Design and management of recreation programs and services.

Leisure service professionals must impact sedentary and uninvolved members of their communities more effectively, and serve as an agent of positive transformation in the lives of their constituents (NRPA, 1995). Individuals who experience challenge, novelty, positive relationships, relaxation, physical restoration, and pleasant surroundings in their leisure are more satisfied with their lives (Sneegas, 1986). However, many individuals do not experience challenge, accomplishment, or personal growth in their day-to-day lives (Shaw, 1985). Effective programming designed to serve consumers that are already involved, as well as to activate the uninvolved members of the community, must obviously focus not only on getting people involved but keeping them involved. The process of program delivery is managed by communicating with potential consumers regarding the program, implementing the designed program, and evaluating the program's effectiveness.

Understanding Consumers

Research evidence suggests that people will approach and persist in situations in which they anticipate that they will be successful (Bandura, 1986), which are supported by their social environment (Eccles and Harold, 1991), and which are perceived as beneficial (Ajzen and Driver, 1991). How individuals define success has obvious implications in this equation. Some individuals define success in relation to their own past performance (i.e., task oriented); they will become engaged and persist in challenging activities as long as they continue to enjoy them and improve in their performance. Others measure their own personal success in relation to the performance of others (i.e., ego oriented), and they will avoid or drop out of situations that appear too challenging or in which others are more skilled (Burton, 1992). Research suggests that interventions and environments can be created to promote a task orientation (Burton, 1992).

People will be intrinsically motivated to become involved in situations in which they can experience a sense of competence and self-determination (Deci and Flaste, 1995). Research indicates that the imposition of external control or rewards on an inherently interesting activity robs the activity of its intrinsic motivation (Deci and Flaste, 1995). Other research suggests that people vary in how much intrinsic motivation they experience in their lives, and that those who believe that they are more self-determined experience greater happiness (Graef, Csikszentmihalyi, and Gianinno, 1983). Developmental variables might also affect individuals' motivation. In a study of swimmers, Brodkin and Weiss (1990) reported that individuals had a wide range of motivations for swimming, including competition, health, social status, affiliation, and fun, and that the motivations differed significantly based on age.

A final well-researched model that has implications for understanding the relationships between competence, challenge, enjoyment, and engagement is the flow model (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) According to this model, adults experience maximum enjoyment when their skills meet or slightly exceed the challenge of the activity. Similarly, studies of children and sports have found that children identify as "fun" those activities in which their skills matched the challenge of the activity (Wankel and Sefton, 1989). According to Csiksmentihalyi (1990), flow activities promote the personal growth of individuals, and lead to maximum enjoyment in their lives.

Social Networks Influential

Social influences also impact whether someone will become involved and stay involved in activity. Research on participation in physical activity suggests that parental involvement and support are influential (Gill, 1992). A study of African American people's use of museums suggested that social networks influence leisure activity involvement both through exposure and encouragement (Falk, 1995). Much of the current leisure constraints literature addresses the variables that shape individuals' preferences (Raymore, Godbey, Crawford, and von Eye, 1993). Constraints research suggests that preferences are impacted by what has been defined as acceptable or valuable by one's social system, as well as one's perceptions of competence.

Researchers have also examined relational and structural constraints to leisure. Although there is certainly research evidence that certain groups (i.e., lower socio-economic and women) experience greater constraint than others (Searle and Jackson, 1985), current research is exploring how people negotiate constraints (Jackson, Crawford, and Godbey, 1993). Current research also indicates that constraints may be specific to an activity (i.e., soccer versus macrame) and are influenced by age jackson, 1994). Perceptions of self-efficacy and autonomy may be influential in a person's ability to negotiate constraints. Witt and Goodale's (1981) research suggested that people with higher internal locus of control experienced fewer constraints. Dzewaltowski's (1989) research indicated that people who believed that they could overcome constraints to exercising were more able to do so than those who did not believe that they could overcome barriers.

Program Design and Leadership

Research on motivation and constraints to activity involvement has many implications for designing and leading recreation programs. First, individuals must be convinced that they can be successful in active leisure before they will approach it. Second, after they are involved in activity, a task oriented environment should be established that provides goals and informational feedback based on incremental improvement. Winning, social comparison, and extrinsic rewards should be minimized. Although extrinsic motivation may be helpful to get someone involved initially, intrinsic reasons are associated with persistence (Wankel, 1993). For some individuals, those intrinsic reasons may be to enhance social relationships or relax, for others they may be a desire for challenge. The enhancement of the perception of competence through a skill challenge match is essential for the experience of enjoyment and personal growth. Activities should challenge the participants but not threaten their ego. There should be a focus on skill enhancement and learning.

Leisure education is an important part of programming if leisure service professionals want to become facilitators of active and healthy lifestyles. Benefits of leisure must be clearly articulated. Central to the notion of perceived freedom in leisure is the sense that individuals have responsibility and control over their actions and the quality of their lives (Ellis and Witt, 1984). If the leisure service profession wants to promote involvement in intrinsically motivating activity, then we must also facilitate a sense of choice and self-determination in the members of our community. Interventions might focus on increasing the perception of ability to negotiate constraints, as well as expanding the perception of options through exposure. The facilitation of leisure skills and social networks may reduce consists to active leisure. Helping reduce the structural barriers that restrict involvement remains vital to the attainment of an active lifestyle.

