MODERATING EFFECTS OF PERSONAL IMPORTANCE ON THE ACCESSIBILITY OF ATTITUDES TOWARD RECREATION PARTICIPATION

Applying the tenets of the process model of attitudes (Fazio, 1986), r esearch in the natural resource and recreation fields has found that a ttitudes toward natural resource issues that are formed through direct experience and high repeated expression are more accessible and, ther efore, successfully predict support for specific natural resource mana gement strategies. A factor that has been found to influence many atti tudinal and behavioral phenomena in the natural resource and recreatio n fields is personal importance of the attitude-object. This study exa mined the extent to which the personal importance of an outdoor recrea tion activity moderates the effects of direct experience and repented expression on the accessibility of attitudes toward participating in a recreation activity. Using respondents' intentions to take wildlife-v iewing trips as the behavioral measure, the effects of direct experien ce on attitude accessibility were moderated by the personal importance of wildlife-viewing opportunities, while the effects of repeated expr ession were not. Implications include greater understanding of recreat ionists' attitudes allowing for better prediction of and influence on recreation behavior and demand.