Toward a relational understanding of leisure social worlds, involvement, psychological commitment, and behavioral loyalty

Abstract

Researchers have suggested that studies of “social worlds”; may facilitate understanding how individuals develop roles, affiliations, and meaning through leisure experiences. Social worlds consist of people, organizations, activities, and practices in which participants have shared understandings of unique cultural elements. This research examined social subworlds within a YMCA in the context of members’ leisure involvement, levels of psychological commitment, and behavioral loyalty. The data suggest that greater social world integration is positively related to greater levels of loyalty, both attitudinal (resistance‐position involvement, p < .001; complexity, p = .006) and behavioral (p < .001), toward the YMCA. Other differentiating characteristics that emerged significant are the volition (p = .032) and position involvement (p = .033) dimensions of psychological commitment to favored activities and the attraction (p = .055), sign (p = .058), and centrality to lifestyle (p < .001) dimensions of activity involvement.