1. Introduction
The number of people participating in outdoor leisure activities has been steadily increasing as the positive perception of leisure activities has increased, along with an increased interest in health [
1]. Outdoor leisure activities have been known to have a significant impact on an individual’s physical and spiritual health. In addition, the interest in outdoor leisure activities has increased over time as modern individuals who have been experiencing increased stress caused by rapid urbanization possess a desire to return to nature. It is widely advised that outdoor leisure activities are activities that modern people should actively participate in to improve their health [
2].
In 2020, society underwent sudden changes due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, all members of society had to practice social and physical distancing [
3]. The number of people suffering from various symptoms of psychological and mental stress has increased rapidly. Social distancing, which was a measure implemented in order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, had the effect of blocking the spreading of the epidemic within groups [
3]. However, social distancing also caused side effects, such as loneliness, depression and anxiety, decreased physical activity, and panic disorders [
4]. Accordingly, it was necessary to make efforts to minimize the side effects related to social distancing through the maintenance of mental health or through the participation in appropriate leisure activities. For people who participated in leisure activities before the advent of the coronavirus, changes in the social environment due to the coronavirus resulted in the prevention of participation in leisure activities. So, we intend to analyze the relationship between leisure attitude, serious leisure, recreational specialization, and leisure satisfaction for participants in outdoor sports (hiking, biking, golfing, paragliding).
First, leisure attitude defined as the attitude or state of mind that people possess regarding leisure. Some authors described this change as an interest and awareness in leisure based on leisure attitude at the present moment where one can enjoy leisure activities [
5]. Previous studies have shown that leisure activity was positively related to leisure attitude, and that leisure behavior is an external expression of leisure attitude [
6]. If an individual has a more positive leisure attitude, then that individual is more likely to regularly participate in the activity [
7]. Leisure attitude is a crucial factor in the determination of leisure activities. Research into the attitudes of leisure participants aimed to analyze the leisure activities and identify the relationship or cause of participation. This suggests that the attitude towards leisure could be changed in the right direction [
8]. Ragheb and Beard [
9] recorded it as a learned and coherent action, either kind or unkind, to a given condition or situation, and they classified leisure attitude into cognitive, affective, and behavioral attitude patterns. Cognitive attitude affects a person’s general understanding, beliefs, and knowledge of leisure activities; affective attitude affects a person’s positive or negative emotions based on their past situation of leisure activities; and behavioral attitude affects a person’s current intention to participate in leisure activities based on their past leisure activity situation. LA is an internal state based on experiential knowledge or value about leisure [
10]. According to a study by Shim and Lee, when the leisure attitude of college students increases, they become specialized in recreation, and Kim insisted that the formation of values or attitudes of a specific group brings about the specialization of leisure activities [
11,
12]. Kim and Song reported that it affects cognitive and behavioral aspects such as time use, importance of leisure, environment, time, and effort, and affective aspects such as values, retrospectives, and preferences [
13].
Hypothesis (H1). Leisure attitude has an influence on serious leisure, recreational specialization, and leisure satisfaction.
Second, serious leisure concretely shows the psychological characteristics of people who continuously engage in leisure activities. Previous studies confirmed that the higher the level of serious leisure, the greater the psychological characteristics, such as a high sense of achievement, as well as the greater the functional results of the participants [
14]. In other words, serious leisure is not the result of a functional leisure development process, such as people’s knowledge or skills, but rather, it is a concept that can be described as the psychological experience of leisure that continues on [
15].
The adjective ‘serious’ in this case includes characteristics such as sincerity and attention rather than sobriety, distress, or unrest [
16]. Perseverance and persistence, endeavor, leisure career, everlasting acquisitions, specific norms, and identification with the profession were some of the hallmarks of participation in serious leisure [
17]. Considering the main activities of a participant in serious leisure, university programs for seniors can be an opportunity to develop this type of leisure during adulthood. For years, multiple investigations [
18] pointed out that the participation in learning spaces had positive outcomes for older adults such as feeling satisfaction with oneself, improving self-worth, keeping the mind active, stimulating the mental faculty, and accomplishing pleasure, happiness, and authority. Looking at previous studies focused on serious leisure, the relationship between serious leisure and participation in outdoor leisure activities, leisure immersion, and the structural model analysis of happiness are the important factors that were actively being carried out for people who participate in outdoor leisure activities [
19,
20].
