John L. Crompton, recipient of the 1992 Roosevelt Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Research.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Drs. Ron McCarville and Mark Havitz are assistant and associate professors with the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo (Canada). Both authors pursued their doctoral degrees under John Crompton at Texas A&M University.

In a recent newsletter to former graduate students, John Crompton wrote, "being able to race competitively again and experience the exhilaration of running to exhaustion has substantially upped my morale." John's own words speak eloquently of the uniqueness and enthusiasm with which he approaches the passions of his life. His love of competitive individual sports is exceeded only by his two most visible passions: his family and his profession. Students, teaching and research form the core of his professional commitment. John is a classic "Type A" personality in a field often noted for espousing a leisure ethic. We wouldn't have it any other way.

John Crompton, professor of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Sciences at Texas A&M University, received the Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt Awards at the 1992 NRPA Congress in Cincinnati, Ohio. This award is reserved for those few who make lasting and significant contributions to park and recreation research. We join John's friends and colleagues in congratulating him on this well deserved honor. Since graduating with a doctoral degree from the Texas A&M in 1977, the Liverpool native has instituted an extensive and influential research program. He has authored or co-authored four books, more than 1 00 articles in scholarly journals, another 100 articles in professional magazines, and 15 book chapters. John has presented his research at dozens of workshops and conferences throughout the world.

Numbers alone do not tell the full story. John Crompton has made substantive contributions to park and recreation research. He is arguably our most recognized authority in three distinct areas of study: marketing of public services, consumer behavior and public sector finance. He may be best known for championing marketing applications in the delivery of public leisure services. John's marketing perspective was developed through his work as a leisure consultant in the United Kingdom. This experience was supplemented with two master's degrees from the University of Illinois (recreation and park administration) and from Loughborough University (business administration).

In an early book chapter, he suggested that "much of what is currently applied under the name of marketing in this field is snake oil with minimal redeeming qualities" (Crompton, 1985). John sought to remedy this condition by pioneering a more thoughtful application of marketing techniques in the public sector. Over the years, John's work has chipped away at many common misconceptions of the marketing process.

One of these misconceptions relates to the application of marketing principles to public sector recreation delivery. Although basic marketing principles can apply, the way in which they are applied must often be modified. For example, traditional private sector marketing is generally based on attracting respective markets. John's early research showed that recreation agencies often avoid focusing on specific target groups, trying instead to develop programs and services for "all" people (Howard and Crompton, 1980; Crompton 1983). Though politically expedient, this practice is generally impractical and ineffective. Its beneficiaries come primarily from middle to upper rather than lower socio-economic groups (Howard and Crompton, 1984). He has attempted to rectify this condition by using marketing techniques to serve those most in need of public leisure services. His recent research often focuses on serving traditionally unresponsive groups such as activity drop-outs (Bachman and Crompton, 1990) and first-time juvenile offenders (Crompton, in press).

Another marketing issue that has benefited from Crompton's insight is the study of equity issues. Equity research offers another example of how public sector marketing differs from its private sector counterpart. Equity or "what is fair" is seldom addressed in traditional marketing textbooks, but it is a critical issue when making pricing and distribution decisions in public sector contexts. John's work with Bruce Wicks and others (e.g., Crompton and Lue, 1992; Crompton and Wicks, 1988) has greatly enhanced our understanding of fairness issues. This series of studies explored the bounds of "what is fair" as perceived by numerous groups including recreation participants, taxpayers, public administrators, and elected officials. Like much of John's other research, these equity studies have suggested ways in which recreation researchers can contribute new insights to parent disciplines.

Successful marketing effort requires considerable knowledge of the actual consumer. It surprises no one, therefore, that John's second area of study has been consumer behavior. Indeed, his research agenda highlights the role of the participant in the delivery of leisure services. He has conducted research on novelty seeking (Lee and Crompton, 1992), decision making (Reid and Crompton, in press), persuasive messages (Havitz and Crompton, 1990), consumer perceptions of price (McCarville and Crompton, 1987) and service quality (Crompton, MacKay and Fesenmaier, 1991). Much of Crompton's consumer research has focused on conceptual and measurement issues as precursors to practical application. In addition to developing original instrumentation, he and his colleagues were the first to introduce leisure research to important consumer behavior instrumentation including Zaichkowsky's (1985) Personal Involvement Inventory, and Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry's (1990) service quality (SERVQUAL) scale.

