的社区参与、居民旅游影响感知与社区归属感的关系研究——以浙江安吉乡村旅游地为例

文章通过分析国内外相关文献,运用结构方程模型（SEM）方法,构建乡村旅游的社区参与、居民旅游影响感知与社区归属感的结构方程模型,对社区参与、居民旅游影响感知与社区归属感的关系进行探讨。以浙江安吉为例,采用Amos7.0软件对模型进行参数估计和假设检验,结果表明：社区参与对旅游感知、社区归属感均具有显著的正向影响,其路径系数在0.173～0.606之间,t值介于2.042～9.954,显著性概率P小于0.001或0.05,模型所建立的因果关系与研究假设相符合,模型可以接受。同时提出乡村旅游发展的相关建议,有利于乡村旅游可持续发展。     

Understanding Physical Inactivity: Prediction of Four Sedentary Leisure Behaviors

An understanding of the motives underlying sedentary leisure behavior may guide interventions to decrease these behaviors. The purpose of this study was to apply the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to understand the motives underlying four common sedentary leisure activities: television viewing, computer use, reading/music, and socializing. A cross-sectional community sample of 206 adults and 174 undergraduate students completed measures of the TPB of these four leisure behaviors and self-reported behavior. Results using ordinary least squares regression provided evidence that sedentary behaviors may be intentional and planned with a primary attitude base but not related to perceived behavioral control. The findings provide information about sedentary behavior motivation and support the validity of the TPB for the prediction of these behaviors.     

An investigation of the influence of heritage tourism on local people's sense of place: the Macau youth's experience

With Macau making inroads into heritage tourism, Macau people are given a push to rediscover the city's heritage values. This renewed sense of appreciation has afforded locals across all levels of society a new perspective of their homeland. As such, with heritage tourism continuing to blossom in a heritage-minded society, inhabitants' sense of place (SOP) may be affected accordingly. Although tourism research literature does not lack timely discussions of Macau's heritage tourism, no studies to date have effectively explored the influence of heritage tourism on Macau people's SOP. Owing to this, the present study aims to investigate the influence of heritage tourism on SOP among young people in Macau.     

BOOK REVIEWS

The purpose of this investigation was to explore the meanings recreationists tenting at an agricultural fair associated with the settings in which their fair experience occurred. Using a symbolic interactionist framework, our analysis of data collected through onsite observation and using photo-elicitation guided interviews illustrated that informants' place meanings were the product of interactive processes involving the individual, their social world and the physical setting. These interactions elicited meanings tied to place that were largely independent of the physical attributes that defined the setting. Most significant were specific place experiences shared with family and close friends. The importance attached to these relationships and experiences were embedded in the spatial contexts that encapsulated informants' fair experience. Findings from this investigation shed light on the social construction of place meaning within a built environment.     

Physical activity and social connectedness in single‐parent families

Little is known about how to promote physical activity in single‐parent families. We evaluated physical activity, barriers to physical activity and social connectedness changes in single‐parent families following a one year YMCA programme. At baseline, 106 single parents completed a survey about physical activity, barriers to activity and social connectedness. Sixty‐four parents provided data after 12 months. Self‐reported minutes of physical activity per week decreased over the 12 months (p < 0.05). However, perceptions of activity over the 12 months increased 44% for parents and 66% for children. Family‐related barriers that decreased following the programme included a lack of time and affordability of existing opportunities. Compared with their baseline responses, parents at 12 months showed an increased frequency of visits with friends (p < 0.05). Difficulties in recruiting and retaining single parents to complete the evaluation are testimony to the current poor understanding of the leisure needs of single‐parent families. The results provide direction for future research.     

旅行社网站服务公平性对顾客行为意向的影响研究

企业坚持公平性原则,才能建立和维系与顾客的长期关系.笔者以旅行社网站的顾客为研究对象进行了一次实证研究,探讨了旅行社网站服务公平性对顾客行为意向的影响.数据分析结果表明:旅行社网站服务公平性直接影响顾客信任感和满意感,间接影响顾客的行为意向.     

Too tired for exercise? The work and leisure of female cleaners in Denmark

The aim of this study was to explore the opportunities and challenges of female cleaners with regard to participation in leisure time physical activity (LTPA). We gained information about their everyday lives via semi-structured interviews with 25 women, most of them from rural Turkey. Drawing on the relevant literature on women’s work–life balance and (migrant) women’s participation in LTPA, we approached their work and leisure from an intersectionality perspective and explored if and how female cleaners engaged in LTPA and which constraints impeded their involvement. The interviewees’ narratives revealed that their everyday lives as unskilled migrant workers had a decisive influence on their opportunities of engaging in LTPA: most women struggled with the demands of a physically exhausting job and an extensive ‘second shift’ at home and therefore had great difficulty finding the time and energy to exercise. However, previous experience of LTPA seemed to have a decisive influence on their current LTPA practices.