Effects of Gender Differences on Perceptions of Destination Attributes,Motivations, and Travel Values: An Examination of a Nature-Based Resort Destination

This study examines the perceptions of the potential tourist market to a nature-based resort destination from the gendered perspective. The research reveals that significant gender differences exist about the perceived importance of destination attributes and travel values when potential nature tourists consider destination choices. After controlling for demographic and travel behaviour variables, such as age, marital status, education, household income, preference of price quote and length of stay, most gender differences remain significant. In addition, more significant distinctions between men and women are demonstrated after controlling for age and income level. The study provides insights into gendered perceptions of nature-based tourism settings. Specific marketing implications are discussed in an attempt to successfully attract nature tourists and provide a high-quality nature destination experience.     

Perceived Determinants of Well-Being and Enjoyment Level of Leisure Activities

Two facets of leisure, perceived determinants of well-being and enjoyment of common leisure activities, were investigated in 388 participants. For well-being, a principal components (PCA) analysis yielded five components: competence, relatedness and health, wealth, personal values, and freedom of choice. For the enjoyment of leisure activities, another PCA generated seven components: wellness, sedentary leisure, intellectual leisure, social leisure, routine activities, self-realization, and inner peace. Different leisure enjoyment of young adults (18–30 years old) in contrast to adults and seniors was attributed to social transformations as also predicted by several theories of social change. The relationship between the determinants of well-being and enjoyment of leisure activities was statistically significant but meaningfully debatable.     

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.     

Towards a model of cross-sectoral policy development in leisure: the case of sport and tourism

Whilst leisure studies has now become an established field of academic analysis, there is still little literature on the dynamics of the leisure policy process, particularly in the area of cross-sectoral liaison. This paper attempts to synthesize previous research relating to general policy dynamics in developing a model of cross-sectoral policy development. In developing this model, particular attention is given to two major ESRC funded projects of the 1980s – work on Inter-Governmental Relations and Government Industry Relations – which produced two recognizably different models of the policy process. A combined model is proposed which is used to examine and compare the structures of the sport and the tourism policy communities and to analyse how these structures might effective the emergence of a sport-tourism policy network. In conclusion, the extent to which the model this paper develops might be applicable to other areas of leisure policy is discussed.     

Moderating Role of Gender in the Relationship between Hotel Service Quality Dimensions and Tourist Satisfaction

Gender has frequently been identified as one of the key attributes and predictors in developing marketing strategy. This study examines the moderating role of gender in the relationship between hotel service quality dimensions and tourist satisfaction with hotel service delivery. The results derived from multi-group structural equation modeling via the AMOS 5.0 computer program revealed that gender significantly moderated the relationship between service quality dimensions and tourist satisfaction with hotel service delivery. Empathy and tangibles both contributed as the most important significant predictors of tourist satisfaction with hotel service delivery for male tourists as opposed to female tourists. It is statistically confirmed that men and women appear to respond to different aspects of a service encounter when making judgments about their satisfaction.     

From ‘just a swimmer’ to a ‘swimming mother’: women’s embodied experiences of recreational aquatic activity with pre-school children

Increased academic attention on the gendering of leisure pastimes in recent years has highlighted the centrality of the gendered body in influencing how leisure is accessed, experienced and transformed. To date, however, little attention has been paid to how women experience aquatic leisure activity, the second most popular form of leisure activity in the UK, and where female participation predominates. This paper presents results from research investigating the aquatic leisure experiences of 22 women, with children aged under 3, in the North-East of England. A number of key themes emerged from the data, which highlighted the centrality of the gendered, lived body as a key social construct contouring participant perceptions in the swimming pool environment. Women reflected upon their self-perceived physical deficiencies when wearing revealing swimming costumes, particularly under the critical gaze of ‘other’ bodies, whether present or imagined. The co-presence of other bodies was also central in shaping lived experiences, and the presence of ‘dependent’ children’s bodies shifted bodily intentionality away from the self towards perceived maternal responsibilities and the management of perceived risks, including ‘dirt’ and ‘germs’ and the negotiation of the tacit rules of the swimming pool. Results also suggest that the emphasis on maternal responsibility in aquatic leisure activity and timing of parent-toddler sessions could lead to reproduction of gender inequalities and the exclusion of some fathers from participation.     

Toward an Integrated Model of Purchase Intention of Dietary Supplements in Sexually Oriented Advertising

This study was designed to examine antecedent factors that yielded a model of purchase intention of dietary supplements in sexually oriented advertising. Results suggested that sexual cognition, gender difference, individual attitude toward advertisements, and product involvement were yielded as key predictors toward people's purchase intention of dietary supplements. However, sexually oriented advertising did not considerably increase their purchase intention. A regression analysis also loaded sexual cognition and product involvement as two key determinants in the model of purchase intention of dietary supplements. Moreover, people with a more positive level of sexual cognition significantly resulted in their higher degree of purchase intention of dietary supplements.     

Green moms: the social construction of a green mothering identity via environmental advertising appeals

This study explores emerging green motherhood discourse as framed by green advertising in pregnancy magazines. It takes an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on reflexive modernization, feminist studies and critical discourse analysis and reveals how advertising represents a double bind for mothers. Textual analysis of a sample of green ads in FitPregnancy indicates ads present expectant mothers with solutions for resolving the challenges of parenting in an age of widespread environmental threat, while simultaneously reinforcing those same lifestyle choices that are thought to exacerbate the environmental crisis. This green mothering discourse appears to empower mothers and offer solutions to the risks of pregnancy, while in reality relegating the mother to the sidelines, rendering her nearly invisible while the child is promoted as the primary subject and brands as sources of expert knowledge. These results speak to the broader ways in which seemingly neutral texts work to frame and reinforce certain ideologies.     

Statistical Discrimination and Gender Wage Gap: A Model

In this paper, I extend the model in Coate and Loury (CL) (1993) to show how statistical discrimination by employers can help create gender wage gap for men and women with equal earning potentials. Given that employers do not perfectly observe a worker’s skill type and partly rely on the average skills level of his (her) peers for inference purpose, employers’ differential treatment of male and female workers can create different skill-investment incentives for them, which in turn justify employers’ discrimination in the first place. The second result of this paper which is not possible within the original CL framework is that I point to the possibility that there exist circumstances under which the gender wage gap can not be eliminated without the formerly advantaged sex being negatively affected.