Much of John's current consumer behavior research has been conducted in tourism rather than public recreation settings. John has argued that tourism is not solely a commercial industry because many tourist attractions are offered by public sector agencies (Crompton, 1990a). Consequently, he has had a long standing interest in tourists. He has researched cultural influences on travel (Richardson and Crompton, 1988), tourist demand and decision making (Uysal and Crompton, 1984; Um and Crompton, 1990), vacation decisions (Crompton and Ankomah, 1992) and novelty seeking (Lee and Crompton, 1992).

Public sector finance represents John Crompton's third area of research expertise. He has published widely on innovative means of financing public leisure services, emphasizing diversification and cost control. in terms of diversification, John has considered the potential of sponsorships (Younger, Crompton and Decker, 1988), tax increment financing (Backman and Crompton, 1986), real estate transfer taxes (crompton and Orton, 1987), manufacturers' excise taxes (Crompton and Decker, 1989a, 1989b), and public-commercial joint ventures (Crompton, 1989) to finance public leisure services in support of tax revenues and user fees. While promoting cost control, John has searched for ways that public sector agencies might streamline costs without compromising service quality. His ideas have included strategies for protecting park resources short of purchase (Crompton, 1990b), computer registration (1987), and "citizen sensitive" program retrenchment (Crompton, 1988).

The sheer volume of John Crompton's work speaks both to his enthusiasm for research and his collegial approach to problem solving. John is perhaps our strongest proponent of the research team concept. When dissatisfied with the state of our understanding over a topic (a common occurrence), John assembles a research team to address the issue. He welcomes the ideas of those around him and nurtures a cooperative atmosphere between students, practitioners and researchers.

This team concept is noteworthy for two reasons. First, research teams provide fertile ground for innovative methods and fresh perspectives. Diversity in training and perspective are hallmarks of effective research teams and the success of John's teams are indicative of this approach. Second, John's research teams are noteworthy because they provide an excellent training ground for new researchers. John has been particularly supportive of his students when establishing his teams. He insists that they share in all his research opportunities. His former students are fond of recalling an incident when John refused to take part in a new publishing venture unless one of his graduate students was included as a co-author.

This story is typical of John's approach t6 research and education. He maintains that his students must learn by doing so he includes them in all aspects of research experience. The results have been most gratifying for all concerned. Over the past ten years, John has coauthored over 50 juried articles with more than 20 of his graduate students. Approximately half of his scholarly publications have been co-authored with current or former students.

John's practical bent is clear from his research agenda. He has had a long and abiding concern both for those who provide leisure services and the problems they face in their professional lives. Indeed, he dedicated one of his latest books, Doing More With Less (1987) to park and recreation practitioners. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that John's research interests reflect many of the most critical issues facing leisure administrators. One need only identify a dilemma faced by leisure providers and no doubt John will have undertaken research on the topic.

Like most respected leisure researchers, John is a quality teacher (he has won several teaching awards at Texas A&M) who enjoys interacting with a good audience. His great demand as a speaker is due not only to the content of his work, but also to the enthusiasm with which he presents it. Those close to John recognize his stage persona because the unique characteristics of his personality and life experiences are magnified. His performances invariably begin with several personal anecdotes including at least one reference to parental influences, or in his terms "me Mum." He enthralls audiences with enthusiastic opening lines delivered in his best Liverpudlian accent (now slightly modified with a Texas drawl). Unlike many presentations which turn into clock watching marathons, even John's all-day presentations seem to end too soon.

We wish to add one final but impressive note regarding John's research efforts. It seems that the volume and quality of his research agenda is still increasing. His vita includes over a dozen articles that are forthcoming or under review and he is currently involved in perhaps a dozen separate research projects. In this sense he is maintaining the tradition established by past Roosevelt award winners. Although this is essentially a "lifetime achievement" award, like John, many past winners pursue active research agendas. This speaks well for the health of our discipline. We join with John's many friends and colleagues in congratulating him on receiving this award and look forward to benefiting from his professional contributions for years to come.

