Jinyang Deng

Evaluating natural attractions for tourism.

As nature-based tourism grows, protected areas will witness increasing pressure from tourists, with the quality of destination attributes exerting a considerable influence over their experience. An evaluation and rating system may help tourists to select sites, enhance their satisfaction, and encourage them to act responsibly. Managers may also gain a better understanding of how to operate such sites. The paper proposes a hierarchical structure for the assessment of protected areas by the assignment of priorities to the various elements of the structure. By applying the Standard Deviation Method, the research categorized Victorian parks in Australia into four levels, which were found to correlate closely with prevailing visitation levels and with park popularity.

A Comparison of Environmental Values and Attitudes Between Chinese in Canada and Anglo-Canadians

This study examines similarities and differences in environmental values and attitudes between two cultural groups—Chinese in Canada and Anglo-Canadians. The results indicate that Chinese are more supportive of social-altruistic values than are Anglo-Canadians. However, the two groups are not significantly different in biospheric values. Moreover, both groups are significantly different in two of four new environmental paradigm (NEP) subscales— limits to growth and antianthropocentrism—whereas their attitudes toward the other two NEP subscales— eco-crisis and balance-of-nature—are similar. Study results also suggest that biospheric values are closely related to the NEP, whereas social-altruistic values are not. In addition, acculturation does not consistently affect all six subscales, suggesting that Chinese in Canada may have adopted a selective acculturation pattern. Finally, this studys findings also endorse some previous research that proposes that value orientations may be more helpful in understanding environmental concern than sociodemographic variables such as age, education, and income.

Ethnicity, Acculturation, Self-Construal, and Motivations for Outdoor Recreation

Research on the leisure of racial and ethnic groups has recently been criticized for a variety of different reasons. In response to some of these concerns, this article examines the motivations of outdoor recreationists who identify themselves as being Chinese ( n = 53); it compares their motivations with those of Euro-North Americans ( n = 180) at the same outdoor setting; and it does so using the construct of self-construal as an intervening variable between ethnicity, acculturation, and motivations for outdoor recreation. According to Markus and Kitayama (1991), individuals with independent self-construals value being unique, expressing themselves, and promoting their own goals, whereas individuals with interdependent self-construals value belonging, fitting in, and promoting others goals. Furthermore, although people in or from Western Europe and North America are more likely to have independent self-construals, people in or from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Southern Europe are more likely to hold interdependent self-construals. On the basis of the above, a series of regressions were conducted. Results suggest that (a) ethnicity does affect both types of self-construal; (b) ethnicity does affect four outdoor recreation motivations directly, although this relationship is usually, but not always, mediated by self-construal; (c) ethnicity does affect four other recreation motivations indirectly, either through the interdependent self-construal or through both types of self-construal; and (d) with Chinese respondents, acculturation did affect one recreation motivation directly and, through the independent self-construal, two other motivations indirectly.

Ethnicity, gender, and the theory of planned behavior: the case of playing the lottery.

This study uses the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain why some people play the lottery, and it examines how the TPBs variables and variable relationships differ due to ethnicity, or gender, or their interaction. A telephone interview conducted in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin resulted in data on the lottery play intentions of 208 Chinese/Canadians (97 males, 111 females) and 220 British/Canadians (112 males, 108 females). When intention to play the lottery was regressed on six TPB variables, it was found that: (a) affective attitude was an important predictor for all four groups, while instrumental attitude was only important for British/Canadian males; (b) injunctive norm was an important predictor only for Chinese/Canadian males, while descriptive norm was an important predictor only for British/Canadian males; (c) controllability was an important predictor only for Chinese/Canadian females, with a negative coefficient suggesting secondary control; and (d) self-efficacy was not an important predictor for any of the groups. A follow-up mail questionnaire provided additional data on the self-reported lottery play behavior of 100 Chinese/Canadians (51 males, 49 females) and 115 British/Canadians (57 males, 58 females) 30 days after the initial telephone interview was conducted. When lottery play behavior was regressed on self-efficacy, controllability, and intention, intention was found to be an important predictor for all four groups. These findings are discussed in light of recent research on the TPB, leisure and gambling, and ethnicity and gender.

Culture, Self-Construal, and Leisure Theory and Practice

According to Markus and Kitayama (1991), although European North Americans are more likely to have independent self-construals (and therefore to value being unique, expressing ones inner attributes, etc.), people in or from Asia, Africa, and Southern Europe are more likely to have interdependent self-construals (and therefore to value belonging, maintaining harmony, etc.). The type of self-construal a person has affects his or her emotions, cognitions, and motivations. In the case of intrinsic motivation, for example, it is often put forth that the key factor affecting this variable is autonomy/personal choice. Recent research suggests, however, that while this may be true for independent selves, relatedness may be more important for interdependent selves. Because intrinsic motivation and autonomy/personal choice are present in many leisure theories, and leisure theories often influence leisure practice, the concept of self-construal may have great import for our field. In order to support this proposition, this article: (a) describes what self-construal is and how it affects intrinsic motivation; (b) reviews some of the major leisure theories that include intrinsic motivation and discusses how the above may affect them; (c) outlines the implications of not incorporating self-construal into leisure practice, using benefits based programming (Rossman & Schlatter, 2000) as an exemplar; and (d) examines some of the conceptual and methodological concerns associated with self-construal.

