Tacit hierarchising in online communities of hillwalkers

This research explores how Munro-baggers – hillwalkers aiming to climb all 282 Scottish mountains over 3,000ft – hierarchise themselves and others as serious leisure participants. This increasingly popular hobby contributes to Scotland’s economy and profile, but its sparse literature insufficiently analyses the influence of Stebbins’ Serious Leisure Perspective (SLP), the recent reappraisal of Serious Leisure or the influence of online communities. Therefore, we critically revisit the SLP to re-evaluate Munro-bagging. Through phenomenological interviews, we explore how Munro-baggers hierarchise each other, tacitly and otherwise, offline and online, through their activities’ perceived characteristics. Ambiguities and overlaps are explored and the interplay of contexts analysed. We identify factors influencing Munro-baggers’ perceptions of seriousness amongst fellow hobbyists, taxonomising participants by their perceived characteristics of seriousness. Findings suggest that they draw upon quantitative and qualitative judgments of hobby-relevant activities and qualitative judgments of certain ad hominem characteristics. The expansion of the pastime beyond its temporospatial boundaries into online spaces is found to influence the extent to which actors categorise or hierarchise each other and the characteristics used to do so.

Bonsai in the time of COVID

The study sought to find out to what extent engagement with serious leisure, in this case, bonsai growing, can help people deal with challenging times, such as a global pandemic. In particular, how bonsai enthusiasts use their hobbies to manage uncertainty and stress during the lockdown and how they have shared their lived experiences on this topic via social media. The researcher employed a user-generated contents analysis approach to address the questions and explored a collection of comments from a sample of the most visited bonsai videos posted during the pandemic. The serious leisure perspective has been used as a theoretical framework to conceptualise the data based on the qualities that differentiate serious leisure from casual leisure. The findings showed that engagement in this hobby helps bonsai enthusiasts to develop social connectedness and cope with their stress caused by the pandemic.

“A Labour of Love”: Active Lifestyle Entrepreneurship (Occupational Devotion) During a Time of COVID-19

The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis management strategies adopted by world leaders across the globe in 2020 impacted the work-life balance of billions of people. Entire populations were forced to stay at home and maintain a safe distance from family members, friends, colleagues, and customers. Occupational devotion is defined as a feeling of strong, positive attachment to a form of self-enhancing employment, where achievement and fulfillment are high, and the core activity has such intense appeal that the line between this work and leisure is virtually erased. Although it is not a new concept, this area of the serious leisure perspective has been largely overlooked by scholars observing the world of sport events and entrepreneurship. Using Creative Analytical Practice (CAP), a post-qualitative methodology, we present the personal narrative of a New Zealand-based active lifestyle entrepreneur who, as a result of a nationwide COVID19 lockdown, was forced to re-assess his long-established occupational devotion. Our co-constructed story offers an emotive insight into the personal cost and consequences of finding yourself living in a lockdown.

Examining Cooking Hobbyists’ Information-Seeking Behavior in Different Situations and in Different Stages from a Serious Leisure Perspective

The current study investigates cooking hobbyists’ information behavior with emphasis on the sources used and information activities performed in different situations and in different stages. Drawing upon Stebbins’ serious leisure theory, Hektor's framework of information activities, and Hartel's cooking stages, a web survey was designed including a serious leisure scale, sets of questions asking various information sources consulted, and frequencies of information activities performed when “trying new recipes” and “making dishes once made before” in the “exploring stage” and “planning stage.” Four hundred eighty-seven cooking hobbyists participated in the survey. Results show that while most cooking hobbyists tend to obtain cooking information through online sources, but some cooking hobbyists with higher scores on the serious leisure scale also value print resources. They also engage in various information activities more frequently. Comparing to “dishes made before,” cooking hobbyists are more likely to seek information when “trying new recipes.” Nevertheless, the home recipe was the only source consulted more frequently when making dishes people once made before. Cooking hobbyists tend to browse and exchange information more frequently in the exploring stage when gathering cooking ideas rather than in the planning stage. Suggestions for food ingredients online shopping websites, recipe-recommendation systems, culinary bookstores, and special libraries were also provided and discussed based on the findings.

Thüringer Musikszene – Jugendmusikredaktionen als außerschulische musikbezogene Bildungskontexte

This contribution addresses a music editorial youth project in the context of extracurricular music education: Where and in which manner does musical education take place, particularly regarding music journalism? Opportunities for music journalism do not so much arise in schools or music schools but rather in actively used leisure time. The present study examines the motivation of participants in relation to their peers, host organisations, and project tutors. The concept of serious leisure perspective (Robert A. Stebbins) delivers the frame to discuss the results of the study.