Travel Time Spending Behaviour in Recreational Sports: An Econometric Approach with Management Implications

Abstract

The analysis of the economic determinants of participation in sports is considered to be a promising research topic in general. Although time is a constitutive part of sports consumption, there has been only limited empirical analysis of the determinants of time investments in recreational sports. This article focuses on revealing the determinants of sports consumers' travel time spending behaviour in recreational sports. The study is based on survey data from two studies, one in Stuttgart and the second in Cologne. By applying a Heckit model, several socio-demographic (e.g., gender, age) and involvement (e.g., frequency a sport is practised) variables influencing the sports consumers' travel time investments are detected. Practical implications with regard to sports facility management/planning (e.g., sports facility allocation as well as closure, relocation and renovation of existing sports facilities) are discussed.

Variáveis Internas e Externas ao Indivíduo que Influenciam o Comportamento de Retenção de Sócios no Fitness

“…No entanto, Pawlowski et al (2009) salientam que o dispêndio de tempo e de dinheiro com a distância, para participar numa organização de fitness, pode ser mais ou menos importante consoante o envolvimento desse consumidor com o clube. Os consumidores que vão frequentemente treinar provavelmente estão dispostos a viajar mais para continuarem nesse clube, assumindo mesmo que mais nenhum é acessível dentro da região considerada.…”

“…O gênero é focalizado, nesta investigação, indo ao encontro da literatura que refere o gênero como referência, em estudos que se reportam à retenção em atividades desportivas (Weiss & Ferrer-Caja, 2002;Pawlowski et al, 2009), à perceção de serviços de qualidade e à satisfação e intenção de recompra (Lee et al, 2011). No presente estudo, os homens auferem, em média, rendimentos superiores, gastam, em média, mais no GHC, vão com mais frequência ao GHC, a duração do seu treino é maior e têm uma taxa de retenção mais baixa que as mulheres (Tabela 3).…”

“…Também Sheth et al (2001) apontam a idade para perceber como os serviços são procurados por diferentes faixas etárias e alguns estudos referem a idade como muito relevante para a compreensão do comportamento de consumo desportivo (Pawlowski et al, 2009;Stevens et al, 2005;Weinberg & Gould, 2005). Em relação à atividade física, os dados revelam uma redução com a idade, mas não naqueles que praticam regularmente (Eurobarometer, 2010 A faixa etária "<20 anos" gasta menos no GHC, treina com menor frequência, faz um treino de maior duração e tem maior retenção.…”

Socioeconomic perspectives on physical activity and aging

“…In this context, four different age factors of physical activity can be differentiated: (1) physical (decreasing health and fitness by age), (2) mental [changing motivation (perception and cognition) towards physical activity by age], (3) social (age norms which shape a social desired ideal of active or inactive aging), and (4) economic age factors (age-related changes in individual time and financial budgets due to age-related critical life events such as starting a family, parenting, starting professional life, and retirement). Moreover, research shows also that the supply of sport facilities (e.g., [17]) and the travel time to the facilities [13] do impact the age-related decision to participate in sport or not, even if it remains unclear whether these effects are pure economic effects or can also traced back to physical or mental factors to a certain extent.…”

Promoting physical activity in socially vulnerable groups : a mixed method evaluation in multiple community-based physical activity programs

“…WTP money was measured as the maximum amount (in whole euro's) people were willing to spend monthly on sport and physical activity (nine-point scale: (1) 0 euro; (2) 1-5 euro; (3) 6-10 euro; … (9) more than 35 euro, namely ….). WTP time was measured as the maximum time (in minutes) people were willing to spend on travel time to the sport venue (Pawlowski et al 2009) (nine-point scale: (1) 0 minutes; (2) 1-5 minutes; (3) 6-10 minutes; … (9) more than 35 minutes, namely ….). The closed-ended data collection was chosen based on the assumption that it provided for simplicity and uniformity, suitable for use in the diversity of socially vulnerable groups in CBHEPA programs.…”