Reassessing the Structure of Enduring Leisure Involvement

Abstract

Using data collected from U.S. and Greek respondents, we tested an alternate conceptualization of enduring leisure involvement where identity was considered a key driver of other affective and conative outcomes. Rather than existing on the same temporal plane, as has been the tradition in the leisure literature, we observed that identity was an antecedent of the other involvement facets. Our work provides a theoretical framework ground in microsociological approaches to identity for conceptualizing enduring involvement and other constructs that examine recreationists’ lasting ties with leisure (e.g., serious leisure, specialization, commitment) and their settings (e.g., sense of place, place identity).

Keywords:

• enduring involvement
• identity theory

Acknowledgments

Special thanks extended to Jenny and Drew Cavin for the assistance with the collection of the U.S. data.

Notes

Meanings applied to the self in a social role share conceptual similarity to Mead's (1934) notion of “Me”; self-knowledge learned through interactions with other and the environment. Alternately, self-related meaning is analogous to Mead's “I.”