Employee Motivation and Organizational Commitment: A Comparison of Tipped and Nontipped Restaurant Employees

This study explores motivational and organizational commitment factors of tipped and nontipped restaurant employees when differentiated by gender. The data collected from employees of a nationally-known, branded restaurant chain was analyzed using the ANOVA procedure in an effort to determine if significant differences existed between the tipped and nontipped employees relative to their level of motivation and organizational commitment. The results show that limited differences do exist for certain motivational factors and organizational commitment factors when employees were differentiated by tipped versus nontipped employee status and by gender. The study concludes by offering management implications and suggestions for future research relative to implementing operational systems, policies, and procedures that attend to restaurant employee classification difference as well as gender preference.     

A Protected Areas Ecotourism Competitive Cluster Approach to Catalyse Biodiversity Conservation and Economic Growth in Bulgaria

This paper focuses on how small ecotourism and related supply chain businesses in gateway communities can be linked to protected areas by organising them into competitive clusters focused on their comparative advantages and uniqueness. It examines pilot project work in Bulgaria in small communities near the Rila and Central Balkan National Park. It shows how Bulgaria might develop its ecotourism potential by replicating this approach. The Bulgarian experience holds potential for replication in other protected areas and gateway communities using collaborative tools based upon lessons learned from the model sites and from ecotourism cases around the world, including: (1) developing an inclusive stakeholder group; (2) fostering education within gateway communities near protected areas; (3) strengthening the legal and regulatory framework; (4) expanding small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship opportunities; (5) expanding destination management capacity at the community level; (6) linking protected area sites to less visited areas; (7) implementing environmental management and certification programmes; (8) expanding financing for protected areas; (9) using the Internet for linking and branding the network; and (10) developing indicator or monitoring systems.     

Narratives of Negotiation and Transformation: Women's Experiences within a Mixed-Gendered Gym

ABSTRACT

Those within the fitness industry claim that gyms provide accessible space for women (of certain economic status) to engage in activities that will increase their health. As such, gyms are marketed as safe, inclusive, and empowering spaces. Yet when viewing gym spaces through a feminist-informed lens, it becomes clear that gyms are not always innocuous spaces. They often reflect and perpetuate gendered power relations and highly prescribed cultural expectations for femininity around women's bodies, appearances, strength, and abilities. This narrative inquiry sought to illuminate women's gendered experiences within a for-profit mixed-gendered gym space. Through the use of unstructured life story interviews, this research highlights the dominant gendered expectations that women perceived within the gym and how these expectations influence women's gym use. The narratives also exposed several ways that gyms can be changed in order to facilitate more positive gym experiences for women.     

Accounting for Gender in a Study of the Motivation-Involvement Relationship

ABSTRACT

The effects of gender on involvement in high-risk recreation have received limited research attention despite mounting evidence suggesting the learned interactions between people and places likely vary for men and women. The purpose of this study was to provide insights into how gender influenced the motivation-involvement relationship among whitewater recreationists on a Wild and Scenic River in California. Our results revealed the motivations of Risk, Escape, Learning, and Achievement/Stimulation positively influenced involvement in rafting activities. Although gender did not influence all dimensions of involvement, we found that identity expression varied between subgroups. Specifically, men were more likely to ascribe meaning to rafting than women because this activity allowed them to affirm and express their individual character. The implications emanating from this study advance theoretical understanding of the factors that influence enduring involvement and inform natural resource management decisions about maintaining the desired benefits of activities sought by nature-based recreationists.     

The Role of Cognitive Development and Socialization in the Initial Development of Team Loyalty

Using Piaget's (1970) theory of cognitive development, the present study examines when children first begin to demonstrate team loyalty. An interview and testing protocol was administered to children aged 5-6 and 8-9. Preoperational, transitional, and concrete operational children were capable of demonstrating a psychological commitment to a favorite team that was resistant to change, but not the behavioral consistency indicative of loyalty. The current study demonstrates that children form preferences for sports teams early in life and that they are capable of forming a commitment to a sports team as young as age 5. The present study is one of the first efforts to include a transitional phase in the assessment of cognitive development. Results from the interviews showed that fathers were the most influential socializing agent relative to introducing children to sports teams and that the gender stereotype associating sports with males was prevalent among children in both age groups.     

The empirical development of a taxonomy for classifying recreation participants based on their attitudes toward the public and commercial sectors

Abstract

This study examined attitudes held toward the public and commercial sectors as variables relevant to classifying the recreation participants. The data were collected in a controlled experimental setting. A taxonomy was developed which can be used to categorize individuals on the basis of their attitudes toward the two sectors. Discriminant analysis was used to place individual subjects into one of nine groups in the taxonomy. The discriminant analysis identified statistically significant differences in the attitudes of individuals who were placed into the various groups. Further analysis revealed that the taxonomy may be simplified by collapsing the nine groups into three groups. The three groups include: (1) people who have more favorable attitudes toward the public sector than toward the commercial sector; (2) people who have more favorable attitudes toward the commercial sector than toward the public sector; and (3) people who have similar attitudes toward both sectors. Limitations of the study, implications for managers, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Ethnic factors and the use of public outdoor recreation areas: The case of Mexican Americans

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of subculture, marginality, and perceived discrimination on use of selected public outdoor recreation areas. The assimilation perspective from the sociology literature provided theoretical guidance for the study. These concepts were treated as different types of social distance (cultural distance, socioeconomic distance, and intergroup distance). Each was hypothesized to affect the use of outdoor recreation areas. Data for this analysis came from telephone interviews conducted with 1057 households in Maricopa and Gila counties in Arizona. The analysis was conducted using a subsample of respondents of Mexican ancestry. The results support the socioeconomic, or marginality, hypothesis. There was less support for the subcultural, or ethnicity, hypothesis. There was no support for the perceived discrimination hypothesis. Research implications and recommendations are discussed.