Culture and leisure constraints: a comparison of Canadian and Mainland Chinese university students.

This study extends previous research on leisure constraints by developing a new, theory-based, inventory of intrapersonal leisure constraints items using the theory of planned behavior and self-determination theory as guiding frameworks, and then using the inventory to assess the cross-cultural validity of the hierarchical model of leisure constraints (Crawford, Jackson, & Godbey, 1991). These objectives are accomplished by comparing how perceptions of 10 intrapersonal constraints items and perceptions of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural constraints affect starting a new leisure activity among university students in Canada and in Mainland China. English-and simplified Chinese-language questionnaires yielded useable data from 227 Canadian and 216 Mainland Chinese participants. Nine of 10 intrapersonal constraints items differed significantly, with Chinese students being more intrapersonally constrained than Canadians in all but one instance. A single combined measure of intrapersonal constraints was compared with similar indices for interpersonal and structural constraints. All three constraints categories differed significantly: Chinese students were more intra-and interpersonally constrained, while Canadian students were more structurally constrained. Despite these cultural differences, support for the hierarchical leisure constraints model was found in the data for both Chinese and Canadian students, indicating the general applicability of this framework across two cultures.

Public Attitudes Toward Urban Trees and Supporting Urban Tree Programs

In this article, we analyze survey responses regarding Alabama urban residents attitudes toward urban trees and the provision and maintenance of urban forest by federal, state, and local governments, as well as personal willingness to volunteer and donate money in support of urban tree programs and activities. Using ordered probit analysis, our results showed that individuals who are aware of forestry-related programs, hold a full-time job, belong in the age group of younger than 56 years, and earn an annual income greater than U.S.

Assessment on and Perception of Visitors' Environmental Impacts of Nature Tourism: A Case Study of Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, China

75,000, have a positive relationship with willingness of donating money and voluntarily contributing time toward urban forestry programs and activities. Individual characteristics such as race, gender, and residence were not statistically significant factors in explaining attitudes toward urban forestry programs. In addition, with few exceptions, attitudes toward government financing of urban forestry programs and activities were influenced by similar factors.

Leisure attitudes: A comparison between Chinese in Canada and Anglo‐Canadians

This paper examines trampling impacts on vegetation and soil as well as visitors perception of these impacts in Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, China. Results indicate that visitor usage is proportionate to trampling impacts, with the two most used trails–Yellowstone Village Trail and Gold Whip Stream Trail–having the highest values in Soil Impact Index (SII) and highest rate of scarred trees. Vegetation and soil near Treasure Box for Celestial Books are the most impacted with the Impact Vegetational Index (IVI) being 87.50% and SII being 2.27, respectively. This spot has the highest level of unacceptability. However, visitors perceptions of the impacts on their hiking satisfaction are not always consistent with the actual physical deterioration. The unacceptability level for Gold Whip Crag was much higher than The General Rock despite the latter having higher IVI values than the former. It is argued that visitors perceptions of recreation impacts could be influenced by the interaction of IVI, SII, and the size of the area impacted. Other factors such as visual sensitivity and social elements could also have an effect on visitors judgements. Finally, this paper proposes management strategies for improving the parks visitor and environmental management.

The role of self-construal as an intervening variable between culture and leisure constraints: a comparison of Canadian and Mainland Chinese university students.

Abstract Leisure attitudes have rarely been examined cross‐culturally. Researchers need to examine how people with diverse cultural backgrounds perceive the role and importance of leisure so as to understand not only what they do but also what they think. Using a shortened version of the Leisure Attitude Scale (Ragheb & Beard, 1982), this study examined similarities and differences in attitudes toward the cognitive, affective, and behavioural dimensions of leisure attitudes between Chinese (N= 178) in Canada and Anglo‐Canadians (N= 160) as well as the possible change in leisure attitudes held by Chinese in Canada as a result of acculturation. In addition, the relationship between leisure attitudes and a specific leisure activity—national park visitation—was examined. Results suggest that: (a) Chinese were significantly different from Anglo‐Canadians in their affective leisure attitudes, with Chinese being less positive; (b) for the cognitive and affective dimensions, high‐acculturated Chinese were more significantly different from Anglo‐Canadians than were Iow‐acculturated Chinese, while no acculturation differences were found for the behavioural dimension of leisure; and (c) contrary to the widely accepted belief that immigrants, especially first generation immigrants, tend to be less likely to participate in leisure activities because they are more likely to be exposed to a broad range of leisure constraints, Chinese and Anglo‐Canadians’ responses to the behavioural dimension of leisure attitudes were not significantly different and, at least in terms of one specific type of leisure activity (i.e., national park visitation), they were quite similar. This last finding supports the proposition that immigrants tend to adopt physical acculturation initially and then cognitive or belief acculturation (Berry & Sam, 1997) thereafter.