Implications of integrating e-leisure constraints and means-end hierarchies of young people’s perceptions toward video-sharing websites

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-03-2017-0091
Pages355-371
Published date11 June 2018
Date11 June 2018
AuthorChin Feng Lin,Chen Su Fu
Subject MatterLibrary & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management
Implications of integrating
e-leisure constraints and
means-end hierarchies of young
peoples perceptions toward
video-sharing websites
Chin Feng Lin
Department of Leisure Management,
National Pingtung University, Pingtung, Taiwan, and
Chen Su Fu
Department of Business Administration,
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paperis, based on leisure constraints and means-endtheories, to identify the
e-leisureconstraints of using the video-sharingwebsites/apps; demonstratehow means-end theory can be used
to reveal the differences between high- and low-leisure constraints in an e-leisure environment; and provide
designers and marketers with valuable insightsfor developing e-leisure products and e-marketing strategies.
Design/methodology/approach Both qualitative and quantitative approaches are employed to collect
data. By eliminating three participants whose age range did not meet our criterion (15 to 24 years old),
57 one-on-one in-depth interviews were then content analyzed to design the survey questionnaire. A total of
514 valid samples were collected for hierarchical value map (HVM) construction.
Findings By comparing the full HVM vs the e-leisure constraints HVM, the analytical results indicate that
the importance of attributes, consequences and values for the young people using video-sharing websites/
apps is quite different. Unable to resume the video after leaving the screen,”“creating playlist,”“providing
moviesand location restrictionsare extremely important features that influence the willingness of such
users with high e-leisure constraints to participate in e-leisure activities. By understanding the differences
between these two HVMs, it is possible to provide marketers or designers with valuable insights for website/
app design and marketing strategies.
Research limitations/implications This study only focused on young peoples perceptions of
video-sharing websites/apps, so the findings are limited to those aged between 15 and 24 years old. Since
managers today are challenged to design effective strategies that can meet target usersdemands across
different ages with different economic, social and sub-cultural groups, future research may consider gathering
a wider age range of respondents in order to obtain more robust results.
Originality/value This is the first paper integrating leisure constraints theory and means-end theory to
understand young peoples cognitive structure of using video-sharing websites/apps, especially when they
encounter e-leisure constraints.
Keywords Means-end chain, E-leisure activity, E-leisure constraint, Video-sharing website
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Due to the rapid rate of technological progress, mobile devices, such as smartphones and tables,
and encouraged a move away from outdoor activities to electronic-leisure (e-leisure) activities
(Santharam, 2014). E-leisure activities are those that people use electronic/mobile devices to
engage in, such as watching video/cable television, sharing videos and playing video/mobile
games. Many people thus use their smartphones for online leisure behaviors, and especially for
connecting to video-sharing websites, as watching or sharing videos and information with
friends is now an important social activity (Yarosh et al., 2015). Although there are many
platforms or communities supporting video sharing, such as YouTube, Vine, Twitch, Instagram
Online Information Review
Vol. 42 No. 3, 2018
pp. 355-371
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-03-2017-0091
Received 21 March 2017
Revised 4 October 2017
Accepted 10 October 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
355
E-leisure
constraints
and Facebook, young people may encounter some barriers to using these websites or
applications (apps) on their smartphones. Such barriers may reduce their willingness or limit
their participation in video-sharing activities. For the marketers or designers of video-sharing
websites/apps, it is thus important to know what kinds of barriers users encounter, in order to
remove these and attract more users, and thus increase operating profits.
In the literature, means-end chain (MEC) theory is widely used to reveal usersinner
cognitive structure toward a particular product or activity, depicting the relationships
between userspreferences/non-preferences and a product/activitys attributes (Lin and
Chuang, 2013; Puustinen and Kanto, 2009). Since MEC assumes that users would give their
selected item a specific meaning in their minds, such a meaning provides marketers or
designers of video-sharing websites/apps with insightful information about the users
decision-making process with regard to using video-sharing websites/apps on their
smartphones. Obviously, MEC theory is suitable to reveal not only the reasons why young
people are willing to participate in video-sharing, but also the barriers (so-called e-leisure
constraints) that they encounter when they share videos via their smartphones.
Although past studies have widely examined the issues of leisure constraints, e-leisure
constraints have rarely been discussed. What attributes of video-sharing websites/apps
result in e-leisure constraints are thus still unknown. Therefore, this study extends the basic
concept of leisure constraints theory and applies it to the online environment. Meanwhile,
this study adopts means-end theory to qualitatively analyze the attributes, consequences
and values of using the video-sharing websites/apps, in order to provide a more
comprehensive picture of usersinner thoughts when encountering e-leisure constraints.
As such, this study is based on leisure constraints and MEC theories and aims to: identify
the e-leisure constraints of using the video-sharing websites/apps; demonstrate how means-
end theory can be used to reveal the differences between high- and low-leisure constraints in
an e-leisure environment; and provide marketers and designers with valuable insights for
developing e-leisure products and e-marketing strategies.
Literature review
Leisure constraints theory
Jackson (1993, p. 279) defined leisure constraints as factors that are assumed by researchers
and perceived or experienced by individuals to limit the formation of leisure preferences and
to inhibit or prohibit participation in leisure activities.Leisure constraints are known to
negatively influence the leisure participation of individuals, no matter whether they arise
from internal or external forces (Lyu, 2012). Internal forces involve an individuals attributes
and psychological states, such as stress, anxiety, and perceived self-skills, whereas external
forces are related to resource availability and environmental settings, such as financial
resources, social interactions and facilities (Godbey et al., 2010; Chadwick et al., 2016).
In addition, Walker and Virden (2005) claimed that culture, religion and race are other
factors influencing the willingness of leisure participation. Although there are many factors
that constrain such participation, Jackson and Searle (1985) simply classified leisure
constraints as those related to blockingor inhibiting.Blocking constraints activate direct
rejection of the leisure alternatives,whereas inhibiting constraintsonly make the alternatives
less preferable or lower the possibility of individual participation (Fesenmaier et al., 2013).
Crawford and Godbey (1987) further summarized the constraining factors of leisure
participation and categorized these into three types: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and
structural. Intrapersonal constraints are internal (e.g. stress, anxiety,perceived self-skills and
capability) and defined as individual psychological states and attributes which interactwith
leisure preferences rather than intervening between preferences and participation(Crawford
and Godbey, 1987, p. 122). Interpersonal constraints refer to interpersonal interactions, and
these influence both preferences and participation in the social surroundings (e.g. inability to
356
OIR
42,3

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