The Consumer Explained Through Leisure Perception

Abstract

Since the Second World War till the present day, the leisure industry has grown at a phenomenal rate and social, demographic and industrial developments have kept the constant. Leisure has also been shown to be a contributor to the overall satisfaction in several life-quality studies. Consumer behaviour researchers have approached leisure from a number of angles. Many studies focus on the steps involved in the choosing of a leisure activity, some of the variables taken into account are personality, the socio-economic status, and demographic variables. The goal of this paper is to identify whether there are differences in perception regarding leisure and pleasure among the respondents which have been grouped first by age group, the groups themselves being Generation X and Generation Y, and secondly, they were grouped by their gender. Due to the fact that leisure is an abstract concept, the measuring of leisure can be done by using a multi-item scale and, therefore, the SLS or subjective leisure scale by Unger and Kernan was used. The scale uses six determinants to measure the subjective leisure experience, the determinants are: intrinsic satisfaction, perceived freedom, involvement, arousal, mastery, and spontaneity. By focusing on the two age groups those of the X generation and those of the Y generation as well as doing a study of literature over the decades, we can look to see if there has been a shift in paradigm towards the perceptions of leisure and pleasure.