A foundational consumer leisure instrument operationalising the subjective determinants of the leisure experience. Unger & Kernan (1983) argued that leisure is not defined by activity type or time-of-day but by the inner psychological state the activity produces. Validated using both a laboratory and field design across multiple activity types (e.g., shopping, sports, hobbies). Factor analyses confirmed the six-factor structure across samples. Perceived Freedom and Intrinsic Motivation are the most theoretically central dimensions — an activity is experienced as leisure when it is both freely chosen and engaged with for its own sake. Involvement/Arousal and Mastery capture the cognitive and competence dimensions of optimal experience (linking to Csikszentmihalyi's flow concept). Spontaneity distinguishes unplanned leisure from scheduled leisure (e.g., gym vs. impromptu park walk). Positive Affect is the affective outcome dimension. In consumer research, the SLS is used to measure: (a) the leisure quality of shopping experiences (hedonic vs. utilitarian), (b) experiential consumption and service encounters, (c) recreational activity involvement, and (d) tourism and hospitality experiences. The scale is particularly relevant for experiential marketing research, where the goal is to transform consumption contexts into leisure-quality experiences.
7-point bipolar semantic differential or Likert; 4 items per subscale; assessed in reference to a specific focal activity ('this activity'); subscales averaged separately
Perceived Freedom — PF (4 items): the degree to which participation in this activity is experienced as freely chosen and unconstrained. 7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree). Items averaged. All items reference the focal activity.
Intrinsic Motivation — IM (4 items): the degree to which participation is motivated by the activity itself rather than external rewards. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.
Involvement/Arousal — INV (4 items): depth of absorbed engagement and cognitive activation during the activity. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.
Mastery — MAS (4 items): feelings of competence, skill, and effective control during the activity. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.
Spontaneity — SPONT (4 items): the degree to which participation was unplanned and impromptu. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.
Positive Affect — PA (4 items): enjoyment, pleasure, and hedonic quality of the activity experience. 7-point Likert. Items averaged.
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
The SLS is context-specific — all items are anchored to a focal activity ('this activity,' 'right now'). It is not an appropriate general trait measure of leisure orientation; for dispositional leisure orientation, use the Leisure Attitude Scale (LAS) or Leisure Motivation Scale (LMS). In shopping contexts, Perceived Freedom and Positive Affect are the most commonly used subscales for distinguishing hedonic from utilitarian shopping experiences. Spontaneity may have low reliability in contexts where all participants knowingly pre-scheduled their participation (e.g., lab experiments) — consider excluding or contextualising this subscale. The seven-point bipolar format in the original may be adapted to 7-point Likert; keep response format consistent across subscales. For flow experience measurement, Involvement/Arousal and Mastery together approximate the core dimensions of Csikszentmihalyi's flow state; for a more complete flow instrument, pair with Jackson & Marsh (1996) Flow State Scale.
Unger, L.S., & Kernan, J.B. (1983). On the meaning of leisure: An investigation of some determinants of the subjective experience. Journal of Consumer Research, 9(4), 381–392.
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