Abstract
Willingness to pay (WTP) is used to assess individuals’ value attribution to health-related quality of life interventions. Little is known about predictors of WTP for sport and physical activity in socially vulnerable groups in community-based physical activity (CBHEPA) programs. This study addresses the questions: What is the WTP for sport and physical activity of participants in CBHEPA programs, expressed in WTPmoney and WTPtime? Which factors predict WTPmoney and WTPtime? From the literature, predictors for WTP for sport and physical activity were identified: (1) personal and socio-economic predictors: income, education, age, and ethnic origin, (2) health-related predictors: perceived health, life satisfaction, sense of coherence, self-efficacy, (3) sport and physical activity-related predictors: duration and frequency of participation, leisure-time sport or physical activity, sport club membership, enjoyment, and membership fee. Data were gathered for WTPmoney and WTPtime (n = 268) in 19 groups in an evaluation study of CBHEPA programs. Ordered probit was used for analyses. WTPmoney was a monthly average of €9.6. WTPtime was on average 17.6 min travel time. Income was found as predictor for both WTPmoney and WTPtime. Other predictors for WTPmoney were: duration and frequency of program participation, enjoyment, and (former) sport club membership. Low income and younger age were found as predictors for WTPtime. Predictors for WTPmoney are related to income and sport and physical activity experiences, for WTPtime to income and age. Short-term program satisfaction is probably more decisive for WTPmoney than long-term perspectives of improving health-related quality of life.
Highlights
Physical inactivity has been identified by the World Health Organisation as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality, causing globally an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year (GAPA 2012; WHO 2012)
About 16 % of our respondents are not willing to pay for sport and physical activity, and the lowest income level is negatively related to WTP, indicating that answers are probably more reflective of people’s actual income positions than of their willingness to pay (Hagberg and Lindholm 2006)
Our assumptions that factors predicting health-related quality of life and WTP for health improvements may be relevant for predicting WTP for sport and physical activity are not unequivocally supported in this study
Summary
Physical inactivity has been identified by the World Health Organisation as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality, causing globally an estimated 3.2 million deaths per year (GAPA 2012; WHO 2012). Over the past two decades, the contingent valuation method (CVM) asking people’s stated preferences for a good or a health service (Morris et al 2007), is being used more often in health economics research to assess value attribution at individual level to health-related quality of life interventions (Klose 1999; Donaldson and Shackley 2003; Drummond et al 2005; Olsen et al 2004; Cawley 2004; Lorgelly et al 2010; Murphy et al 2012). Willingness to spend time travelling to sport and physical activity (WTPtime)— which in transportation models is seen as a disutility that should be minimised—should be regarded as an additional estimator of positive value attribution (Dijst and Vidakovic 2000), since it expresses willingness to make an effort to participate
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