Factors associated with service quality in fitness centers based on the SERVQUAL model

Abstract

The objective of this quantitative study is to measure the factors associated with service quality at fitness centers based on the SERVQUAL model. For that purpose, this work proposes a structural model that considers the 5 dimensions in the SERVQUAL model, which was analyzed to evaluate its explanatory power for such type of services. The sample was composed of 279 members of training centers. The collection instrument was a questionnaire that contained 20 items grouped into 5 constructs: reliability, tangible assets/infrastructure, responsibility, provided service (in terms of safety), and expected service (in terms of empathy). The results show that the proposed model can significantly explain the phenomenon under study because the 10 hypothetical relationships suggested in this article exceeded the significance threshold. In particular, the association between reliability and tangible assets reached the highest value, a Cramér’s V coefficient of 0.806. This evidence supports the use of SERVQUAL-based models to measure the quality of sports services.

Keywords

• SERVQUAL model
• sports services measurement
• service quality measurement
• fitness center