Appraisal of and response to social conditions in the Great Gulf Wilderness: Relationships among perceived crowding, rationalization, product shift, satisfaction, and future behavioral intentions

Purposes were to describe on-site social carrying capacity from the users’ perspectives, provide management applications, and refine constructs of product shift and rationalization used by visitors as coping responses to crowding. Data were gathered using on-site exit surveys of hikers in the Great Gulf Wilderness and analyzed with descriptive statistics, principal components analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Social carrying capacity did not appear to have been exceeded based on the users’ perspectives. However, coping was employed by 50 percent of the population. An acceptable model of hiker appraisal and coping response was identified. A discussion of management application and future direction for redefining product shift and rationalization within a context are offered.