REFERENCES

Backman, S.J., & Crompton, J.L. (1986). Developing public recreation and park facilities with tax increment financing. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 4(3), 40-48. Backman, S.J., & Crompton, J.L. (1990). Differentiating between active and passive discontinuers of two leisure activities. Journal of Leisure Research, 22, 197-212. Crompton, J.L. (1983). Selecting target markets: A key to effective marketing. Journal of Park and Recreation Adminitration, 1(1), 7-26. Crompton, J.L. (1985). Marketing: Neither snake oil nor panacea? In T. Goodale, & PA Witt, (Eds). Recreation and leisure: Issues in an era of change (2nd Edition) (pp. 175-194). State College, PA: Venture. Crompton, J.L. (1987). Doing more with less. State College, PA: Venture. Crompton, J.L. (1988). A citizen sensitive approach to retrenching services in the public sector. American Review of Public Administration, 18(l), 79-94. Crompton, J.L. (1989). A taxonomy of public-commercial joint ventures. Society and Leisure, 12(1), 107-12 1. Crompton, J.L. (1990a, March). Tourism research: Redirections for the Nineties. In J.T. O'Leary, (Ed.) Proceedings of the national outdoor recreation trends symposium III (pp. 944-952). Indianapolis. Crompton, J.L. (1990b). Protecting park and natural areas without purchasing them: A review of methods adopted in the U.S.A. Society and Leisure, 13(2), 431-453. Crompton, J.L. (in press). Rescuing first-time offenders through the use of recreation programs: The Hampshire project. In J.L. Crompton (Ed.) Trends: Justifying recreation and Park Services to Decision-Makers Arlington, VA: National Park and Recreation Association/National Park Service. Crompton, J.L. & Ankomah, P.K. (1992). Choice sets in vacation destination selection decisions: A set of propositions. Annals of Tourism Research, 19, 323-342. Crompton, J.L., & Decker, J.M. (1989a). Establishing a federal recreation trust fund: An analysis of the options with special emphasis on a manufacturers' excise tax. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 7(1) 1-14. Crompton, J.L., & Decker, J.M. (1989b). Administrative issues associated with a federal recreation trust fund supported by a manufacturers' excise tax. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 7(2), 47-55. Crompton, J.L., & Lue, C.C. (1992). Patterns of equity preferences among Californians for allocating park and recreation resources. Leisure Sciences, 14, 227-246. Crompton, J.L., MacKay, K.J., & Fesenmaier, D.R. (1991). Identifying dimensions of service quality in public recreation. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 9(3), 15-28. Crompton, J.L., & Orton, S.R. (1987). The real estate transfer tax: An alternative source of park acquisition and development funds. journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 5(3), 20-26. Crompton, J.L., & Wicks, B.E. (1988). Implementing a preferred equity model for the delivery of leisure services in the United States context. Leisure Studies, 7(3), 287-304. Havitz, M.E., & Crompton, J.L. (1990). The influence of persuasive messages on propensity to purchase selected recreational services from public or from commercial suppliers. Journal of Leisure Research, 22, 71-88. Howard, D.R., & Crompton, J.L. (1980). Financing, managing and marketing recreation and park resources, Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown. Howard, D.R, & Crompton, J.L. (1984). Who are the consumers of public park and recreation services? An analysis of the users and non-users of three municipal leisure service organizations. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 2(3), 33-48. Lee, T.H., & Crompton, J.L. (1992). Conceptualizing and measuring novelty seeking in tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 19, 732-751. McCarville, R.E., & Crompton, J.L. (1987). An empirical investigation of the influence of information on reference prices for public swimming pools. Journal of Leisure Research, 19, 223-235. Reid, I.S., & Crompton, J.L. (in press). A taxonomy of leisure purchase decision paradigms based on level of involvement. Journal of Leisure Research. Richardson, S.L., & Crompton, J.L. (1988). Latent demand for vacation travel: A cross-cultural analysis of French and English speaking residents of ontario and Quebec. Leisure Sciences, 10, 17-26. Um, S., & Crompton, J.L. (1990). Attitude determinants in tourism destination choice. Annals of Tourism Research, 17, 432-448. Uysal, M., & Crompton, J.L. (1984). Determinants of demand for international tourist flows to Turkey. Tourism Management, 5(4), 288-297. Younger, L.E., Crompton, J.L., & Decker, J.M. (1988). Developing a comprehensive sponsorship program: A case study. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 6(1), 12-21. Zaichkowsky, J.L. (1985). Measuring the involvement construct. Journal of Consumer Research, 12, 341-352. Zeithaml, V.A., Parasuraman, A, & Berry L.L. (1990). Delivering quality service: Balancing customer perceptions and expectations. New York: The Free Press.