Comparing the Developmental Process of Consumptive Orientation Across Different Population Groups

Recreational fishing provokes conservation concerns given the growing recreational demands on fisheries resources in different countries. Despite the negative impact of recreational fishing on fishery resources, it can contribute to improving resource conditions if appropriate legal and management institutions and understanding anglers' attitudes and behaviors are successfully accomplished. The purpose of this study is to investigate how anglers develop consumptive orientation using the concept and propositions of recreation specialization and to examine how the formation process of consumptive orientation is dissimilar across angler populations between Texas of the United States and Queensland of Australia. Study results suggest that, in some angler populations, increasing specialization may actually increase anglers' level of consumptive orientation; further investigation is needed to better understand the linkages among specialization, experience preferences, and consumptive orientation; and how these linkages can vary between angler populations or population segments.     

The Use of Importance Performance Analysis in the Hospitality Industry

ABSTRACT

Increased demands placed by consumers, competition, and shrinking management teams has resulted in the need for hospitality professionals to use effective tools to improve the changing situation. The Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) was a tool first introduced by Martilla and James (1977) to assist professionals in evaluating the effectiveness of various agency issues and attributes. Hospitality researchers have used this technique in at least forty-two studies since then. The purpose of this study was to compare the use of IPA in hospitality related research and compare historical use of IPA to a recent study in a private club setting.     

Announcements

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between nonrespondent, self selection bias on mail return surveys from two visitor groups in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The authors suggest that engagement in a specific recreation activity at a specific location may be a significant criterion for defining a population as homogeneous. This is important because a homogeneous population is less susceptible to nonrespondent bias in mail return surveys. A brief contact instrument was given to individuals as they left the Sugarlands Visitor Center and as they entered the Roaring Forks Motor Nature Trail. Upon completing the contact survey, participants were asked to complete and return, by mail, a detailed visitation questionnaire. The contact survey was recoded to reflect “returned”; and “not returned”; the mailed survey. A chi‐square analysis was used to determine if there was an association between respondents’ returning or not returning the mailed survey and their responses to the brief contact instrument. No significant association was found. Based upon these and other findings, the authors suggest that determinations of nonrespondent bias should be made before detailed follow‐up mail survey procedures are initiated.     

A behavioral urban recreation site choice model

Abstract

A multinomial logit site choice model (MNL) derived by utility maximization and based on reported travel distance and perceived site attributes was estimated for 21 forest‐related urban recreation sites in Chicago. Reported travel distance was the dominant explanatory variable. Perceived site attributes included stimulating/educational, quiet, safe, and forested. When estimated for subsets of the 21 sites, the coefficient for travel distance remained stable in sign, magnitude, and significance, while coefficients for “quiet” and “forested” changed in sign and significance. This supports the application of travel cost models at the urban scale, but suggests that site choice criteria may be sensitive to variables not included in the study.     

Financial implications of outdoor recreation planning practices: A case study from Virginia

Abstract

A financial analysis of Virginia's outdoor recreation program is presented. The conclusions of the paper may be applicable to many state recreation programs. First, state recreation planning procedures are not realistic; that is, projected requirements for recreational facility development cannot be satisfied within expected budget constraints. Second, increases in user fees and/or increases in general funds allocated to recreation will be necessary to support only modest recreation development for the future.     

The Influence of Constraints and Self-Efficacies on Participation in Regular Active Recreation

This study examined the ways in which perceived constraints and self-efficacies associated with participation in active recreation influenced Hong Kong and Australian university students' interest, intention, and participation in regular active recreation. The study indicated that perceived constraints have weak negative effects whereas self-efficacies have stronger positive effects on students' interest, intention, and participation in regular active recreation. Time efficacy, persistence efficacy, and activity efficacy emerged as important indirect motivators of active recreation engagement. The influences of constraints and self-efficacies on active recreation participation mainly occurred indirectly through adjustments in participation interest and intention.     

Connections: Integrated Meanings of ATV Riding among Club Members in Maine

Off-highway vehicle (OHV) riding is one of the fastest growing recreation activities in the United States. Little research has examined the nature of recreational activity from the perspective of all-terrain vehicle (ATV) riders. Understanding leisure and recreation activity involves exploring how people interpret experiences and how experiences are viewed as meaningful. Nineteen semi-structured interviews with members of ATV clubs in the state of Maine provided data for analysis. The three themes that emerged are connecting with nature, others, and self. This study demonstrates that ATV riders share meanings with other types of outdoor recreationists. Future research should expand into the social aspects of ATV riding and address meanings in the context of related constructs.     

Alone with others: The paradox of privacy in wilderness

Attitudinal studies of wilderness visitors have indicated that people seek opportunities to limit interaction with other visitors so as to achieve privacy and solitude. This conventional interpretation of wilderness recreation was evaluated by comparing measures of visitor attitudes and social behavior in the backcountry of Yosemite National Park. Results show no association between visitor attitudes toward crowding and observed social interaction or behavior to avoid such social interaction. These findings suggest that subjective responses of visitors measured by questionnaires and interviews are often of debatable validity. Greater validity can be achieved by avoiding reliance on common‐sense interpretations in theory formulation and by employing multiple measurement techniques.     

Serious Leisure and Recreation Specialization

Most previous research concerning serious leisure has focused on testing the nature of activities using six distinctive qualities proposed by Robert Stebbins. Viewed from a different perspective, our study treats serious leisure as a type of personal characteristic. We tested the causal relationships between serious leisure and recreation specialization. This paper describes how serious leisure has a positive relationship with recreation specialization. Having a career in a recreational endeavor, making significant personal efforts and identifying strongly with the activity are the major predictors of recreation specialization. All of the qualities of serious leisure that were evaluated with the exception of the unique ethos were found to be positively related to past experience and centrality-to-lifestyle.     

Editor's note

The relationship between work and leisure has most often been described in terms of three basic models. First, the spillover model suggests that one's choice of leisure is affected by interests and attitudes developed during work. Second, the compensation model holds that leisure choices are the opposite of one's work activities, thus providing satisfaction not realized in the work context. Third, according to the segmentation model, work and leisure are distinct life domains and do not interact. Occasionally, a fourth perspective is added: Work and leisure are mutually influential. Evidence for the first three perspectives is mixed. Moreover, there is a units‐of‐analysis problem in studying work and leisure; that is, what about work and leisure is comparable? A patterned socialization model of work and leisure that encompasses and augments these perspectives is presented in this article. Evidence from the outdoor recreation activities of a sample of workers in the machining and tooling industries of western Pennsylvania is consistent with the position that work and leisure influence each other and that both are the result of prior socialization. The units‐of‐analysis problem is solved to some extent for this group of informants by comparing their work with machines and their leisure experiences with machines. Finally, machinists who engage in more outdoor recreation activities using machines are more satisfied with their leisure, in general.