Recreation and Leisure Studies

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://uwspace.uwaterloo.ca/handle/10012/9898

This is the collection for the University of Waterloo's Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies.

Research outputs are organized by type (eg. Master Thesis, Article, Conference Paper).

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An Exploration of Destination Brand Love among Theme-Park Based Tourists and Excursionists
(University of Waterloo, 2019-02-13) Jiang, Kai; Potwarka, Luke; Havitz, Mark
“Love” towards a brand functions as one critical component of customer brand relationships (CBRs) (Fetscherin & Heinrich, 2015; Fournier, 1998). Brand love is an under-researched but increasingly important marketing construct that includes both cognitive and emotional dimensions (Albert & Merunka, 2013; Albert, Merunka, & Valette-Florence, 2008a; Albert, Merunka, & Valette-Florence, 2008b; Fournier, 1998). Destination brand love is a type of emotional place attachment that has not received enough scholarly attention (Aro, Suomi, & Saraniemi, 2018). The very few qualitative and exploratory studies on destination brand love call for quantitate investigations to establish its measurement items, reliability, and validity. Aro et al. (2018, p. 80), for instance, emphasized that “once destination brand love has been sufficiently explored qualitatively, further studies could develop quantitative measures.” The current study built on the academic literature on brand love and established the multi-dimensional and multi-indicator destination brand love construct. I defined destination brand love as the degree of intense affection a tourist holds for a branded destination. In this study, destination brand love features a six-dimensional structure comprising self-brand integration, passion-driven behaviours, positive emotional connection, long-term relationship, attitude strength, and attitude valence (Batra, Ahuvia, & Bagozzi, 2012). Destination brand love stands out as a highly inclusive marketing construct because of its more abundant variety of sub-dimensions, antecedents, and outcomes. Consumers begin to interact with brands in their pre-patronage stage. In the case of theme-park based tourism, visitors’ pre-existing awareness, trust, and beliefs of a branded destination impact their overall emotional responses towards the destination. During travel experiences, evaluation of experiential attributes, such as shopping, activities and events, accessibility, attractions, environment, and dining, serves as a key catalyst to spark destination brand love. As a type of desirable CBR, brand loyalty requires close emotional bonds between consumers and brands and therefore is a potential outcome of destination brand love. Visitors’ actual on-site experiences at branded destinations may enhance their loyalty towards destinations. So far, few attempts have addressed the significance of destination brand love in constituting cognitive, attitudinal, and conative loyalty. Previous research on the outcomes of brand love have focused heavily on the “brand love leads to loyalty” paradigm, while neglecting brand love’s non-business consequences. Part of the reason may be that earlier brand love studies are mostly from a business management perspective. Indeed, it is highly probable that tourists and excursionists experience “non-business” outcomes of destination brand love, such as enhanced individual well-being, improved quality of life, and more intimate family relationships. As mentioned by McCabe and Johnson (2013), the association between tourism experiences, individual happiness, and family cohesion represents a relatively new line of research in the tourism discipline. However, there has been a dearth of exploration on destination brand love’s influences on individual happiness and family relationships. Very few systematic theoretical frameworks of destination brand love have been published to explain destination brand love’s brand-related and experience-related antecedents and outcomes at the individual (happiness-related), familial (family-cohesion-related), and business (loyalty-related) levels. To address this void, the researcher developed the multi-dimensional and multi-indicator conceptual framework of antecedents and consequences of destination brand love in a theme-park tourism context. Three key factors precede destination brand love include brand awareness, brand trust, and evaluation of experiential attributes. Destination brand loyalty (including cognitive, attitudinal, and conative), individual perceived happiness, and family togetherness are endogenous constructs. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to explore brand awareness, brand trust, and evaluation of experiential attributes as three antecedents of destination brand love, as well as the role of destination brand love in predicting consumer responses to theme park-based visitation experiences (i.e., individual perceived happiness, family togetherness) and business-related outcomes (i.e., cognitive, attitudinal, and conative brand loyalty). The researcher collected survey data from Shanghai Disneytown through on-site convenience sampling in January 2017. A total of 427 respondents visited Shanghai Disneyland with their families. The researcher used their responses in the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis in SmartPLS M 3.0. A set of destination brand love scales were finally established through multiple methods, that is, Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients, factor loading, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. PLS-SEM results supported 15 out of 20 hypotheses put forward. Brand awareness did not exert any meaningful and significant influence on destination brand love (β=-0.076, p>.05, t=1.872; S.E=0.041). The