Participation Motivations for Outdoor Recreation: A Test of Maslow's Theory

Abstract

A random sample of 708 visitors was interviewed at Tahoe area downhill ski resorts in California and Nevada during January, February and March of 1978. Respondents rated the importance of each of 23 items for having a successful skiing day. Data were analyzed to determine in what way, if any, the empirical structure of motivation for participating in downhill skiing corresponded to Maslow's theory of motivation. The upper four need levels in the Maslow model were operationalized for use with Tahoe downhill skiers. Results showed that instead of the popular unidimensional Maslow need hierarchy, the operational measures of Maslow needs combined to portray a two-dimensional “radex” type of motivational structure. This two-dimensional specification of the theory is consistent with Maslow's writings and provides for better differentiation between skiers than the popular unidimensional hierarchy.