Understanding the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations of open water swimmers

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Understanding the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations of open water swimmers"

Garey Wilson
5 years ago
Views:

1 Understanding the extrinsic and intrinsic motivations of open water swimmers Purpose of the paper: Certain types of tourism have experienced significant growth in the last decade (Ridinger, Funk, Jordan and Kaplanidou, 2012), including that of sport tourism (Weed and Bull, 2009). Whilst it is recognised that there is increased growth and development within sport tourism activities, participation in open water swimming has only recently begun to attract significant levels of interest. The rise of popularity stemmed from the International Olympic Committee listing an open water 10km race as one of the events for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games (British Swimming, 2013), with open water swimming attracting over 10,000 participants in some instances (East Dorset Open Water Swimming Club, 2011). Recognised as an area of emerging research, the subject of the experiences of active sport participants is in its infancy (Shipway, 2012). Coupled with this, there is an almost non-existent literature base on open water swim participants. Hastings, Kurth, Schloder and Cyr (1995) studied reasons for participation in a serious leisure career using Masters swim participants as their sample, which included open water swimming. Furthermore Pizam et al., (2004) carried out an extensive study of the effects of the combined psychological characteristics of risk-taking and sensation seeking on the travel behaviour and preferred tourist activities of young adults on leisure trips, which included open water swimming as an activity. Saaymaan and Saaymaan (2012) undertook a study on three different events in South Africa, one of which was an open water swim event. Their study touched on motivation but their overall aim was to identify the socio-economic differences of participants in the events and to determine the key drivers of their spending. However, no studies exist which examine the motivations of open water swim participants from an active sport tourism perspective. Theoretical background: Research has recognised the fundamental importance of exploring the motivations, behaviour and experience of sport event participants (Gibson, 2004; Weed, 2005). This paper will add to this body of knowledge by exploring the motivations of participants in an open water swimming event in the UK. A number of scholars have researched the behaviour of sport tourists (Kirkup, 2012; Miller, 2012; Shipway, 2012; Funk et al., 2004; Funk et al., 2003; Funk et al., 2001; Green and Chalip, 1998), highlighting the growth in this area. With Getz and McConnell (2011) noting that through these developments in research, what is emerging is a line of research and theory building that bridges the fields of leisure, sport, event management, and tourism. This paper takes this line of research a step further, by applying a motivational lens to the research. Whilst it is acknowledged that the field of sport tourism research has moved on from earlier times of debate and definition (Weed, 2009) it is still evident that there are areas to be explored. As Gibson (2002) suggests, turning to work in tourism, sport and leisure to source theoretical frameworks and perspectives in future sport tourism research is imperative. This paper will draw together motivational perspectives from both sport and tourism in the exploration of open water swim participant motivations. Furthermore, it is argued that by knowing participant motivations the creation of unique experiences and the fostering of repeat visits by participants can be developed, which may lead to the establishment of more sustainable tourism impacts for the event host regions (Taks, Chalip, Green, Kesenne and Martyn, 2009). Research drew from the Participant Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ) framework originally established by Gill, Gross and Huddlestone (1983). The PMQ has been applied to measure the motives of adult swimmers (Brodkin and Weiss, 1990; Hritz and Ramos, 2008). The

