Using two-step cluster analysis to identify homogeneous physical activity groups

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to: first, illustrate how market segmentation using two-step cluster analysis can be used to identify segments in the context of physical activity; second, identified segments are used to offer practical implications for social marketers working in the area of physical activity. Design/methodology/approach -A total of 1,459 respondents residing within 20 kilometres of the Melbourne Central Business District participated in an online survey. The questions in the survey included items relating to respondents' health perceptions, health knowledge, attitudes, intentions to start a new physical activity, demographics, place of residence and self-reported physical activity. Two-step cluster analysis using the log-likelihood measure was used to reveal natural groupings in the data set. Findings -This research has identified four distinctive segments in the context of physical activity, namely: Young Disinteresteds, Successful Enthusiasts, Vulnerables and Happy Retirees.Research limitations/implications -The study was conducted in March and some sports were not in season at the time of the study, therefore future research should extend the current sample to take seasonality and geography into account and to ensure the clusters are fully representative of the Australian population. Originality/value -This paper contributes to the literature by outlining a two-step cluster analytic approach to segmentation that can be used by social marketers to identify valuable segments when developing social marketing programmes.

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