Network Density, Centrality, and Communication in a Serious Leisure Social World

Abstract

Little is known about the network structures formed by grassroots associations and allied organisations involved in serious leisure social worlds. Generally, research into serious leisure has focused upon the individual, mainly in amateur sports, some hobbies, and a few career volunteer activities. This paper reports a structural view of a social world network of 49 social actors comprised of the grassroots associations and allied organisations expressly concerned with resident amateur artists in a regional Australian city. Relational data was collected from semi‐structured interviews and analysed using social network metrics in conjunction with the serious leisure perspective. Social network analysis showed an uneven distribution of power, influence, and prominence among the social actors and that the network structure relied upon links between grassroots associations and organisations. The network structure consisted of two modules of social actors clustered around particular categories of creative arts, and these modules were linked most frequently by several organisations acting as communication hubs and boundary spanners. In this serious leisure social world the grassroots associations were the insider social actors whereas several organisations were regular social actors. The paper demonstrates the application of social network analysis in leisure studies and provides tentative evidence of the benefits of this approach. Empirical benefits include ‘network weaving’ by sharing knowledge of the network structure with the grassroots associations, allied organisations, and the local government to improve communication and cooperation in the regional social world of creative arts. Theoretical benefits include developing a systemic approach for exploring and theorising the structures of social action forming the organisational basis of leisure.