2 research drew from the Travel motives work of Iso-Ahola (1982) in the form or escape and seeking. In order to investigate the strength of motivation of open water swim participants the work of Carroll and Alexandris (1997) in relation to the five signs of motivation was included. Research design: Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire handed out to participants in the Great North Swim event at Lake Windermere in the UK in June This event is the UK s largest open water swim event usually attracting in excess of 10,000 participants. However, adverse weather conditions had a serious impact on the event with much of the event being scaled back (both Friday s and Saturday s events were cancelled entirely) and, as a result, only 2,500 participants were able to take part in the events on the Sunday. Participants were asked to fill out the questionnaire on the 3 rd day of the swim events: the only day that any events actually took place due to the adverse weather conditions. The questionnaire was developed utilising the Participant Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ) framework originally established by Gill, Gross and Huddlestone (1983) who, after conducting an exploratory factor analysis found eight factors underlying the PMQ. The PMQ has subsequently been applied to measure the motives of adult swimmers (Brodkin and Weiss, 1990; Hritz and Ramos, 2008). The PMQ addresses basic motives for participation in sporting activities and has identified factors such as health/fitness, social status, affiliation, energy release, fun, and other swimming specific characteristics for motivation (identified by Brodkin and Weiss, 1990) as cited in Chowdury (2012); and five factors identified by Hritz and Ramos relating to travel and competition, these were travel for escape, travel for stimulation, competition for social development, competition for fitness and competition to win. Travel motives were included from the work of Iso-Ahola (1982) in the form or escape and seeking. The travel motives were operationalized in the study of Funk et al., (2007) who found that perceived travel benefits of escape, social interaction, prestige, relaxation, cultural experience, cultural learning and knowledge exploration are contributing sources to motivate participants to compete in a foreign sporting event. In order to investigate the strength of motivation of open water swim participants the questionnaire included five signs of motivation measurement as per the work of Carroll and Alexandris (1997). Sport and travel motives were listed on a 5 point Likert scale in order to understand the intensity of participants feelings (Burns and Bush, 2012) to the specific sport or travel motives. Strength of motivation measurement was also measured using a 5 point Likert scale using the five signs of motivation as identified by Carroll and Alexandris (1997). As detailed data collection took place at the Great North Swim event held on Lake Windermere in June This event was chosen as it is the largest open water swimming event in the UK. However, the adverse weather conditions had a significant impact on the sample population. Usually over 10,000 swimmers take part in the event, in this instance only 2,500 swimmers took part in the only event not to be cancelled, the 1mile swim. The adverse weather also had an impact on the willingness of swimmers to participate in data collection, as the majority of swimmers were cold and wet from the heavy rain and were disappointed by the unforeseen changes to the event. Nevertheless, surveys were filled out over the course of the Sunday and in total 178 responses were collected. Findings: There were 178 respondents, who were non-residents of Windermere and taking part in the event. Only 3.4% of respondents had travelled on their own whilst the majority sub category was that of travelling with one person only (16.9%). Overall though dominantly, 78.7% of respondents had travelled with at least 2 people or more. The majority of respondents were female (51.1%) and 68% of participants had not taken part in the

3 Windermere swim before. A small proportion had taken place in other British Gas swim events, namely London (2.2%), Suffolk (1.7%), Salford (6.7%) and Strathclyde (2.8%). Respondents had a mean age of (SD 10.3) and reported a monthly net income ranging from less than 500 to more than The dominant income category was more than 4000 a month at 15.2%. The sample was well educated as 50% of respondents had attained at least a university degree. With regards to involvement in open water swimming, the respondents ranged from those new to swimming to those who had been open water swimmers for 43 years (mean 21.5 years). The respondents were more experienced as swimming pool swimmers, they had swam for up to 50 years in swimming pools and for a mean of 21.5 years. Their training schedules indicated they trained for 2 sessions a week, and this would involve up to 7 hours and a distance of 137km. It must be noted that the high level of kilometres swam per week was affected by some high outliers as the standard deviations were high. The respondents reasons for participation in the sport of open water swimming indicated that I am really interested in participating in open-water swimming events (n=176; mean 3.73), was of the most importance. Opinions were not as strong when considering, I feel that spending time participating in open-water swimming events is more worthwhile than spending time participating in other leisure activities (n=174; mean 3.14) and I feel that participating in open-water swimming events is vitally important to me (n=174; mean 3.16). When considering involvement and their opinion of open water swimming there were strong opinions as all statements had means over 4, low standard deviations and the highest score was allocated to involvement due to it being interesting (4.3). Respondents identified a range of motivations for taking part in open water swimming events which fell into three categories: travel motives; sports motives; dimensions of motivation (Table 1). Travel motives were categorised as relaxation; escape; social interaction; and prestige. The dominant motivation respectively within each travel motive category was: to be emotionally refreshed (3.62); to get away from the routine of everyday life (3.47); to have fun with others (3.59); and to build memories (3.66). With regards to knowledge exploration, to learn new things was dominant (3.64), whilst for sport motives to keep fit was most important at Overall for these open water swimmers, the top two most important motives were both sport motives i.e. to keep fit (4.06) and I want to improve my health (3.9). Notably these higher level motives are intrinsic, and equally for travel motives, intrinsic motives were more important than extrinsic motives. Table 1: Motives of respondents Travel Motive: Relaxation N Mean Std. Deviation To be emotionally refreshed To relax To enjoy good weather Travel Motive: Escape To get away from the routine of everyday life To forget my worries Travel Motive: Social interaction To have fun with others

