Differentiating Between High, Spurious, Latent, and Low Loyalty Participants in Two Leisure Activities

Abstract

Loyalty is conceptualized as having two dimensions: psychological attachment and behavioral consistency. This conceptualization suggests a four-cell paradigm into which program users can be categorized: high loyalty, spurious loyalty, latent loyalty, and low loyalty. Two samples consisting of golfers and tennis players were classified into these four categories. Two hypotheses were tested to determine if selected personal and environmental variables could be used to differentiate between participants exhibiting different types of loyalty. Discriminant analysis revealed that level of involvement, motivation, side bets, and perceived skill level were useful for differentiating between participants in the four loyalty categories.