Home Brewing and Serious Leisure: A Mixed Methods Examination

Abstract

The study of serious leisure since its introduction (Stebbins, 1982) is extensive, covering a multitude of leisure endeavors (Baldwin & Norris, 1999; Brown, 2007; Dilley & Scraton, 2010; Gibson, Willming, & Holdnak, 2002; Hunt, 2004; Jones, 2000; Jones & Symon, 2001; Kane & Zink, 2004; Orr, 2006; Smith, Costello, Kim, & Warren, 2010). To date the studies have been largely qualitative in nature, limited to the examination of specific activities. Though rich in detail and thorough in their explanation of the activity under study, the lack of quantitative research regarding serious leisure is conspicuous by its absence. This appears to be a significant weakness in the literature and it is this lack that is addressed in this study. Adding quantitative methods to the study of serious leisure specifically in the area of satisfaction will, when considered in combination with the qualitative data, provide greater depth and detail to the understanding of this increasingly important subject. In this study exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the empirical dimensions of serious leisure participation through the lens of home brewers by application of the Leisure Satisfaction Scale (Beard, & Ragheb, 1983). The results obtained indicate a moderate goodness of fit for the theoretical model. The chi-square result 323.83 (df 123, n = 2100) was not significant and the RMSEA .043 result but indicated strong goodness of fit. The NFI (.75) and CFI (.78) fell just short of the optimum result (.95). The qualitative inquiry methods revealed four dimensions that could enable the scale to reach the optimum fit levels. These dimensions are history, creativity, science, and authenticity. It is concluded that future research is needed to add these dimensions to the scale and replicate the study to assess the improvement in fit results.