4 To have opportunities to socialize with others To mix with new people Travel motive: Prestige To build memories To share my travel experience once I get home To go to places my friends have not been Dimensions of motivation: knowledge exploration N Mean Std. Deviation To learn new things To explore different destinations To increase my knowledge N Std. Mean Deviation Sport motives: I want to keep fit I want to improve my health I want to go to a higher level with my swimming I like to do something I am good at I like to compete I like being on a team I like to win The profile of the respondents was as expected for active sports tourists and shows no divergence from profiles of respondents in other studies involving active sports tourists. This study adds to the further confirmation of this profile of actives sports tourists as being high achievers of high income brackets and educational levels. The study also showed them as a homogenous group with regards to motivations as socio-demographic variables such as educational level and income level showed no significant statistical difference to their motivation. When considering the data analysis, intrinsic motives were more important than extrinsic motives. This has implications for the marketing message event organisers use to attract participants as the health and fitness benefits allied with sports motivation outweigh those related to travel motives. Research implications: Key messages for event organisers, for targeting of event participation the respondents were more used to swimming pools and that is where their normal training took place. These swimmers, experienced in the main, were the ones attracted to participate therefore when trying to attract participants event organisers could look to local swimming clubs to market and promote events. There is a requirement for further research as knowledge of motivations of active sports tourists as identified is lacking. There is also a need to consider the various motivations of

5 open water swimmers who are taking part in different distances, an opportunity which the Windermere event would have afforded if the full event had taken place. Indeed in undertaking on site surveying at open swimming events there are noted challenges. Missing variables are indicative of the challenges of data collection at a physical event and in difficult weather conditions. With regards to further research in the area there is scope for investigating the best methodologies and data collection methods. Whilst in this circumstance there was a race organiser who gave permission for access to participants they were not able to give permission for ing out questionnaires. It is recommended though that further data collection and research of such event participants at such outdoor events involving a physical challenge be they swimmers, runners, cyclists or triathletes for example capturing onsite event information is problematic. Especially outdoor events which are reliant on good weather and safe conditions for swimming, as with this case study one day s races were cancelled and so only the 1 mile participants could be surveyed rather than a range of different distances as had been intended. This unreliability is not uncommon in open water swimming as this was the second attempt at data collection as a previous event where data collection was intended had been cancelled completely. Contribution: This research adds to the almost non-existent literature on an increasingly popular form of sport tourism, namely open water swimming. Furthermore no previous studies exist which examine the motivations of open water swim participants from an active sport tourism perspective. Therefore the main contributions lie in developing a body of knowledge of open water swim participants which have significant implications for those involved in developing open water swim events.

