Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Crowding and Experience-Use History: A Study of the Moderating Effect of Place Attachment Among Water-Based Recreationists

Environmental Management volume 41, pages 528–537 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Effective recreation resource management relies on understanding visitor perceptions and behaviors. Given current and increasing pressures on water resources, understanding crowding evaluations seems important. Beyond crowding, however, variables that possibly relate to or influence crowding are of interest and in particular, place attachment and experience-use history (EUH). As EUH is related to place attachment and likely affects crowding, this study explored the moderating effect of place attachment dimensions on the relationships between EUH and visitor crowding evaluations. Water based recreationists at a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers site were contacted onsite and asked questions related to experience-use history, crowding evaluations, place attachment, and activity participation. Anglers and campers at the site identified similar crowding perceptions and place attachments. Only one of eight models tested revealed a moderating effect. Specifically, place identity moderated the relationship between the total times visited in the past twelve months and expected crowding among anglers. As such, the quest continues to understand the relationship among these important variables.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

References

  • Absher J, Lee R (1981) Density as an incomplete cause of crowding in backcountry settings. Leisure Sciences 4:231–247

    Google Scholar 

  • Alldredge R (1973) Some capacity theory for parks and recreation areas. Trends 10:20–29

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson D, Brown P (1984) The displacement process in recreation. Journal of Leisure Research 16:61–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Backlund EA, Williams DR (2004) A quantitative synthesis of place attachment research: investigating past experience and place attachment. In: Murdy, James, comp., (ed) Proceedings of the 2003 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-317. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station, p 459

  • Baron RM, Kenny DA (1986) The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 51(6):1173–1182

    Google Scholar 

  • Bricker KS, Kerstetter DL (2000) Level of specialization and place attachment: An exploratory study of whitewater recreationists. Leisure Sciences 22:233–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Budruk M, Schneider I, Andereck K, Virden R (2002) Crowding and satisfaction among visitors to a built desert attraction. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 20:1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Bultena G, Field D, Womble P, Albrecht (1981) Closing the gates: A study of backcountry use-limitation at Mount McKinley National Park. Leisure Sciences 4:249–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Cordell HK, Betz CJ, Bowker JM, English DB. K, Mou SH, Bergstrom JC (1999) Outdoor recreation in American life: A National assessment of demand and supply trends. Sagamore, Champaign, IL p. 449

    Google Scholar 

  • Cortina JM (1993) What is coefficient alpha? An examination of theory and applications. Journal of Applied Psychology 78:98–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Daigle J, Hannon J, Stacey C (2003) Factors influencing experience quality: Comparing user groups and place attachment at the St. Croix International Waterway. USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-27:133–141

    Google Scholar 

  • Dillman DA (2000) Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method. Wiley. New York, p. 464

    Google Scholar 

  • Driver BL, Dustin D, Baltic T, Elsner G, Peterson G (eds) (1996) Nature and the Human Spirit: Toward an Expanded Land Management Ethic. Venture publishing, State College, PA, p 467

  • Graefe A, Moore R (1992) Monitoring the visitor experience at Buck Island Reef National Monument. Proceedings of the 1991 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium, USDA Forest Service General Technical Report NE-160:55–58

  • Hammitt WE, Backlund EA, Bixler RD (2004) Experience use history, place bonding and resource substitution of trout anglers during recreation engagements. Journal of Leisure Research 36:356–378

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammitt WE, Cole DN (1998) Wildland recreation: Ecology and management. John Wiley and Sons, New York, pp. 361

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammitt WE, McDonald C (1983) Past on-site experience and its relationship to managing river recreation resources. Forest Science 29:262–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammitt WE, Patterson M (1991) Coping behavior to avoid visual encounters: Its relationship to wildland privacy. Journal of Leisure Research 23: 225–237

    Google Scholar 

  • Heberlein T, Vaske J (1977) Crowding and visitor conflict on the Bois Brule River. Technical Report, Office of Water Resources Project # A-006-WAS. The University of Wisconsin, Madison

    Google Scholar 

  • Kearsley G, Coughlan D (1999) Coping with crowding: Tourisy displacement in the New Zealand backcountry. Current Issues in Tourism 2: 197–210

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuentzel W, Heberlein T (1992) Cognitive and behavioral adaptations to perceived crowding: A panel study of coping and displacement. Journal of Leisure Research 24: 377–393

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuentzel W, Heberlein T (2003) More visitors, less crowding: Change and stability of norms over time at the Apostle Islands. Journal of Leisure Research 35: 349–371

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyle G, Absher J, Graefe A (2003) The moderating role of place attachment on the relationship between attitudes toward fees and spending preferences. Leisure Sciences 25:33–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kyle G, Graefe A, Manning RE (2004) Attached recreationsists… Who are they? Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 22:65–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyle G, Graefe A, Manning RE, Bacon J (2003) An examination of the relationship between leisure activity involvement and place attachment among hikers along the Appalachian Trail. Journal of Leisure Research 35:249–273

