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Originally grounded in library and information science, the majority of information behaviour and information-seeking theories focus on task-based scenarios where users try to resolve information needs. While other theories exist, such as how people unexpectedly encounter information, for example, they are typically related back to tasks, motivated by work or personal goals. This chapter, however, focuses on casual-leisure scenarios that are typically motivated by hedonistic needs rather than information needs, where people engage in searching behaviours for pleasure rather than to find information. This chapter describes two studies on (1) television information behaviour and (2) the casual information behaviours described by users of Twitter. The first study focuses on a specific casual-leisure domain that is familiar to many, while the second indicates that our findings generalise to many other casual-leisure scenarios. The results of these two studies are then used to define an initial model of casual-leisure information behaviour, which highlights the key differences between casual-leisure scenarios and typical information behaviour theory. The chapter concludes by discussing how this new model of casual-leisure information behaviour challenges the way we design information systems, measure their value and consequently evaluate their support for users.

The purpose of this study was to identify the role of two kinds of leisure activities (i.e. casual and serious leisure) in reducing psychological and physiological stresses and, specifically, to investigate the differences between pre- and post-psychological and physiological stresses.

The data analyses were conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 20.0 program. Descriptive analyses were calculated to identify the characteristics of the sample, including gender, education and age. Because of the small sample size (n < 30), this study uses a nonparametric test. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to examine the differences between pre- and post-stresses of psychological and physiological approaches. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine the differences of stresses between the casual and serious leisure groups. In addition, the Kendall rank correlation coefficient was used to measure the association between leisure experiences and stresses.

The findings from this study indicated that pre-overall affective stress was significantly higher than post-overall affective stress. There were significant differences between pre- and post-physiological stresses during serious leisure. Research findings also suggested that serious leisure experiences have a significant and negative relationship with cognitive stress and physiological stress.

The data were obtained from two different types of leisure setting, and hence, the generalizability of the study findings to other regions needs to be explored in future studies. Research across other leisure settings also might permit the validation of more stable relationships between leisure and stresses. Future research is needed to investigate other important antecedents of individuals’ psychological and physiological stresses in the leisure setting and may identify the complex nature of leisure participants’ perceptions and their relationships with experiences.

Despite the growth of stress and leisure research, physiological-based analyses in this area are limited. Numerous studies have focused on leisure coping with negative life events based on social psychological perspectives. The finding of this study would be helpful to leisure practitioners to manifest the strengths and opportunities of experiences and performances associated with the leisure activity.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how typical users of YouTube judge the relevance of videos in leisure contexts; what are the reasons users give when judging video material as relevant or not relevant?

A naturalistic diary was performed in which 30 participants completed diaries providing details on their video relevance criteria. The analysis revealed 28 relevance criteria grouped into eight categories.

In total, 28 relevance criteria were identified through the analyses of the diaries’ content and they were grouped into eight categories. The findings revealed that criteria related to the content of the video are the most dominant group of criteria with topicality being the most dominant criterion. There is a considerable overlap between leisure relevance criteria and previous relevance criteria studies, but the importance of these criteria varies among different contexts. New criteria, e.g. habit emerged from the data which tend to be more related to leisure contexts.

The decision to follow a naturalistic approach reduced the level of control on the study. A further limitation can be found in the participants’ sample used in this study, all the participants of the main study were university or college students.

This study attempted to enrich the current literature by investigating users’ video relevance criteria in leisure contexts. This investigation might have implications on the design of video search systems.

Previous relevance criteria studies focussed on work contexts and the information judged was mainly in text format. This paper outlines new insights by investigating video relevance criteria in leisure context.

The liberal arts hobby is a leisure pursuit that entails the systematic and fervent pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the liberal arts hobby as a setting for information behavior research.

The method of interdisciplinary translation work is used to relate existing research from the specialties of leisure studies, adult education, and information behavior. Drawing from leisure studies, the liberal arts hobby is presented within the context of the serious leisure perspective, a theoretical framework of leisure. Also, relevant research.

The basic informational features of the liberal arts hobby and adult learning project are discussed in terms of three issues of current interest within information behavior scholarship. The issues are: first, social metatheory and the ideal level of analysis; second, time and information behavior; and third, information behavior in pleasurable and profound contexts.

Research into everyday life, serious leisure and hobbies is extended and methodological tools are provided.

Information professionals, such as public librarians or systems designers, will have a better understanding of the information experience of a popular hobby group and be better able to meet their information needs.

Awareness and understanding of the liberal arts hobby will be increased across the field of information science, thereby creating a better alignment between the field and society.

The paper is the first to establish an interdisciplinary starting point for information behavior research in the liberal arts hobby.

Drawing on a framework of Job Demands-Resources (JD-R), the purpose of this paper is to conceptually develop and empirically validate a moderated mediation model of serious leisure and workplace well-being.

The data were collected between December 2020 and March 2021 using an online questionnaire. A total of 225 completed questionnaires were received from employees in India who graduated between 2018 and 2020.

The authors’ findings indicate that serious leisure is positively associated with workplace well-being and that the relationship is mediated by self-perceived employability. Stress moderates the relationship between serious leisure and self-perceived employability in such a way that the association is stronger when levels of stress are higher. Stress also moderates the mediating effect of self-perceived employability on the relationship between serious leisure and workplace well-being such that the indirect effect of serious leisure on workplace well-being is stronger when levels of stress are higher.

Theoretical implications come from drawing on leisure studies literature to differentiate casual leisure and serious leisure. The concept of serious leisure is subsequently integrated into the human resource management literature to explore the relationship between serious leisure, self-perceived employability, stress, and workplace well-being. Practical and policy implications suggest how universities and organisations can support their students and early careers talent by encouraging them to participate in serious leisure activities.