Intentions, attitude beliefs, social norm beliefs, and past behavior relationships based upon perceived environmental and health factors for participants involved in outdoor land-based trail recreation in Wisconsin
Abstract
Ajzen and Fishbeins' Theory of Reasoned Action was used to measure
the attitude beliefs, social norm beliefs, and intentions in
predicting the correlates of participation in ~utdoorla nd-based trail
recreati~nb ased upon perceived environmental and health factors.
Additionally, Ajzen and Fishbeins' behavioral model was modified to
include self-report past behavior as suggested by Manfredo and
Shelby (1987). A sample of 75 members of the Wisconsin Wildlife
Federation were questioned regarding their intentions to participate
in nonmotorized trail recreation, their attitude beliefs regarding
participation, the influence of important others in making decisions
to participate, and their past behavior in either motorized or
nonmotorized land-based trail recreation. It was found that the
attitude and social norms accurately predicted intentions to
participate in nonmotorized recreation (R = .91). Standardized
regression coefficients demonstrated that intentions were
influenced more by attitudes (r = .92, p < .01) than by the influence
of social references (r = .59, p < .01). The past behavior variable
also indicated significant correlation to the attitude (r = .29,
p < .05) and social norm (r = .26, p < .05) components within a
modified model. This supports findings by Manfredo and Shelby
(1 987) on the validity of self-reported past behavior in studies of
attitude-behavior relationships. Although significant differences
using the intention and past behavior variables were found, further
investigations using a larger sample size are needed. This study
suggests that there are both natural environment and health needs
factors which participants in outdoor trail use consider when
determining motorized versus nonmotorized uses of land-based trail
recreational sites.
Subject
Outdoor recreation - Psychological aspects
Environmental psychology
Trails - Environmental aspects - Wisconsin
Recreational surveys - Wisconsin