Testing the moderated mediation effect of recreation safety climate on the interrelationship of serious leisure, recreation involvement, and flow experience

Recreational safety is critical to the growth of outdoor recreation and adventure tourism. Using a signaling-theory framework, this study investigates the possible moderated mediation effect of recreation safety climate (RSC) on the interrelationship of serious leisure, recreation involvement, and flow experience. The results of a survey of 353 recreational scuba divers at a popular diving site in Kenting, southern Taiwan showed that recreation involvement mediated the relationship between serious leisure and flow experience. We further found that RSC significantly and positively moderated a serious leisure - > recreation involvement - > flow experience model: i.e., that recreation involvement played a strong role as a mediator between serious leisure and flow experience because RSC was high. As well as highlighting the importance of RSC, this study contributes to the body of knowledge on recreational safety, and provides recreation operators with guidelines for RSC implementation.

Management implications

Specifically, low recreation safety climate signals tend to reduce the power of recreation involvement as a mediator. Accordingly, operations and management units should actively seek to establish safe climate signals and culture, and promote the safety certification of recreational areas, to facilitate serious recreationists’ identification of safe sites and thereby enhance their recreational benefits.