Customers’ Expectations of Service in Greek Fitness Centers

importance of different models

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Customers’ expectations of service in Greek fitness centers
Gender, age, type of sport center, and motivation differences
Yanni Afthinos
University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Expectations of service in Greek fitness centers 245

Nicholas D. Theodorakis
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, and

Pantelis Nassis
University of Athens, Athens, Greece
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

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