Mark Dibben

Exploring relationships of trust in 'adventure' recreation.

Abstract A central concept in the notion of leisure, and therefore also of recreation, is freedom. In this article we argue that freedom in organised recreation, especially in activities involving some degree of deliberate risk‐taking (i.e. in adventure recreation), is preserved through relationships of trust between recreation organisers and participants. This article seeks to outline the theoretical field of trust and to begin to explore the concept of trust in the context of adventure recreation. A recent criminal conviction in New Zealand has highlighted the issue of trust in recreation and serves as a point of departure for the purposes of exploring conceptualisations of trust and their application to the adventure recreational context. Trust does not appear to have attracted attention in the recreation literature to date, yet it may provide a useful means of negotiating the contested terrain created at the nexus of recreation culture (in particular adventure recreation), recreation management and application of the law.

Trustworthy doctors in confidence building systems

Public trust in healthcare systems requires a balance to be struck between the macro concerns of “public” confidence and the microdynamics of “private” interpersonal trust between patients and health professionals The role of trust in public services has received increasing attention over the past decade.1 In the UK, for the most part, attention has only been focused on public trust in the wake of serious service failings—failings that have had such impacts on the national psyche that they are often recalled by a single name of place, perpetrator or victim (see box)—for example, in the police service (Stephen Lawrence, Soham), rail transport (the Paddington, Hatfield, and Potters Bar disasters), and farming/food policy (foot and mouth disease and BSE). British public health care (the NHS) has, in particular, come under intense scrutiny following widespread public dismay over numerous scandals (Alder Hey, Bristol, various malpractice cases at the General Medical Council and, most notorious of all, Harold Shipman). In each of these cases “public trust betrayed” has emerged as a common theme. But what is “public trust”? Too often the term appears to be a convenient “catch all” expression used for making rather general statements about the relationships between groups (patients, service users, the public) and their service providers (doctors, hospitals, the NHS). Yet “trust”—the set of expectations that one party holds about another’s likely behaviour in a situation entailing risk to that first party—is more usually something that resides within individuals than in groups. How, then, can we move from this individualised understanding of trust to notions of collective …

Exploring motivations for adventure recreation events: a New Zealand study

Adventure recreation events are a relatively new form of leisure that have become increasingly popular since the 1990s, yet little is known about motivations for participation. In this study, participant motivations were investigated through an interpretive methodology and the theoretical framework of self-determination theory (SDT). Exploratory, in-depth interviews with 22 participants in six different New Zealand events revealed intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, some of which overlap with motivations previously found for endurance sports and others which are also associated with outdoor recreation. In addition, two sets of dynamic relationships between motivations appear to exist: one set is competence, challenge and self-responsibility and the other is adventure, place and identity. These relationships need closer investigation. There is wide scope for further research that extends understanding of motivation for adventure recreation events beyond the context studied.

Collegiality in Business Schools: Development of a Collegiality Measure and Evaluations of its Implications.

Purpose – While collegiality is often discussed and touted as a critical aspect of academia, there is little research that empirically examines collegiality in university business schools. One cause of the paucity of research is the lack of a reliable scale to measure collegiality (Sabharwal, 2011). The purpose of this paper is to develop a scale that measures collegiality at the departmental level for university faculty, and then uses it to understand the implications of collegiality within an academic department within a business school. Design/methodology/approach – The present study uses a scale development process consisting of: defining the domain of the construct; item generation; and psychometric assessment of the scale’s reliability and validity. Items were adapted for a university business school context from Shah (2011) and Seigel and Miner-Rubino (2009). The scale was administrated using a convenience non-random sample design drawn from active marketing and entrepreneurship academics who subsc...

Organizational Trust: Checking, not trusting: trust, distrust and cultural experience in the auditing profession

This chapter explores the interaction of trust and distrust with the associative cultural tiles of organizational and professional values, operating within individual auditors in accounting firms. Building on recent research into trust and culture in healthcare management, the authors consider the way in which this particular professional context (i.e. cultural sphere) affects trust, and at how trust and distrust can exist co-terminously in the same auditor. The chapter shows how an auditors trust and distrust in their clients affects their professional judgments and decisions, and how sound auditing judgments may run counter to the accounting firms needs. Findings include the revelation that less effective, highly trusting auditors tend to stay within the profession but more effective, less trusting auditors leave.

The social value of business: lessons from political economy and process philosophy

In this study we consider the role of business management in delivering good in society, from the perspective of the philosophical work of Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Alfred North Whitehead. We find that Whiteheads process explanations of the nature of experience and consciousness articulate meaningfully with Smiths idea of ‘self-love’ and Marxs conceptualisation of ‘rich-experience’. As a result, we argue that business practice must reconnect with society in a more appropriate understanding of a good as something beyond a mere economic entity. Using principles of process thought, we make recommendations as to how this might be achieved in daily management practice.

Maintaining leisure values in adventure recreation events: the role of trust

New Zealands adventure recreation culture is well recognized in leisure research. In organized adventure events, the leisure value of freedom can be preserved through relationships of trust between recreation organizers and participants, yet there is little research on trust as a two-way relationship, trust in recreational settings and in voluntary risk-taking contexts. This paper responds to these knowledge gaps by reporting qualitative data from a study of trust relationships between outdoor adventure recreation event organizers and participants. The data confirms the trust relationship, finding it to be two-way and unequal. Leisure values are maintained by a combination of risk management, trust, participant competence and judgement and the force of law represented by disclaimers. Implications for event organization, outdoor recreation policy and the application of law to recreation settings are discussed.

Participant observation in sport management research: collecting and interpreting data from a successful world land speed record attempt

Motorsports and motorsports management is more commonly associated with the multimillion dollar big business of for example Formula One, the World Rally Championship, or motorcycling’s MotoGP and World Superbikes. Each of these sub-industries – or ‘circuses’ as they were euphemistically known because of their arrival en masse at one venue, their performance to a paying audience, and their subsequent departure to the next venue – is a grouping of increasingly highly professional corporatized teams headed by charismatic archetypal entrepreneurs, competing under the regulations of the World Motorsport governing bodies of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA ) and the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FI M). They are almost without exception located geographically and culturally in Europe; only the CART and NASCAR racing series dominate the North American market. The barriers to entry to these sub-industries are extremely high and the politics surrounding entry are notorious (Dolles and Soderman, 2008; Henry et al., 2007). This is in contrast to most motorsports activity, which has historically been characterized by artisans, small businessmen, a genuine family atmosphere and a culture of ‘run what you bring’ and ‘make do and mend’, in which competitors would help each other with problems, both technical and personal (for example, Dibben, 2008; Stewart, 2007; Pearson, 1965 [2002]). The values of motorsport here are, arguably, richer, where spectators are not excluded from the paddock and so can experience not only the racing as a spectacle but participate to a certain extent in the human side of the ‘circus’; the emphasis is more on the fostering and enjoyment of social capital as opposed to the garnering of economic wealth.

Motorcycle Racing and Neo-Tribes at the Isle of Man

The motorcycle road races held annually on the Isle of Man provide a suitable case for investigating a specific event, its spectators and its facilitators. Racing at the Isle of Man is labelled madness, yet participating and spectating are also reported to be about camaraderie, family and community experiences. The research is based upon observations and qualitative interviews with participants and facilitators of the Manx GP and Classic TT races. The research explores why motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the world make the pilgrimage to the Isle of Man to be part of the Isle of Man motor sport culture. It also considers whether and to what extent the commercial, cultural and recreational success of the event is based upon neo-tribal rituals.