6 References Admin (2011). The management of open water swim events available at (accessed 17th August 2013). Baker, D., & Crompton, J. L. (2000). Quality, satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(3), British Swimming (2014) available at (accessed 17th August 2013) Brodkin, P., & Weiss, M. R. (1990). Developmental Differences in Motivation for Participating in Competitive Swimming. Journal of Sport & Excercise Psychology, 12(3), Burns, A.C., and Bush, R.F. (2012). Basic marketing research using Microsoft Excel data analysis. 3rd edition. Pearson, Harlow. Carroll, B., & Alexandris, K. (1997). Perception of constraints and strength of motivation: their relationship to recreational sport participation in Greece. Journal of Leisure Research, 29(3), Chowdhury, D. R. (2012). Examining reasons for participation in sport and exercise using the Physical Activity and Leisure Motivation Scale (PALMS) (Doctoral dissertation, Victoria University). Funk, D. C., Toohey, K., & Bruun, T. (2007). International Sport Event Participation: Prior Sport Involvement; Destination Image; and Travel Motives. European Sport Management Quarterly, 7(3), Funk, D.C., Mahoney, D.F., Nakazawa, M., & Hirakawa, S. (2001). Development of the sport interest inventory (SII): implications for measuring unique consumer motives at team sporting events. International Journal of sports marketing and sponsorship, 3(3), Funk, D.C., Ridinger, L.L., & Moorman, A.M. (2003). Understanding consumer support: Extending the sport interest inventory (SII) to examine individual differences among women s professional sport consumers. Sport Management Review, 6(1), 1-32 Funk, D.C., Ridinger, L.L., & Moorman, A.M. (2004). Exploring origins of involvement: Understanding the relationship between consumer motives and involvement with professional sports teams. Leisure Sciences, 26(1), Getz, D., & McConnell, A. (2011). Serious sport tourism and event travel careers. Journal of Sport Management, 25(4), Gibson, H. (2004.) Moving beyond the what is and who of sport tourism to understanding why. Journal of sport tourism, 9(3), Gibson, H. J. (1998). Active sport tourism: who participates? Leisure Studies, 17(2), Gibson, H. J. (2002). Busy travelers: Leisure-travel patterns and meanings in later life. World Leisure Journal, 44(2),

7 Gill, D. L., Gross, J. B., & Huddleston, S. (1983). Participation motivation in youth sports. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 14, Green, B. C., & Chalip, L. (1998). Sport tourism as the celebration of subculture. Annals of Tourism Research, 25(2), Hastings, D. W., Kurth, S. B., Schloder, M., & Cyr, D. (1995). Reasons for participating in a serious leisure career: Comparison of Canadian and US masters swimmers. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 30(1), Hritz, N. M., & Ramos, W. D. (2008). To Travel or to Compete: Motivations of Masters Swimmers. International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, 2(4), Iso-Ahola, S. E. (1982). Toward a social psychological theory of tourism motivation: A rejoinder. Annals of Tourism Research, 9(2), Kirkup, N., (2012). Olympic tourists: seeking a sense of belonging and the construction of social identities in Shipway, R., and Fyall, A. (eds) International sports events: impacts, experiences and identities, pp Miller, A., (2012). Understanding the event experience of active sports tourists: long distance endurance triathletes in Shipway, R., and Fyall, A. (eds) International sports events: impacts, experiences and identities, pp Pizam, A., Jeong, G. H., Reichel, A., van Boemmel, H., Lusson, J. M., Steynberg, L.,... & Montmany, N. (2004). The relationship between risk-taking, sensation-seeking, and the tourist behavior of young adults: A cross-cultural study. Journal of Travel Research, 42(3), Ridinger, L. L., Funk, D. C., Jordan, J. S., & Kaplanidou, K. (2012). Marathons for the masses: exploring the role of negotiation-efficacy and involvement on running commitment. Journal of Leisure Research, 44(2), Saayman, M., & Saayman, A. (2012). Determinants of spending: An evaluation of three major sporting events. International Journal of Tourism Research, 14(2), Shipway, R., (2012). Distance running events and the third place in Shipway, R., and Fyall, A. (eds) International sports events: Impacts, Experiences and Identities, pp Routledge. Oxford. Taks, M., Chalip, L., Green, B. C., Kesenne, S., & Martyn, S. (2009). Factors Affecting Repeat Visitation and Flow-on Tourism as Sources of Event Strategy Sustainability. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 14(2), Weed, M. (2005). Sports tourism theory and method concepts, issues and epistemologies. European sport management quarterly, 5(3), Weed, M. (2009). Progress in sports tourism research? A meta-review and exploration of futures. Tourism Management, 30, Weed, M., and Bull, C.J. (2009) Sports tourism: Participants, policy & providers (2nd ed.) Elsevier, Oxford.

To Travel or to Compete? Motivations of Masters Swimmers

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education Volume 2 Number 4 Article 4 11-1-2008 To Travel or to Compete? Motivations of Masters Swimmers Nancy M. Hritz University of North Carolina - Wilmington,