Serious Leisure,Life Satisfaction,and Health of Older Adults

This study explored the relationships among serious leisure, life satisfaction, and health. The study sample consisted of 454 older adults from two annual events: the 2008 Indiana Senior Olympic Games and 2008 Colorado Senior Olympic Games. Cluster analysis was used to identify distinct groups based upon patterns of serious leisure involvement. In addition, relations among life satisfaction, health, and membership in serious leisure clusters were documented. This analysis resulted in three clusters, and they were named high/medium/low involvement groups. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed to determine cluster differences in life satisfaction, physical health, and mental health. MANOVA results revealed significant differences among the clusters on dependent variables. The findings document significant heterogeneity in the expression of serious leisure involvement among the Senior Games participants. The results also suggest that there are positive relationships between level of involvement in serious leisure and life satisfaction and health.     

Presidential Agenda Building and Policymaking: Examining Linkages Across Three Levels

To investigate the role of strategic political communication in governing, this study comprehensively examined presidential agenda-building associations at three levels during the first six months of U.S. president Barack Obama’s second term. Multiple presidential information subsidies, national news content, and policymaking activity were monitored. The results revealed solid support for all three levels of agenda-building (i.e., object salience, attribute salience, and network associations among objects or attributes), but the linkages with media coverage and policymaking were not uniform across information subsidy types. Based on the analysis, presidential news releases, blog posts, and presidential speeches were the most effective all-around strategic agenda-building tools for media management and policymaking purposes during this time period. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Exploring the Perceptual and Behavioral Outcomes of Public Engagement on Mobile Phones and Social Media

Mobile technology and social media exert a substantial impact on our society and daily lives. Employing a survey of 633 college students in the United States, this study examined the effects of college students’ public engagement on mobile phones and social media on their organizational identification and attachment and positive electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) communication. Findings suggested that college students’ public engagement with mobile phones and social media significantly impacted their attachment toward and identification with the university. Moreover, this study found that students’ public engagement and university identification strongly predicted their positive e-WOM communication about their university. Furthermore, students’ mobile phone engagement indirectly influenced positive e-WOM communication through organizational identification. The theoretical and practical implications of this study were also discussed.     

Influence of the measurement of distance on assessment of recreation access

Residents’ recreation behavior is highly influenced by their level of access to recreation opportunities. Distance is an important component of access. The purpose of this study was to measure levels of access to public beaches in the Detroit Metropolitan Area (DMA) using four travel distances (1, 6, 10, and 20 miles) and three access measures (minimum distance, travel cost, and covering), with the intent of demonstrating the sensitivity of findings to both the distance and measure employed. Findings indicate that while public beaches are geographically accessible for a majority of the DMA population within 20 miles according to all access measures, at distances less than 20 miles level of access varies substantially with the access measure used. Future access studies should consider a range of travel distances rather than the single distance typical of most prior analyses and should also be sensitive to the differentials produced by the access measure employed.     

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT: THE ROLE OF CALIBRATION,SHARPNESS, AND UNCERTAINTY

I evaluate the out‐of‐sample predictability of several major indicators for bull and bear markets in monthly S&P 500 series with three quadratic probability score components: calibration, sharpness, and uncertainty. I find that uncertainty limits the trend characterization and thus provides a new perspective from which to identify bull and bear markets. I also find that sharpness plays a key role in determining portfolio returns. Trading strategies that capitalize on sharpness generate higher Sharpe ratios and portfolio returns. The Aruoba–Diebold–Scotti business conditions index is the most profitable indicator for both medium‐ and long‐term trends.     

Effect of Restaurant Patrons' Regret and Disappointment on Dissatisfaction and Behavioral Intention

The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship among regret/disappointment, dissatisfaction, and behavioral intention in service failure situations at a restaurant. Even though there is a consensus regarding the positive relationship between regret/disappointment and customer dissatisfaction, unclear results still exist regarding the relationship between regret/disappointment and different types of behavioral intention. Thus, the present study attempts to clarify these fuzzy relationships. Specifically, this study aims to enhance understanding of the influence of regret and disappointment on behavioral intention (switching/negative WOM). The findings suggest that both regret and disappointment are significant determinants of customer dissatisfaction and switching/negative WOM. Further, the study results indicate that regret is an important predictor of switching intention, whereas disappointment is an important determinant of negative WOM. Finally, based on these findings, managerial implications for restaurant managers are discussed.     

The Influence of a TV Drama on Visitors’ Perception: A Cross-Cultural Study

The goal of this study is to assess the effects the Korean food featured on the Korean TV drama series Daeganggeum has on the perceptions of national image and intention to visit Korea by residents of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand. Estimates of structural equation models are used for samples from the three countries to produce information for comparing relationships between variables: on preferring Korean food, the national image of Korea, and the intention to visit Korea for food tourism. The results show similarities and differences between the three national groups. Virtually identical models are found for Hong Kong and Taiwan groups. However, the comparison of Hong Kong and Taiwan groups to the Thailand group demonstrate differences. Specifically, in the Thai sample, distinctiveness of Korean food culture significantly increases the intention to visit Korea for food tourism. All three national groups demonstrate that a strong relationship exists between the national image of Korea and the intention to visit Korea for food tourism.     

Examining the Differential Impact of Human Crowding Versus Spatial Crowding on Visitor Satisfaction at a Festival

Human crowding at a festival can affect visitor satisfaction differently to spatial crowding. Festival visitors perceive human crowding as a situation in which the festival is full of people. Spatial crowding, on the other hand, is perceived as restricting movement. We hypothesized that human crowding affects visitor satisfaction in a positive way (by increasing positive affect and decreasing negative affect), whereas spatial crowding affects visitor satisfaction in a negative way (by decreasing positive affect and increasing negative affect). We tested these hypotheses using data collected through an on-site survey at the 2012 Seoul Lantern Festival in South Korea: 423 visitors attending the festival completed the survey. The survey results supported the hypotheses. Managerial implications of the findings are also discussed.     

Linking emotion and place on Twitter at Disneyland

ABSTRACT

This study suggests a research framework for social network analytics and demonstrates the process of integrating data and applying methodologies to understand visitor experiences at a destination. We applied both social media analytics and geographic information system (GIS) analysis to identify major topics and emotional expressions in a social network. A total of 56,418 tweets sent from Disneyland in California was used for analysis. The results identified three hot spots in the park where significantly pleasant tweets were posted. How to apply the research framework is discussed, and suggestions to researchers and marketers are given.