    Google Scholar 

  • Kyle G, Graefe A, Manning RE, Bacon J (2004) Effects of place attachment on users’ perceptions of social and environmental conditions in a natural setting. Journal of Environmental Psychology 24:213–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kyle G, Mowen A, Tarrant M (2004) Linking place preferences with place meaning: An examination of the relationship between place motivation and place attachment. Journal of Environmental Psychology 24:439–454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manning RE (1999) Studies in Outdoor recreation: Search and Research for Satisfaction. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, OR, pp 374

    Google Scholar 

  • Manning RE, Ciali CP (1980) Recreation density and user satisfaction: A further explanation of the satisfaction model. Journal of Leisure Research 12:329–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Manning RE, Valliere W (2001) Coping in outdoor recreation: Causes and consequences of crowding and conflict among community residents. Journal of Leisure Research 33: 410–426

    Google Scholar 

  • Manning RE, Lime DW, Freimund WA, Pitt DG (1996) Crowding norms at frontcountry sites: A visual approach towards setting standards of quality. Leisure Sciences 18:39–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore RL, Graefe AR (1994) Attachment to recreation settings: The case of rail-trail users. Leisure Sciences 16:17–31

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore RL, Scott D (2003) Place attachment and context: Comparing a park and a trail within. Forest Science 49:877–884

    Google Scholar 

  • Proshansky HM (1978) The city and self-identity. Environment and Behavior 10:147–169

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Relph E (1976) Place and placelessness. Pion Limited, London, pp. 156

    Google Scholar 

  • Schreyer R, Lime DW, Williams DR (1984) Characterizing the influence of past experience on recreation behavior. Journal of Leisure Research 16:34–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Smaldone D, Harris CC, Sanyal N, Lind D (2005) Place attachment and management of critical issues in Grand Teton National Park. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 23:90–114

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokols D, Shumaker SA (1981) People in places: A transactional view of settings. In: Harvey J (ed.), Cognition, Social Behavior, and the Environment. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum pp 441–488

    Google Scholar 

  • USACE (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) (2004) http://www.mvs.usace.army.mil/recreation

  • U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service (2007) 2006 National Survey of Fishing,Hunting, and Wildlife Associated Recreation

  • Vaske J, Donnelly MP (2002) Generalizing the encounter-norm-crowding relationship. Leisure Sciences 24:255–269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vaske J, Donnelly MP, Heberlein T (1980) Perceptions of crowding and resource quality by early and more recent visitors. Leisure Sciences 3:367–381

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaske J, Donnelly MP, Petruzzi JP (1996) Country of origin, encounter norms, and crowding in a frontcountry setting. Leisure Sciences 18:161–176

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warzecha CA, Lime DW (2001) Place attachment in Canyonlands National Park: Visitors’ Assessment of setting attributes on the Colorado and Green Rivers. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration 19:59–78

    Google Scholar 

  • Wickham TD, Kerstetter DL (2000) The relationship between place attachment and crowding in an event setting. Event Management 6:167–174

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams DR, Roggenbuck JW (1989) Measuring place attachment: Some preliminary results. Paper presented at the Symposium on Outdoor Recreation Planning and Management. NRPA Symposium on Leisure Research, San Antonio, TX

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams DR, Stewart SI (1998) Sense of place: An elusive concept that is finding a home in ecosystem management. Journal of Forestry 18–23

  • Williams DR, Vaske JJ (2003) The measurement of place attachment: Validity and generalizability of an approach. Forest Science 49:830–840

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams DR, Patterson ME, Roggenbuck JW, Watson AE (1992) Beyond the commodity metaphor: Examining emotional and symbolic attachment to place. Leisure Sciences 14:29–46

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young JM, Williams D, Roggenbuck JW (1990) The role of involvement in identifying users’ preferences for social standards in the Cohutta Wilderness. In Hope D (ed.), Proceedings of the Southeastern Recreation Research Conference (GTR-SE-067; Vol 12, Asheville, NC: USDA Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station pp. 173–183

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the funding provided for this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Community Resources and Development, Arizona State University, 411 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA

    Megha Budruk

  2. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Sonja A. Wilhem Stanis & Ingrid E. Schneider

  3. Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia State Parks, Virginia, USA

    Jennifer J. Heisey

Authors
  1. Megha Budruk
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sonja A. Wilhem Stanis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ingrid E. Schneider
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jennifer J. Heisey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Megha Budruk.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Budruk, M., Wilhem Stanis, S.A., Schneider, I.E. et al. Crowding and Experience-Use History: A Study of the Moderating Effect of Place Attachment Among Water-Based Recreationists. Environmental Management 41, 528–537 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9059-1

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9059-1

Keywords

search

Navigation