International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences

search-icon

Service Quality among Sports and Fitness Practitioners in Malaysia: A Case Study

Open access
The establishment of a fitness center is a matter of stress and serious risk to every manager and fitness trainer. To encourage participation in physical activity, firstly, it is vital to educate the manager and fitness trainer to perform their highest quality of services. Sports and recreation programs from any education institution should be able to groom their student on how to deliver the knowledge and perform the best quality of services to the people. Generally, the measurement of service quality to the fitness industry in Malaysia is still bland. The quality of an organization's service reflects the extent to which the customer's needs and satisfaction can be met. In addition, the incidence of illness among people today is associated with unhealthy lifestyle such as lack of exercise, smoking, eating disorders and drug abuse. This may be due to lack of emphasis on psychosocial aspects and health promotion. In this regard, the study aims to measure the quality of services in selected fitness centers in the state of Perlis. This study will serve as useful information to fitness center managers based on the satisfaction of the gym users, especially in terms of health and fitness. The fitness centers are Fitness @ Ku, Rock Fitness, Amzex Fitness and Unicity Fitness in Perlis, the most northern state of Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 280 respondents were randomly selected from the target group. The instrument used in this study was SERVQUAL which has five components. The data was inferentially analyzed (independent t-test and One-Way ANOVA) using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 22.0. Based on gender and family income of the respondents, the study found significant result on service quality of the participated fitness centers.
Afthinos, Y., Theodorakis, N. D. Dan Nassis, P. (2005). Customers’ expectations of service in Greek fitness centres. Managing Service Quality, 15(3): 245-258.
Armstrong, G. and Kotler, P. 2006. Marketing: An introduction. 8th Edition. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
Brislin, R. W., Lonner, W. J. Dan Thorndike, R. M. (1973). Cross-Cultural Research Methods. New York: John Wiley & Sons, CA: Sage Publications.
Lotz, C. (2009). Customer Service Quality at Selected Commercial Health and Fitness Centres in Kwazulu-Natal. Questionnaire for service quality in fitness centres.
Dhurup, M., Singh, P. C. & Surujlal, J. (2006). Customer service quality at commercial health and fitness centres. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation, 28(2): 39-54.
Tonot, H. & Ibrahim, A. (2014). Penilaian Kualiti Perkhidmatan di One Stop Center (OSC) Kolej Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Selangor (KUIS).
Kandampully, J. (2002). Services management: The new paradigm in hospitality. Frenchs Forest. NSW: Pearson Education Australia.
Kim, D., Kim, S. Y. (1995). QUESC: An instrument for assessing the service quality of sport centers in Korea. J. Sport Manage, 9: 208-220.
Lovelock, C. & Gummesson, E. (2004). Whither services marketing? In search of a new paradigm and fresh perspectives. Journal of Service Research, 7(1): 20-41.
MacKay & Crompton, (1988). Definisi kualiti perkhidmatan. Marketing Quarterly, 9(4): 194-202.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implication for future research. Journal of Marketing, 49: 41-50.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64 (1): 12-40.
Robert, G. C., Spink, K. S., & Pemberton, C. L. (1999). Learning Experiences in Sport Psychology. A practical guide to help students understand the major concepts in sport psychology. United States of America. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Robinson, S. (1990). Measuring service quality: current thinking and future requirements. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 58: 111-124.
Svensson, Lars, E. O. (2003). Escaping from a Liquidity Trap and Deflation: The Foolproof Way and Others, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 17(4): 145-166.
Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J. & Gremler, D. D. (2006). Services Marketing: Intergrating Customer Focus across the Firm. 4th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
In-Text Citation: (Pa, Salamuddin, Zin, & Bakar, 2019)
To Cite this Article: Pa, W. A. M. W., Salamuddin, N., Zin, N. M., & Bakar, A. Y. A. (2019). Service Quality among Sports and Fitness Practitioners in Malaysia: A Case Study. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 9(7), 273–284.