Pricing Programs

Although leisure service agencies may want to increase the activity involvement of members of their communities, they are reliant on program fees to offset expenditures. Program managers are faced with a variety of pricing objectives including cost recovery and maximizing profit In the public sector, many agencies are increasing fees for programs that were once subsidized through tax dollars. A growing concern for leisure service managers is the determination of program prices, examining their effect on customers, and ensuring that prices are acceptable to consumers. Howard and Selin (1987) surveyed consumers of a public recreation agency to determine the acceptability of various prices for specific programs. Findings indicated that consumers held definite price thresholds or willingness to pay levels that varied according to specific activities. An important implication for managers is that across the board changes in price are inappropriate. Consumers willingness to pay may be higher or lower based on the activity.

Examining the factors that influence price acceptance has also been an area of research investigation. McCarville and Garrow (1993) sought to determine whether the name associated with a recreation program had an effect on consumers' willingness to pay. The results of their research indicated that a program name focusing on the benefits of participation resulted in higher consumer price expectations and willingness to pay levels than a name reflective of facility or equipment attributes. As one of the first pieces of information that consumers receive about an activity, names may play a central role in assisting consumers to evaluate the potential benefits and price of programs. For managers, program names should be selected with care and used in all advertising efforts.

Consumer Information

Additional research on the influence of communicating the actual cost of a program on consumers' willingness to pay was undertaken by McCarville, Crompton and Sell (1993). Their research findings indicated that individuals who received information on the actual cost of program operations had higher price expectations than individuals who did not receive cost information. Providing information on the cost of program provision offers consumers a base price against which new or higher prices can be evaluated. The type of program information contained in brochures and flyers may generate low reference price levels (McCarville, Crompton and Sell, 1993). Program managers who are implementing new programs or increasing prices of existing programs may lower consumer resistance if additional communication is provided that addresses the actual cost of the program.

Evaluation

Participant satisfaction is a meaningful psychological outcome resulting from involvement in a recreation or leisure program. Most satisfaction scales address the degree to which the participants' motivational needs and expectations were satisfied through involvement. Rossman (1982) developed a measure of participant satisfaction that was field tested and resulted in a valid and reliable participant satisfaction instrument. Hupp (1991) extended this research and formulated a revised participant satisfaction measure. The measure has moderate to high reliability and is composed of six subscales including achievement, social pleasure, relaxation, physical exercise, environment, and fun. According to Hupp (1991) the Program Activity Satisfaction scale is a short and easily administered self report measure of participant satisfaction.

The results of participant satisfaction can be used in a variety of ways. Rossman (1984) found that program formats (e.g., instructional classes, special events) were related to participant satisfaction. That is, the program format used to deliver the activity facilitates the attainment of specific satisfactions while constraining others. Program managers can design activities with the use of program formats that focus on specific satisfactions or benefits that consumers desire. Participant satisfaction can be used to determine if the outcomes or consumers' goals for the program were achieved. Cumulative measures of participant satisfaction can be useful in examining strong and weak programs while providing process information to revise, modify or eliminate programs low in satisfaction.

Service quality has become a dominant theme in research, the popular press and with managers across all business sectors. Service quality certainly affects consumers' willingness to get involved and stay involved in leisure and recreation programs. Service quality represents consumers' comparisons between their expected levels of service provision and the actual level of service that is experienced by consumers. Service quality addresses the attributes of program provision and represents an attitude that is formed as a result of several encounters with an activity, facility or service personnel (Crompton and MacKay, 1989). An understanding of user perceptions of service quality allows managers to rectify service problems, positively impact customer experiences, and distinguish agency program offerings from competitors on the basis of quality.

There may be cause for concern regarding the quality of service provided to customers. Martin (1990) employed both qualitative and quantitative research approaches to investigate the level of service provided by front desk personnel at bowling centers as well as the most desirable elements of service provision expected by customers. Customers identified 16 specific customer relations behaviors that were deemed important with promptness of service the most valued by patrons. Through observation, Martin determined that front desk personnel exhibited the desirable customer relations behaviors 42% of the time. Front desk employees focused more on the operational and technical aspects of the job rather than on the customer relations.

MacKay and Crompton (1990) examined the applicability of measuring service quality in recreation settings. Their research investigated a 25-item service quality measure (REQUAL) that addressed five dimensions: tangibles represented the physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel; reliability was the ability to perform the service dependably; responsiveness addressed the willingness to help customers; assurance indicated courteous and knowledgeable employees; empathy denoted caring individualized attention to customers. Service quality scores were lower for customers who had a service problem compared to those who did not have problems. As a result, REQUAL was found to be a valid measure of service quality that was also reliable.

Of the five dimensions of service quality, reliability has been the most important to recreation consumers (Crompton and MacKay, 1989). Backman and Veldkamp (1995) found that consumers level of involvement in recreation activity was related to service quality. Consumers who had low levels of involvement perceived greater gaps in assurance, reliability, and responsiveness than high-level consumers. Wright, Duray and Goodale (1992) determined that a more specific service quality measure could be developed based on the five dimensions. The results of their research of recreation centers found that the largest service gaps were in custodial and maintenance functions and that the service quality varied across recreation centers.

Conclusion

The ability of the profession to foster individuals' involvement in active, healthy leisure remains a challenge. Programmers must apply research implications in a complex interplay between the design of programs and the management of service delivery. The diverse research reviewed provides professionals with the ability to positively impact customers and contribute to the quality of their lives through active leisure involvement.

References

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James A. Busser is an associate professor and Cynthia P Carruthers is an assistant professor in the Department of Sport and Leisure Studies, University of Nevada. Las Vegas.