Dr. Kono's research revolves around the relationship between leisure engagement and subjective well-being. Specifically, he is interested in answering: How does leisure engagement increase participants' subjective well-being and why? He also examines this issue from a cross-cultural and non-Western perspective by bringing in non-Western/English concepts such as ikigai (life worth living in Japanese). In addition, Dr. Kono has studied predictors of quality leisure engagement such as leisure constraints and constraint negotiation. He also utilizes a wide range of both qualitative (e.g., grounded theory, photo-elicitation) and quantitative (e.g., experiments, structural equation modelling) methods to address the said topics. Recently, Dr. Kono has received federal research grants to develop and conduct digital leisure education interventions to enhance the well-being and mental health of university students. He has also engaged community-based research to identify barriers to the pursuit of well-being and social integration faced by immigrant youths in rural communities. Through these projects, his research has engaged with equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in multiple ways.

Publications:

Kono, S., Cho, S.-J., Nagata, S., & Dattilo, J. (2025). Effects of online leisure education on leisure behaviors and experiences among university students. Journal of Leisure Research, 56(3), 381-403. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.2024.2305767 

Gui, J., Kono, S., He, Y., & Noels, K. (2025). Basic psychological needs satisfaction in leisure and academics of Chinese international students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Leisure Sciences, 47(4), 891-910. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2023.2167027

BD Funded Projects

• Co-Creating a Holistic Well-Being Support App with Rural Immigrant Youths in Alberta (TRS1 1.1.15)