An exploration of the relationships among social psychological involvement, behavioral involvement, commitment, and future intentions in the context of birdwatching

Abstract

Using data collected from 517 visitors to a birding festival, interrelationship were investigated among two social-psychological measures of involvement (Laurent and Kapferer's IP and Zaichkowsky's PII scales), five generic behavioral involvement scales, and a commitment scale that measured centrality to lifestyle. Correlation analysis revealed that commitment and social psychological involvement were interrelated, and that commitment and the importance/pleasure dimension of Laurent and Kapferer's IP were closely related to behavioral involvement. The efficacy of different measures of social psychological involvement, commitment, and behavioral involvement in explaining intention to go on birding trips was also measured. Findings revealed that behavioral measures of involvement are likely to be substantially more useful in predicting birders' intentions than measures of social psychological involvement and commitment. Copyright 1997 National Recreation and Park Association.