The Influence of Social Capital in Leisure Communities: Implication for Leisure and Tourism Marketing: An Abstract

Abstract

Recently, more and more consumers have participated in recreational and tourism activities together as diverse communities, which help them to develop and accumulate social capital (Hsiao and Chiou 2012). Social capital captures any aspect of a social system (e.g., a leisure community) that generates valuable outcomes and facilitates an individual’s actions within that social system (Coleman 1988). Consumers are likely to meet new friends, exchange recreational resources, share leisure experiences, and receive social support with each other in these leisure- or tourism-related communities.

In addition, leisure involvement refers to “an unobservable state of motivation, arousal or interest toward a recreational activity or associated product” (Havitz and Dimanche 1997, p. 246). Leisure involvement has been regarded as a key antecedent that affects a consumer’s behavioral intention toward a leisure activity (Havitz and Dimanche 1997, 1999; Kyle and Mowen 2005). Although recent research has put emphasis on the sociological approach of leisure involvement (Kyle and Chick 2002, 2004), very few studies have provided empirical evidence for the sociological antecedents of leisure involvement.

Drawing upon the literature of social capital and leisure involvement, this study attempts to investigate the relationships among leisure social capital, leisure involvement, and behavioral intention toward leisure activities in leisure communities. This study first proposes three facets of leisure social capital, including social interaction ties (structural capital), community social norms (relational capital), and community shared value (cognitive capital). This study also examines the mediating role of leisure involvement on the relationship between leisure social capital on behavioral intention in leisure communities.

This study selects bicycle-riding communities as the research context because bicycle riding is regarded as a popular leisure activity in the studied country. After collecting data from 382 voluntary participants in several bicycle riding clubs and associations, the results show that three social capital facets positively affect a consumer’s leisure involvement, which in turn to positively affect his or her behavioral intention toward a leisure activity. The mediating role of leisure involvement between leisure social capital and behavioral intention is also verified by the data. Finally, this study provides several implications for leisure and tourism marketing.