direct effect of brand trust on destination brand love was statistically significant at 99.9% confidence interval level (β= 0.229, p<.001, t=5.233; S.E=0.044). Evaluation of experiential attributes generated a positive effect on destination brand love (β=0.710, p<.001, t=18.225; S.E=0.039). More importantly, destination brand love exerted positive effects on perceptions of family togetherness (β=0.613, p<0.001, t=17.756, S.E=0.035), perceived happiness of visitors (β=0.566, p<0.001, t=11.192, S.E=0.051), and all four sequential stages of destination brand loyalty, namely: cognitive brand loyalty (β=0.622, p<0.001, t=11.800, S.E=0.053), attitudinal brand loyalty (β=0.791, p<0.001, t=16.913, S.E=0.047), and conative brand loyalty (β=0.782, p<0.001, t=16.225, S.E=0.048). The more visitors perceive destination brand love, the more individual happiness, family cohesion, and brand loyalty they express. Furthermore, the development of destination brand loyalty followed sequential stages. As predicted, cognitive loyalty affected attitudinal loyalty in a positive and significant way (β=0.434, p<0.001, t= 8.058, S.E= 0.054). Furthermore, attitudinal loyalty impacted conative loyalty significantly (β=0.569, p<0.001, t= 10.249, S.E= 0.056). The researcher also carried out a series of mediating and moderation tests using the bootstrapping procedure and the moderation analysis techniques in SmartPLS M 3.0. Bootstrapping outputs indicated that destination brand love functioned as a statistically significant mediating construct in the conceptual framework. The mediation effect of destination brand love in the evaluation of experiential attributes → attitudinal loyalty relationship turned out to be positive and statistically significant (β =0.562, p< 0.001, CI=0.562-0.559). Similarly, the mediation effect of destination brand love in the evaluation of experiential attributes → conative loyalty relationship was also positive and statistically significant (β=0.555, p< 0.001, CI=0.555-0.557). Regarding moderation effects, the researcher examined “income” and “first-timers versus repeat visitors” as two categorical moderators. Bootstrapping results demonstrated that the influence of evaluation of experiential attributes on conative loyalty was stronger among repeat visitors compared with first-timers. The boosting effect of destination brand love on family togetherness was greater for low-income visitors than for their high-income counterparts. In other words, higher income levels entail a weaker relationship between visitors’ destination brand love and family togetherness, while lower levels of income lead to a stronger relationship between visitors’ destination brand love and family togetherness. This research addresses a significant gap in the literature by validating the construct of destination brand love and establishing the multi-dimensional and multi-indicator conceptual framework. It initiated destination brand love research in the seldom-studied non-Western branded destination context. The establishment of the conceptual framework of antecedents and consequences of destination brand love demonstrates the importance of understanding 1) brand-related, experience-related precursors related to destination brand love; 2) cognitive, attitudinal (including emotional), and conative consequences of destination brand love; and 3) well-being related and family-related outcomes of destination brand love. The findings have implications for academics, destination management organizations, and other destination stakeholders who wish to improve their understanding of the influences of destination brand love in theme-park based tourism.
Exploring the Dynamics of Ego Involvement among Canadian Backpackers: An Achievement Goal Interpretation
(University of Waterloo, 2016-01-22) Abdeahad, Narges; Havitz, Mark
ABSTRACT Among outdoor adventure activities, backpacking has grown in popularity among travelers, marketers, and academia in recent years. However, to date research focusing on Canadian backpacker characteristics and motivations is very limited. To address this knowledge gap, this thesis aims to explore how different patterns of goals (validation-seeking and growth-seeking goals) are associated with ego involvement. The study will also investigate the mediating role of perceived competence along with perceived risk and core motivation factors of backpacking (knowledge and rest & relaxation factors) on the association between validation-seeking and growth-seeking goals with ego involvement. Self-administered questionnaires were made available online, through eSurv from April 1st to May 20th, 2015, 185 valid questionnaires were completed. Both univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to analyze this quantitative data. The data indicated that Canadian backpackers are mostly growth seeker individuals who travel to learn new experiences as well as to self-improve their backpacking skills. It also revealed that growth-seeking backpackers are more ego involved compared to their validation-seeking counterparts. Analyzing the mediators revealed that it is general perceived competence, not specific perceived competence, which influences growth-seeking goals to enhance ego involvement among Canadian backpackers. Moreover, like other backpackers, Canadians showed low levels of perceived physical, functional, and health risk. Only functional risk related to accommodations negatively influenced on their level of ego involvement. Nevertheless, perceived risk, does not influence as a mediator to enhance ego involvement through growth-seeking goals. It was also found that among the core motivations of knowledge and relaxation, only knowledge-seeking influences growth-seeking goals to augment ego involvement and experienced seeking backpackers are less concerned about relaxation.
