The art & science of physical activityProfessor Eric MacIntosh

As a starting point, can you discuss your research background and what interests you in sports and physical activity?

I have been interested in sport and physical activity since a very early age. In my undergraduate degree, I was fortunate to have an internship with a fitness organization which today is now Canada’s largest fitness chain. While there, I was inspired by the many positive implications of exercise, but also puzzled by the high turnover rate of both employees and clients. Despite the many positive aspects of the organization, people continued to leave at high rates, and I wanted to know why. This started the pursuit into reasons why people stay and leave, as both employees and clients.

Your current project ‘Should I stay or should I go?’ explores the reasons prompting people to leave a fitness programme. What led you to this work and why is it important at this time?

The role of fitness organizations in the pursuit of healthy and active living is undoubtedly important and yet has been ignored to a large degree on the national scale. It is my belief that fitness organizations have an important role to play in creating a healthier and more active population, especially in a country like Canada that toils with winter months where people tend to stay indoors. I am interested in understanding how to keep people active and healthier over their lifespan, and believe that researching their motivations and psychological underpinnings to long-term activity is important. I believe that the way an organization is operated has a great deal to do with keeping people active, and hence my research combines psychological and organizational theory to further understand a person’s decision making. In this case, I believe that retention

The art and science of physical activityProfessor Eric MacIntosh has studied sports organisations for many years. Here he discusses his latest research into the reasons for the high rate of sports club membership turnover

factors are an addition to a person’s intention to join a fitness facility and become more physically active, and beyond social pressures.

The study revealed that only 50 per cent of people enrolled at a fitness facility renewed their membership after a year. Could you elaborate on the main barriers to renewal?

Despite much growth in fitness organizations, offering opportunity to exercise and specialized fitness programs, the industry remains entrenched in issues surrounding client retention. Research demonstrated that service quality (equipment, programming, cleanliness) is an expectation for membership, and that people have concerns when their level of expectation is not met. The study further pointed out the need for organizations to foster belonging and connectedness, and the importance that the organization is community focused. These are all key aspects of keeping people involved in physical activity; in the absence of these cultural factors, people are more likely to cancel membership. These are all controllable aspects of organizational efforts.

How could retention rates at fitness facilities be improved? Have you reached any recommendations?

Retention rates can be improved by ensuring high levels of quality service within a culture that makes people feel a part of a community; that they belong; that they are in an atmosphere that is positive and upbeat, with knowledgeable and caring staff. Fitness organizations that take time to know their clients and treat them with respect, while ensuring support of their goals are more likely to succeed than those that ignore the human side of the experience.

Have you collaborated with any other groups during this research? If so, how did they impact/benefit the work?

I have worked in conjunction with my colleague Barbi Law (Nipissing University) to ensure that we are looking at both psychological and organizational factors. Our research indicates that the decision to become active and then either maintain versus cancel a membership is a multi-layered and complex challenge. On the one hand, people recognize and are aware of the many health benefits associated with physical activity; on the other hand, there are many factors that play into the actual behaviour.

Are you planning to extend this research further? Where might you focus your attention and why?

Retention numbers do not complete the entire picture of whether or not someone is active. As we found in this study, people were using other facilities, walking, or doing exercise outdoors. Thus research is needed to engage in tracking of physical activity behaviour through methods that follow the same cohort over longer periods of time. Systematic reviews have identified the effectiveness of various physical activity intervention approaches; however, these have not considered factors related to the organizational culture, service quality evaluations, location and cost; examining these additional factors helps to paint a more complete picture of why people either stay or leave a program of physical activity.

Obesity is a growing problem throughout the world, in both developed and developing countries. Associated with numerous health problems and increased medical costs, obesity affects a quarter of Canada’s population. Physical activity is a reliable method for controlling both weight and fitness, however almost half of all Canadian adults do not fit enough activity into their lives. This problem is compounded by the cold, dark Canadian winter, which discourages many from going outdoors.

Fitness centres, gyms, and sports clubs thus play an important role in keeping Canadians fit and active, providing warm and welcoming locations for exercise. Unfortunately, as so many have found after New Year’s Day, continuing at the gym can be hard – almost half of those that join a fitness centre drop out before the end of the year. Understanding the reasons behind this high turnover can help encourage people to remain members, thus staying on track for fitness and health.

Despite the best intentions, half of all new fitness club members drop out within a year. Professor MacIntosh shows us that the

reasons for this are not as simple as we might think.

SPORT AND SCIENCE

Why do we stay at a sports club, or why do we leave? Successfully answering these questions is the goal of Associate Professor Eric MacIntosh of the University of Ottawa, who has been examining the role of the sports club environment in decision making for many years. Raised by parents with a love of sport and outdoor activities, he took this experience with him as he obtained a PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Western Ontario. It was during this time that he worked at one of Canada’s largest fitness chains, realising during this time that despite the obvious benefits of a fitness club, many people chose not to remain members. Seeking an answer to this led Professor MacIntosh into his current field of research, and this curiosity has paid off by leading to over 20 publications.

