Resumen de A Cross-National Study of Socialization into Physical Activity in Corporate Settings: The Case of Japan and Canada
The purpose of this study was to account for the process of socialization into physical activity among employees of large corporations. A conceptual frame-work that integrated a variety of variables within four dimensions was used: (a) an antecedent dimension, (b) a cultural dimension, (c) an attitudinal dimension, and (d) a situational dimension. Information was provided by 371 employees of two large corporations in Japan and 262 employees of two large corporations in Canada. The findings indicated that the degree of exercise involvement was greatly influenced by the situational dimension only, while sport involvement was strongly influenced by the antecedent, cultural, and situational dimensions. Such significant others as the peer group and instructors or coordinators were particularly important socializing agents for involvement in the major activities in each country (i.e., sport in Japan and exercise in Canada). In general, the hypothesized model accounted for an average 38% of the variance in explaining socialization into physical activity in corporate settings, though several cross-national differences were observed.