Hypothesis (H2). Serious leisure has an influence on recreational specialization and leisure satisfaction.
Third, recreational specialization depends on the level of equipment use for the participant [
21]. Recreational specialization was a concept that was first proposed by Little and Bryan to explain the diversity of people participating in specific activities [
22,
23]. Little described an expert as a person who has a specific interest in a specific object, event, or idea, invests a considerable amount of time, and has an enterprising mindset on the object, idea, or event [
22]. Bryan systematically introduced the concept of recreational specialization and described recreational specialization as a cline from a public person to a specialist, which is expressed by the skill, equipment, and preference of the place of activity used when participating in leisure [
23]. According to Scott and Shafer, recreational specialization is a process of recreational participants’ behavior, skills, knowledge, and commitment to a specific activity developed through a review. In addition, the recreational specialization process was conceptualized in the following three dimensions: action and concentration, commitment, and knowledge and skill. These three dimensions could be understood as a dynamic process of specialization that develops into different processes [
24]. Park explained that participants with a relatively low degree of specialization and those with a high degree of specialization would show different aspects in skill level, equipment preference, location selection, and activity preference [
25]. According to the recreational specialization process, participants in leisure activities go through developmental stages from beginners to experts, and various behavioral patterns appearing in the development process are used to characterize active leisure activities [
26]. Recreational specialization, a concept introduced by Bryan, has been studied by many scholars, and research is being conducted in various directions according to areas of interest. In previous studies, Lee, Jang, Oh, and Kang reported that a higher value of recreational specialization indicates greater environmental friendliness [
27]. Kim and Hwang stated that recreational specialization has a positive influence on leisure satisfaction and quality of life [
28]. Leisure activities have a positive impact on individuals’ lives. In other words, leisure attitude and leisure facilitation could affect the recreational specialization of simulation golf participants.
Hypothesis (H3). Recreational specialization has an influence on leisure satisfaction.
Fourth, leisure satisfaction improves the quality of human life through leisure activities, and also plays an effective role in the pursuit of self-actualization and happiness, which are the highest human needs, and the maintenance and promotion of health. Several researchers have discovered that this role plays a very important function in leisure activity participants and wields a significant impact on an individual’s life [
29,
30]. Yoo studied rafting participants and rock climbers [
31]. As a result, it was concluded that as they became experts in an adventurous activity, the quality of their experience of the structural features of the activity deepened. After all, the experience of leisure activities could be divided into an experience related to the activity itself and an experience related to the surrounding properties of the activity.
Therefore, this study focuses on examining the relationship between the leisure attitudes, serious leisure, recreational specialization, and leisure satisfaction of people who participate in outdoor leisure activities (hiking, biking, golfing, and paragliding). One of the best ways to overcome the mental and physical stresses related to the COVID-19 pandemic was to participate in outdoor leisure activities. Outdoor leisure activities have continued to be an important factor in helping people to overcome challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and have also provided us with various benefits.
5. Conclusions
The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of leisure attitude, serious leisure, recreational specialization, and leisure satisfaction on outdoor leisure activity participants in Korea. The participants in this research consisted of 356 people who were participants of outdoor leisure activities. For data analysis, the researchers used frequency, confirmatory analysis, reliability, correlation, and structural equation modeling. The findings are as follows. First, leisure attitude had an effect on serious leisure. Second, leisure attitude did not have an effect on recreational specialization. Third, leisure attitude had an effect on the leisure satisfaction. Fourth, serious leisure had an effect on recreational specialization. Fifth, serious leisure had an effect on leisure satisfaction. Finally, recreational specialization had an effect on leisure satisfaction. According to the results of this study, leisure attitude and recreational specialization had insignificant effects, but all other hypotheses were accepted. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it was confirmed that various motives for participating in outdoor leisure activities in Korea remain. There is a need for research that provides basic data for policy proposals and infrastructure construction so that more people could continuously participate in outdoor leisure activities.
The recommendations for future research and limitations of this study are as follows: First, this study examines the leisure activity of participants who participate in leisure activities. Because it is limited to a specific region, it is difficult to represent the entire leisure activities of participants in Korea. Second, it is necessary to research ways to enhance the quality of life by participating in leisure activities by conducting research on various factors that will affect them.