The Influence of Economic Factors on Sport Participation Behavior in Taiwan Households

• Main Authors: Po-Yang Hsu, 許伯陽
• Other Authors: Chin-Hsung Kao
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/99986970092663832952

博士 === 國立體育大學 === 體育研究所 === 99 === Human sport participation behavior often resulted from a psycho-economical interaction of the individual’s endogenous preferences and the social context into which he is embedded. It might demand the hardest decision making process. Among the influencing factors, the economic ones had long been underestimated, especially those in regard with one’s policy of time and budget allotment. How one allocated time and budget was definitely an economic issue. It usually dawned on the reviewers some of the highest insights in the study of sport participation behavior because it meant to examine how people fully use their scarce resources of time and budget to enhance their lifetime happiness. So we resort to certain economic theories for a solid interpretation of sport participation behavior. The purpose of this study was to make a formula for the economic determinants of sport participation behavior in Taiwan households. Sport participation model of this study was an extension of the Cawley (2004) SLOTH framework of time allocation and the Zhao (2002) Household Leisure Time model (HLT). SLOTH model assumed that individuals sought to maximize their efficiency with the assorted constraints of time, budget, and physique. HLT model assumed that husband and wife were the main decision makers in a household, from whom the family income often came. With their resources determined by the nucleus couple, the rest of the household members could only eke out their scanty quota of decision making. So we used the HLT model of Zhao (2002). In this study, we combined these two models to construct the economic determinants of sport participation behavior in Taiwan households. The hypothesis of this study was that individual economic determinants in sport participation included income, price, preference, time allocation and household consensus. In order to test the model, this study had resource to self-questionnaires to assess the sport participation ratio among the Taiwanese residents; 3068 questionnaires were analyzed and interpreted with the statistical tools including the Heckman two-stage selection, logit regression and OLS regression estimation model. The results showed that the individual sport participation behavior in Taiwan found its prevalent determinants not just in income, expense and preference, but also in time allocation and household mindset. Secondly, this study suggested that sport participation behavior of the individuals was inseparable from that of the family, which had superseded the individuals as the core decision-making unit. Finally, market trend and leisure activity modes were not the only correlatives, domestic chore and its labor demand should be included. The aforesaid findings constitute a study, and a recommendation proposal, for the government’s sport policy, including family-centered sports policy and the women sport policy of market-oriented domestic work. The future research was to enhance sport preference study, panel study and larger data study.