Socially constructed environmental issues and sport: A content analysis of Ski Resort Environmental Communications

Sam Spector, Chris Chard, Cheryl Mallen and Craig Hyatt

Sport Management Review, 2012, vol. 15, issue 4, 416-433

Abstract: ► This manuscript focused on the USA ski industry and examined Ski Resorts Environmental Communications (SRECs) stated on each of 82 resort websites. ► The communications were rated for their prominence, breadth and depth based on the environmental categories in the USA Sustainable Slopes Program (SSP) Charter. ► The results provide an assessment of the level of environmentally responsible actions by the ski resorts.The United Nations (UN) purported that “whenever a person engages in sport there is an impact on the environment” (UN, 2010, n.p.). The purpose of this research was to examine the safeguarding of the natural environment, or environmental sustainability (ES), in sport by studying the level of environmentally responsible actions for ski resorts in the USA. Specifically, this manuscript focused on the USA ski industry and examined Ski Resorts Environmental Communications (SRECs) stated on each of 82 resort websites. The methods included rating these communications for their prominence, breadth and depth based on the environmental categories in the USA Sustainable Slopes Program (SSP) Charter. Based on both these SREC ratings and the grades assigned to each resort by the Ski Area Citizen's Coalition (SACC), the resorts were classified as inactive, exploitive, reactive, or proactive using an adaption of Hudson and Miller's (2005) model. The results provide an assessment of the level of environmentally responsible actions by the ski resorts. Several directions for future research have been brought forward from this study, including the need to examine motivations behind ski resort publications on environmental communications and the likelihood of skiers selecting resorts based on the environmental communications posted on websites. A concentration of research is needed to develop further understandings concerning the contemporary issue of ES in sport.

Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1016/j.smr.2012.04.003 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rsmrxx:v:15:y:2012:i:4:p:416-433

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rsmr20

DOI: 10.1016/j.smr.2012.04.003

Access Statistics for this article

Sport Management Review is currently edited by Sheranne Fairley

More articles in Sport Management Review from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().