Broken resolutions: Why we leave the gymThe School of Human Kinetics at the University of Ottawa is a high-profile interdisciplinary group studying all aspects of physical activity, sport, and health – including the best methods to keep Canadians fit and active.

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KnowledgeSHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? SOLVING THE RETENTION PUZZLE IN PUBLIC FITNESS

OBJECTIVE

To gain a deeper appreciation for the reasons why people either maintain or drop out of physical activity programming

To provide contemporary insight into a long lasting problem through management and psychology theory

KEY COLLABOR ATORSBarbi Law, Nipissing UniversitySchulich School of Education

FUNDING Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

CONTACT

DR ERIC MACINTOSHAssociate Professor

University of OttawaFaculty of Health ScienceSchool of Human KineticsOttawa, Ontario K1N 6N5

T 613 562 5800 ext 4242E eric.macintosh@uottawa.ca

DR ERIC MACINTOSH has acted as a consultant to a number of different sport organizations in the areas of improving organizational culture, marketing and human resources in both Canada and the United States. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario. At the University of Ottawa he is an Associate Professor in the School of Human Kinetics where he teaches the sport administration courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. His research program has primarily focused on uncovering and understanding the influence of organizational culture in the Canadian fitness industry. His research also involves the study of international sport events and the experience and needs of the key stakeholders that contribute to event success.

Professor MacIntosh collaborates with Associate Professor Barbi Law from Nipissing University, an expert in the psychology behind physical activity and learning. Together they examine the high rate of gym turnover, bringing skills from both organisational management and psychology to bear. Their most recent research, focusing as it does on the reasoning behind the decision to stay or go, provides unexpected insight into the thoughts of fitness club members.

THE FITNESS COMMUNITY

To know what someone is thinking, you need to talk to them, and this is exactly what Professor MacIntosh did. By interviewing a number of new members at several fitness clubs, and then following them over 12 months, he was able to determine how their goals changed over time. The results show that gym-goers are a diverse group, on average 34 years old but ranging between 22 and 78 years, and that they tend to be moderate visitors, visiting 2-3 times a week. And, as has been continuously shown in studies performed over the last 25 years, half of the group had dropped out by the end of the first year.

While the drop-out rates were not a surprise, digging further into the reasons given for dropping out provided some unexpected results. Despite what many would think, the amount of exercise performed did not affect cancellation rates – there was no ‘burn out’ seen in those who went often. Nor was improving or maintaining health a primary reason to stay enrolled, members focused on other benefits – usually involving the community of the fitness club, the friendliness of the staff, or the welcoming atmosphere.

The decision to leave was most often based on changes in the situation at home – be it children starting school, getting older, or moving to a new house. As would be expected, finances play a role – the cost of a gym membership was the number two reason for leaving, with many moving to cheaper fitness centres in the local neighbourhood. Last came motivation factors, people decided to leave due to a lack of enjoyment, or an inability to see any improvements. Despite leaving the fitness club, the majority of those interviewed continued to enjoy some level of physical activity, albeit at a reduced rate. Furthermore almost half of those who had left the fitness club, predominantly those

between 25 and 34 years old, aimed to join another club, usually those with reduced prices.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Given this new knowledge, can it be used to improve the number of people who stay at fitness clubs? Professor MacIntosh thinks so, and that it involves the construction of a sense of community within the club. This is not a blanket answer to sports club retention problems, of course – members have to weigh a number of factors as they make their decision to stay or leave. While everyone is aware of the benefits of physical activity, they must also consider membership costs, social factors, the quality of the staff and the quality of the facilities.

However, according to Professor MacIntosh’s research, the culture of the centre is paramount. “What is key, is that people are treated as people, not numbers”, he states, noting that “it is not enough to offer state of the art fitness equipment and fitness classes”. Instead, club managers should focus on making a connected environment, one in which members feel that they belong to a group working towards the same goal. This shared experience allows members to support each other through difficult periods, and leads to better results than that of the lone runner on the treadmill.

Of course, the best laid plans to keep members at a fitness club come to naught if people choose not to start in the first place. When asked for possible ways to increase physical activity, Professor MacIntosh suggested an ingenious combination of health and wealth: “I am hopeful that government will install a fitness tax credit for adults – hopeful that one day, exercise activity and fitness will be considered in a person’s life and health insurance policies.” Whether these ideas will ever be implemented is unknown – but given the steadily increasing levels of adult obesity in Canada, perhaps even radical ideas are worth examining.

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