The Process of Celebrity Fan's Constraint Negotiation

Abstract

Celebrities have become an important source of leisure and recreation for people across the globe. This study conceived celebrity fandom in terms of leisure involvement, and, following the work of Hubbard and Mannell (2001), we examined its relationship to leisure constraints, constraints negotiation, and frequency of participation among a sample of Japanese women and men (n=403) using a survey method. Importantly, the concept of celebrity involvement was incorporated into the constraints model in lieu of leisure motivation. We predicted that perceived constraints influence negotiation strategies and frequency of participation and celebrity involvement influences perceived constraints, negotiation strategies, and frequency of participation. The results supported all hypothesized relationships. This study expands the applicability of leisure involvement concept, constraints theory and serious leisure to understanding celebrity fandom and highlights the conceptual similarity between leisure motivation and involvement. Given the cross cultural nature of our study, findings also demonstrate the applicability of involvement, constraints, and constraints negotiation among people in a non-western context.