Services for Culturally Diverse Customers in Parks and Recreation

Abstract

Changes in racial and ethnic composition due to the increasing diversity in the United States are confronting managers of parks and recreation areas. Since cultural values influence perceptions and behaviors, studying cultural values among different groups is important for understanding perceptions of service quality and parks and recreation behavior. The purpose of this essay is to advocate the exploration of the relationship of cultural values and perceptions of service quality in the context of parks and recreation research.

Keywords:

• ethnicity
• culture
• values
• diversity
• customer services
• parks and recreation

Acknowledgments

We wish to express our sincere thanks to Deborah Bialeschki, co-editor of Leisure Sciences, who made useful comments to strengthen the paper. We also wish to thank anonymous journal reviewers who made important contributions to the development of the cross-cultural customer service research in the context of parks and recreation.