LAUSR

Abstract Urban parks are regarded as important areas for city residents to conduct daily leisure activities. Lately, urban park activities have been receiving more attention from both academics and practitioners. The purpose of this study is to establish a scale that measures Shantou residents' attitudes toward leisure activities in urban parks, through both qualitative and quantitative methods. During the initial scale generation, 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Shantou residents as participants. To refine the measurement scale, 133 respondents were initially surveyed through exploratory factor analysis. To verify the measurement scale, 402 respondents were surveyed the second time, through first- and second-order confirmatory factor analysis. Findings identified eight dimensions: General knowledge and beliefs, Relation to other concepts, Benefits, Evaluation, Liking, Direct feelings, Current and past participation, and Behavioral intentions. These were used to measure the residents’ attitudes. This study is of theoretical and practical significance to urban park stakeholders, including urban park managers and government, as it strengthens the management of urban parks in Shantou and provides a better environment for residents to engage in leisure activities. Management implications • This study developed a 38-item measurement scale for residents’ attitudes toward leisure activities in urban parks. • General knowledge and beliefs, Relation to other concepts, and Direct feelings were the most important dimension from residents’ perspectives. • Residents have relatively negative attitudes toward the Evaluation, Behavioral intentions, and Current and past participation dimensions. • Management strategies and polices are provided to improve residents’ attitudes toward urban park activities.