Home brewing and serious leisure: exploring the motivation to engage and the resultant satisfaction derived through participation

Abstract

The study examines what motivates an individual to engage in a serious leisure activity and the depth of the satisfaction derived through participation. The study examines the topic through the lens of home craft beer brewers filtered through Stebbins' serious leisure construct (1982). The data were collected through a yearlong immersion with a local brewing club chapter, extensive indepth interviews with two key informants, and a survey instrument (n = 4207) that collected both quantitative and qualitative data. The results elaborate on Stebbins' construct and provide deep description of the fulfilment and resonance that participation in and commitment to a serious leisure activity provides. The respondent data were coded into five broad themes: restoration, intellectual absorption, social, creative outlet, and self-actualization. These findings provide tangible support to Stebbins' assertion that individuals can find fulfilment, purpose, and deep meaning to what may otherwise be a life devoid of meaning.

Double Life: Music as Work and Serious Leisure

“…Heo, Lee, McGormick, & Pedersen, 2010;Korpela & Kinnunen, 2010;Cuenca, Kleiber, Monteagudo, Linde, & Jaumot-Pascual, 2014;Liu, 2014;Pi, Lin, Chen, Chiu, & Chen, 2014;Liu & Yu, 2015;Stebbins, 2015). Additionally, hobbies positively affect an individual's experience of satisfaction (Murray & O'Neill, 2015). In research on hobbies and their effects on subjective well-being, one of the identified mechanisms has been recovery from work demands and work stress (e.g.…”

Networking, collaboration, and home brewing: An exploratory study

“…The study therefore contributes empirically and theoretically to the leisure literature, first, by examining home brewers, and second, by adopting the above theoretical frameworks and by proposing a refinement in the context of home brewing. Apart from two very recent studies conducted in the United States (Murray & O'Neill, 2015) and the United Kingdom (Thurnell-Read, 2016), home brewing has received very limited attention from the leisure literature. The present research provides a component of originality, by focusing on home brewers engaged in this activity in Australia.…”

“…First, the characteristics of home brewing undoubtedly emphasise the importance of collaborating in producing quality and variety of beers. Such importance is reflected in home brewers' involvement sampling beers or participating in home brewing competitions (Murray & O'Neill, 2015) to showcase their craft beers. These characteristics strongly suggest that improvement, for instance, of knowledge, techniques and practices, ultimately leading to the final product, is one key aspect illustrating home brewers' 'problem domain' (Wood & Gray, 1991).…”

“…only sharing the final product with relatives or friends, but also meeting with other home brewers at events, or when educational opportunities arise. Second, and similarly, Murray and O'Neill (2015) recognise social aspects intrinsically related to home brewing, including the relevance of competitions, product sampling, or club memberships, which are sources of interaction and engagement among brewers. Furthermore, due to scientific and technical reasons, home brewing can be immersive and absorbing for brewers; however, the social aspect of engagement can act as both a satisfier and motivator for participants" (Murray & O'Neill, 2015).…”

Entrepreneurial intentions in an emerging industry: an exploratory study

“…Furthermore, values 4) guide the Schwartz's (1994) values, and associates these with dimensions related to commercial craft brewing (Table 1). These dimensions are identified in one of the very few studies to date, in which Murray and O'Neill (2015) explored main motivations and satisfaction based on Stebbins' (1982) serious leisure construct among home (noncommercial) brewers in the United States.…”