Exploring the influence of family holidays on Chinese adolescents' subjective wellbeing
(University of Waterloo, 2017-09-27) Gao, Mingjie; Havitz, Mark; Potwarka, Luke
Holiday travel experiences may have potential to increase post-travel subjective wellbeing (SWB). Although positive association between travel and individual’s SWB has been established, extant research on holiday travel is mostly conducted in Western contexts, and adolescents’ perspectives are under-represented. Moreover, factors the influence post-holiday SWB are not well established in the literature. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the influence of travel on Chinese adolescents’ SWB in family holiday travel contexts, and to explore the relationships among trip reflection, family functioning, and adolescent students’ post-holiday SWB. Indeed, the role travel experiences might play in buffering the negative influence of the intense academic pressures faced by many Chinese adolescentsis certainly warranted. Using the Chinese Labor Holiday and the National Holiday as experimental contexts, a longitudinal research design was employed. Surveys were distributed at two public middle schools in the urban area of a large-sized city located in the East part of Mainland China. Participants were middle school students aged between 12 to 15 years old (n=943). The questionnaire assessed the construct of SWB (i.e., global life satisfaction, contentment with specific life domains, and affects) at three stages (before holidays, right after holidays, and one month after holidays) of each holiday respectively, and compared the changes of respondents’ SWB using a series of repeated measures of ANOVA where travel, holidays, and siblings were employed to conduct between group comparisons. Additionally, the questionnaire assessed the construct of trip reflection and family functioning during family holidays and tested the proposed conceptual framework using the structural equation modeling method. Results from the repeated measures of ANOVA suggested that Chinese adolescents’ SWB significantly changed across family holidays, where travel was an important factor that increased adolescent students’ SWB. In particular, adolescent travelers’ SWB level was significantly higher than non-travelers before and after holidays. Additionally, only those students’ who traveled during family holidays experienced a significant increase of SWB when they returned to school. However, increases in SWB were not sustained over time. The benefits of travel on travelers’ SWB diminished gradually after holidays. Results from SEM model revealed that family functioning significantly and positively predicted the results of adolescents’ post-holiday SWB. However, trip reflection did not significantly influence travelers’ post-holiday SWB. As well, this study found that adolescent travelers’ sex and the nature of family holidays influenced the relationship of family functioning and post-holiday SWB. Specifically, family functioning during family holidays had a greater influence on male adolescent travelers’ global life satisfaction, and a greater influence on female travelers’ contentment with specific life domains as well as emotional wellbeing. Moreover, both the Labor Holiday and the National Holiday had beneficial influence on adolescent travelers’ SWB. Indeed, shorter family holidays had greater influence on increasing adolescents’ positive affect and decreasing their negative affect, whereas longer family holidays were more helpful to enhance students’ contentment with family life, school life and leisure life. There are several implications of this study. Theoretically, this study advances our knowledge on the influence of family holiday travel on adolescents’ SWB. These results fill important contextual research gaps, by demonstrating the role of travel experiences on Chinese adolescents’ SWB. Moreover, relationships between trip reflection, family functioning and adolescent travelers’ post-holiday SWB are not yet explored as mechanisms that help explain post-travel SWB among Chinese adolescents. Practically, this research suggests schools to remove the pressure of studying during family holidays and encourage their students to take trips or participate in leisure activities during family holidays. When adolescent students return to school, schools should also encourage students’ participation in leisure activities to sustain the beneficial effects of family holidays. In addition, parents should not only pay attention to their children’s academic achievements, but also care about their wellbeing and quality of life. It is recommended that parents take advantage of family holiday trips to tighten their family bonds and develop family adaptability. As it relates to policy makers, this study calls for more family holidays for adolescents to travel with their parents. Indeed, the present study demonstrates that even short-term family holidays can be an effective means to increase the SWB. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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Browsing Recreation and Leisure Studies by Author "Havitz, Mark"