The effects of social support on revisiting intention of people from minority groups
Main Article Content
We explored the impact of social support on revisiting intention of people who were from minority groups, an issue that has largely been ignored in the existing literature. Our sample included 417 people with physical disabilities, or with a low income, foreign brides, or people who were widowed. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicated there was a significant negative effect of leisure constraints on revisiting intention for those without social support. Thus, social support mitigates the influence of leisure constraints on revisiting intention.
The benefits of participating in leisure or tourism activities include rest and recuperation from work, and tourism demand is based on consumer willingness and ability to participate (Coleman & Iso-Ahola, 1993). In this study, we surveyed a sample composed of people from minority groups as defined in Employment Service Act No. 24 of the Council of Labor Affairs, Executive Yuan, Taiwan; people with a physical disability, people whose income was low, foreign brides (women from Mainland China or another South East Asian country who were married to Taiwanese men), and people who were widowed. Those with disabilities or low income wanted to visit the theme park, however, for those with disabilities there were physical barriers and low-income people did not have enough money. The support of family, friends, and others would increase their ability to make the visit.
It is essential for people with low income or disabilities to take part in leisure activities (Lee, Scott, & Floyd, 2001; Raymore, Godbey, Crawford, & von Eye, 1993). However, the majority of existing research has been focused on the leisure constraints of the general population rather than the constraints for those who have disabilities or whose income is low. Therefore, in this study we aimed to investigate whether people from the minority groups included in our sample required social support to encourage their participation in leisure activities.
Social support comes from several sources, including family, friends, and peers, and can be instrumental, informational, or emotional (Duncan, Duncan, & Strycker, 2005). For example, when they surveyed a sample of university students, Rovniak, Anderson, Winett, and Stephens (2002) found that social support from friends had a moderate influence on physical activity participation. However, the impact of social support on the revisiting intentions of minority groups has seldom been addressed. We therefore aimed to address this lack by examining the moderating effect of social support on revisiting intention.
Literature Review and Research Hypotheses
Satisfaction
Visitor satisfaction is a function of the fit between visitors’ expectations of their destination and their actual evaluatory experience of it (Chon, 1989). A tourist’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a destination will influence his or her subsequent behavior (Kotler, Haider, & Rein, 1994).
Revisiting Intention
Based on prior knowledge, potential visitors to a tourist destination may have a general impression of the place, even though they have never been there. Kozak and Rimmington (2000) found that the level of overall satisfaction with holiday experiences had the greatest impact on tourists’ intention to revisit the destination. Hui, Wan, and Ho (2007) also discussed the relationship between destination satisfaction and revisiting. Regarding the willingness to pay more, it has been assumed that visitors who positively evaluate a theme park experience will be more likely to pay more for such leisure activities (Baker & Crompton, 2000). Hence, the first hypothesis of this study was as follows:
H1: The satisfaction of visitors will positively influence their intention to revisit.
Leisure Constraints
Leisure constraints are “factors that inhibit people’s ability to participate in leisure activities, to spend more time doing so, to take advantage of leisure service or to achieve a desired level of satisfaction” (Jackson, 1988, p. 203). Researchers have indicated that time, price, and facilities are the major barriers to the pursuit of certain recreation activities (Romsa & Hoffman, 1980). Psychological and intrapersonal constraints were found to be the most important in predicting the physical activity of elderly adults in Greece (Alexandris, Barkoukis, Tsorbatzoudis, & Grouios, 2003). The second hypothesis in this study relates to the leisure constraints of minority groups participating in leisure activities.
H2: Leisure constraints will negatively influence visitors’ intention to revisit.
Social Support
Researchers have found that social support has an impact on leisure choices (Brown, Brown, Miller, & Hansen, 2001) and that social support also has an influence in shaping the leisure time and physical activity of older adults (Orsega-Smith, Payne, Mowen, Ho, & Godbey, 2007); however, little research has been carried out to investigate the relationship between social support and the behavioral intentions of individuals in minority groups.
Models based on the theory of planned behavior reveal that social support also influences readiness or intention to participate in physical activity (Courneya, Plotnikoff, Hotz, & Birkett, 2000). In this study, social support was hypothesized as having a moderating role in the relationship between satisfaction and revisiting intention, and between leisure constraints and revisiting intention. Hence, the third hypothesis of the study was as follows:
H3: Social support will mitigate the influence of leisure constraints on revisiting intentions.
