ABSTRACT

Older people have been reported to spend a great deal of timeengaged in a variety of leisure activities. The purpose of thepresent study is to review the theoretical validity of time-style andto draw out policy implications in the realm of old people’s leisureactivities. Time-style characterizes a set of people’s decisionsrelating to the allocation of time among various activities involvedin their consumption. Time-style is a fairly enduring aspect of theself, changeable only over a relatively long period of time. Olderpeople’s leisure behavior and consumption patterns could beexplained by their time-style. Four dimensions of time-style aresocial orientation, temporal orientation, planning orientation, andpoly-chronic orientation. In conclusion, older people’s time-styleseems to influence the choice and utilization of leisure services.That is, all four dimensions of time-style could have a systematiceffect on older people’s leisure needs and utilization. Policy-makersshould be able to realize the full value of time-style in targetingolder consumers.