Customers’ expectations of service in Greek fitness centers: Gender, age, type of sport center, and motivation differences

Abstract

Purpose

Aims to identify the aspects of service delivery deemed most important by the users of Greek fitness centers and to examine whether their desires differ according to the type of fitness center they use as well as according to certain demographic and motivation patterns.

Design/methodology/approach

The study was based on the QUESC instrument developed by Kim and Kim. A total of 346 individuals who were members of public and private fitness centers in Athens/Greece completed the questionnaires. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was conducted for each item of the instrument in order to examine whether different groups had different desires for service delivery. Where a difference between group means was identified, Duncan's multiple range tests were performed to determine which means were significantly different.

Findings

The aspects of service delivery desired more by sports centers users refer to the tangible elements of the facilities, the personnel attitudes and abilities, attributes related to the cost of participation and items related to the programming and scheduling of services provided. The findings also suggest that significant differences of desires exist between males and females as well as between users of public and private sports centers.

Research limitations/implications

The sample of the fitness centers was convenient rather than statistical. The reason was that there is no official agency in Greece with a complete list of fitness centers.

Practical implications

This paper is a useful source of information for fitness centers management to identify their customers’ wants, take action to improve service delivery, and establish standards of performance to address the identified customers’ needs.

Originality/value

This paper sought to address questions on the way certain demographic variables and patterns of use might affect sports centers’ users’ desires, so that an information package can be applied in making marketing decisions for improving sports centers service delivery.

Citation

Afthinos, Y., Theodorakis, N.D. and Nassis, P. (2005), "Customers’ expectations of service in Greek fitness centers: Gender, age, type of sport center, and motivation differences", Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 245-258. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604520510597809