Ali Moattar; Sedigheh Eslami; Hamid Ghasemi
Abstract
In recent years, with the intensification of competition in the field of sports, serious attention has been paid to sports marketing. Sports clubs serve customers with the aim of returning customers. Studies have shown that the desire to return a customer is related to their level of satisfaction. On ...
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In recent years, with the intensification of competition in the field of sports, serious attention has been paid to sports marketing. Sports clubs serve customers with the aim of returning customers. Studies have shown that the desire to return a customer is related to their level of satisfaction. On the other hand, the level of custemers satisfaction is determined by the quality of the services provided. In fact, nowadays, quality is defined by the custemer’s demand, and the customer’s perceptions and expections are considered the main determinants of quality. The purpose of this study was to determine the moderating role of social media in relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and customers' behavioral intention in swimming clubs.This research is applied, descriptive and correlational. The statistical population of this research was the customers of swimming clubs in Tehran. Sample size was determined by Cochran formula. Cluster and random sampling was performed to select 384 persons. The service quality questionaire (Liu, 2008), (Liu investigated the validity and reliability of the questionnaire with exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Also, Mahmoudi et al. (2014) using the KMO index and Bartlett's test obtained the validity of the questionnaire at 0.872 and 0.001, respectively, and obtained the reliability of the questionnaire at 0.91 using Cronbach's alpha coefficient.), customer satisfaction questionaire (Chen, 2005), (This questionnaire is standard and Chen considered it valid and reliable. Also, Fasnaqari et al. (2016) evaluated its reliability with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.87.), customers' behavioral intention questionaire (Parasuman, 1991), (This questionnaire is standard and has been used in many researches and its validity and reliability have been confirmed. Kurdlo et al. (2015) reported the reliability of the questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.92.) And researcher-made social media role questionnaire were used for data collection. The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed again by the supervisor and a number of experts in the field of research. The reliability of the questionnaires was evaluated again by factor loadings, Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability, and mean extracted variance. In this research, the data obtained from the research questionnaire was used to evaluate the research measurement model, including the factor loading and t-statistic value for the questionnaire questions, Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability and mean variance extracted from SmartPLS software. Also, in order to evaluate the structural model of the research, including the causal and moderating relationships between the research variables, the structural equations method was used using SmartPLS software, as well as the correlation test with SPSS software. The results of Spearman correlation test showed that the quality of service has a significant direct relationship with customer satisfaction and customers' behavioral intention. Customer satisfaction also had a significant direct relationship with customers' behavioral intention. The results of the structural equation method showed that social media moderates the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. Social media also moderates the relationship between customer satisfaction and customers' behavioral intention. It seems that the quality of swimming club services, including health and welfare facilities, safety, responsible behavior of employees, as well as responsiveness, commitment and empathy of employees regarding swimming club services, improves customer satisfaction. On the other hand, the quality of swimming club services can affect customer loyalty.The quality of service with all its dimensions, which includes facilities, appropriate services and appropriate behavior of employees, is effective on the loyalty of customers and their decision to attend again; For example, it is important for customers to see that swimming instructors act responsibly towards proper swimming training and that their training is accompanied by the empathy of customers. This case is especially effective in relation to customers' decisions regarding the desire to attend swimming lessons with their children. On the other hand, whenever customers are satisfied with the swimming club, its facilities, services, and the behavior of the staff, they have a better perception of the club and this issue is effective in deciding to attend again. In fact, customers should be sure that the equipment is sufficient to continue their presence in the club. This confidence is formed by comparing different clubs and also the mental prerequisites of people regarding the necessary equipment. It is also necessary for people to feel comfortable in the club; This feeling of comfort is related to the design of the structure and components of the club, the process of training and swimming in the club, the training process, the feeling of comfort with the staff and trainers, and these parameters are effective in the decision of customers to attend the club again. On the other hand, social networks have helped to understand what customers expect from services, and customers of organizations that use social networks have a better understanding of the services provided. There is a significant difference between the perceived value in the two positions of buyer and seller; Social media facilitates the communication and interaction between the buyer and the seller, and in this way, better understanding of the quality of service expected by the customers from the buyer's position and vice versa. As a result, the seller can provide his services with the quality expected by the customers and in this way increase the satisfaction of the customers. In fact, by helping the effective communication and interaction of the users and the seller, the social media helps to bring closer their perception of the quality and quantity of the service and as a result to improve the quality of the service and in this way it moderates the effect of the quality of the service on the satisfaction of the customers. Also, by improving the image of the club as one of the components of satisfaction, social networks can adjust the relationship between customer satisfaction and the desire of customers to attend swimming clubs. Tuse social media cause more, better and faster interaction between the club and customers. It is suggested that the clubs conduct surevys and receive users’ opinions related to the services, so that clubs can provide the services desired services to the customers.