Method
Participants and Procedure
Questionnaires (500) were distributed at Janfusun theme park between April and June 2009 to a selection of visitors to the park, of whom some had come with the help of social support and some had come without social support. Confirmation that participants were in one of the minority groups was gained through the identity card that they presented to the cashier to enter the park. People who came from minority groups in the general population were individuals with a physical disability, people with a low income, women from Mainland China or another South East Asian country who were married to Taiwanese men, and people who were widowed. After eliminating those with incomplete answers, 417 valid questionnaires were retained for analysis. In total 65.71% of the participants were female, 35.09% had a physical disability, 33.86% were low income, 30% were aged under 20, 32% were aged 31-40, and those visiting the theme park with social support accounted for the vast majority of visitors (83.21%); they had received financial support (61.63%) and transportation support (33.29%).
A theme park was selected as an ideal location, since the park is generally associated with highly emotional experiences (Bigne, Andreu, & Gnoth, 2005). Such a setting is considered a location for leisure activity because it provides an opportunity for entertainment during an individual’s discretionary free time (Milman, 1991). Each answer was rated using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree.
Instruments
The satisfaction scale was based on Oliver’s (1997) model and the leisure constraints scale followed the model proposed by Raymore et al. (1993). A pretest of the questionnaire was conducted with 80 respondents and two Taiwanese tourism researchers. Using a confirmatory factor analysis, only items with factor loadings of 0.5 or greater were retained for analysis (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988).
Results and Discussion
In this study, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to investigate the hypothesized relationships among satisfaction, leisure constraints, and revisiting intention. The assessment of the adequacy of the measurement model revealed that it fitted the data reasonably. The ratio of the chi square (χ2) value to the degree of freedom (df), was less than the cutoff point of 3 (χ2/df = 2.507), which is considered sufficient (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). The overall fit of the confirmatory factor of analysis was also judged to be satisfactory (AGFI = 0.994, GFI = 0.998, RMSEA = 0.061).
Results in Table 1 indicate that the construct reliabilities are well above the recommended value of 0.5 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). The AVE of each measure ranges from 0.64 to 0.67, which is more than 0.5 of the variance, as suggested by Bagozzi and Yi (1988).
Table 1. Construct Measurement
*** p < 0.01
Table 2. Structural Parameter Estimates and Hypothesis Testing
*** p < 0.01
As shown in Table 2, the data supported our first hypothesis. Thus, when individuals in minority groups feel satisfied with their theme park experience, they are more likely to visit again in the future. Regarding the effect of leisure constraints on revisiting intention, this relationship was not significant (β = -0.017, t = -0.323), and, therefore, our second hypothesis was not supported. Constraints such as facilities, funds, available companions, or time, did not significantly affect revisiting intention. A possible explanation for this finding is that these people visited theme park with the assistance of social support.
In order to examine the moderating effect of social support, the sample was divided into two groups, those with and those without social support, respectively. As shown in Table 3, there was a mitigating influence of social support on the path of satisfaction→revisiting intention. Regarding the path of leisure constraints→revisiting intention, the data reveal a significantly negative effect of leisure constraints on revisiting intention for those people without social support. Thus, social support was found to mitigate the influence of leisure constraints on revisiting intention of the people in this study.
Table 3. Structural Parameter Estimates and Fit Statistics for Two Groups Comparison
Conclusion
Our study contributes to existing literature by providing evidence of the moderating effect of social support on the behavioral intentions of individuals in the minority groups we questioned. The results obtained showed that social support mitigates the influence of leisure constraints on revisiting intention. Participants with low income were constrained by lack of money so the financial support of their families or others would increase their ability to participate. Future researchers could investigate which types of social supports contribute most to the behavior intentions of visitors to tourism destinations such as theme parks and what benefits should be promoted to current and future visitors to encourage them to come to the park or destination.
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Table 1. Construct Measurement
*** p < 0.01
Table 2. Structural Parameter Estimates and Hypothesis Testing
*** p < 0.01
Table 3. Structural Parameter Estimates and Fit Statistics for Two Groups Comparison
Appreciation is due to anonymous reviewers.