Conceptualizing and Measuring the Attitudinal Loyalty Construct in Recreational Sport Contexts

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a 20-item instrument for assessing participants' attitudinal loyalty in the contexts of recreational sport activities. Out of 211 participants, 189 provided usable responses to the questionnaire regarding demographics, attitudes toward recreational sport participation, and intention to renew membership. An analysis revealed three factors that formed the subscales for attitudinal loyalty construct: normative, affective, and investment loyalty. All scales had coefficient alpha values of .70 or above. Thus, the analyses confirmed the validity and the reliability of the questionnaire after translation of the items from English into Korean and their adaptation to recreational sport contexts. The matrix of correlations among attitudinal loyalty dimensions indicates that one dimension cannot fully predict another, and that all dimensions must be simultaneously taken into account in describing the attitudinal loyalty construct. The multifaceted nature of attitudinal loyalty construct may prove useful for segmenting the recreational sport market.