The relationship between recreationist–environment fit and recreationist delight

ABSTRACT

Recreationist delight refers to the positive emotional response to surprising leisure experiences in specific recreational settings. Recreationist–environment fit signifies the compatibility between the recreationist and their recreational environment. This fit is realized when they satisfy each other’s needs and when the recreationist and environment manager share similar values. This study proposed and tested the relationship between the recreationist–environment fit (including its six dimensions) and recreationist delight (including its three dimensions). The results indicated that the recreationist–environment fit had a significant positive impact on recreationist delight. These findings have managerial implications and provide useful reference data for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Recreationist–environment fit
• customer delight
• recreationist delight

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Ying-Wen Liang is a professor in the Department of Travel Management, Jinwen University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. His main research interests include leisure behavior, human resource management, and marketing management in tourism. He has published over 15 refereed papers in the areas of leisure, tourism and hospitality management including Leisure Sciences, Journal of Travel Research, Leisure Studies, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing.

Mei-Ling Peng is an assistant professor in the Department of Tourism and Leisure Management, Vanung University, Taiwan. Her main research interests include leisure behavior tourism and economics.