ABSTRACT

Purpose

The study explores the perceptions of users towards service quality in public sports centres in England. As highly specialised fitness facilities gain popularity in the UK and multipurpose facilities with a broad range of services face new challenges in creating sustainable sports participation, the study focuses on the regular users of gyms in the sports centres.

Methodology

An adapted version of the Scale of Service Quality in Recreational Sport (SSQRS) was used to measure how service quality in gyms as a distinct sporting/physical activity context was perceived by regular fitness suite users. Data were collected via an online survey from a random sample of 349 customers who had visited fitness suites regularly in 1 of 12 public sports centres in England.

Findings

A strong linear relationship between the importance attached by respondents to different elements of service quality and the perceived performance of those elements was found to exist. Physical environment, particularly “equipment”, was perceived as the most important aspect of quality by regular gym users, while the performance of “equipment” and “ambience” exhibited the strongest relationship with overall perceived service quality.

Practical implications

The findings from this study provide implications for facility managers who should closely monitor quality in the physical environment of fitness suites and implement remedial measures where required.

Research contribution

The originality of this study is that it considers for the first time fitness suites (i.e. gyms) as a distinct sporting setting in public sports centres to investigate customers’ perceptions of service quality.

中文翻译：

---

英国公共体育中心体育馆普通用户的感知服务质量

摘要

目的

该研究探讨了用户对英格兰公共体育中心服务质量的看法。随着高度专业化的健身设施在英国的流行以及具有广泛服务范围的多功能设施在创造可持续的体育参与方面面临新的挑战，该研究的重点是体育中心体育馆的常规用户。

方法

改版的《休闲运动服务质量量表》（SSQRS）用于衡量普通健身套件用户如何感知健身房作为不同体育/体育活动背景的服务质量。通过在线调查收集了来自349个客户的随机样本的数据，这些客户定期访问了英格兰12个公共体育中心中的1个健身套房。

发现

发现受访者对服务质量的不同要素的重视程度与这些要素的感知性能之间存在很强的线性关系。普通体育馆用户认为物理环境，特别是“设备”是质量的最重要方面，而“设备”和“环境”的表现则与总体感知服务质量之间存在最密切的关系。

实际影响

这项研究的发现为设施管理人员提供了启示，他们应密切监视健身套房物理环境中的质量并在需要时采取补救措施。

研究贡献

这项研究的独创性在于，它首次将健身套件（即体育馆）视为公共体育中心的独特运动场所，以调查客户对服务质量的看法。