A loyalty model according to membership longevity of low-cost fitness center: quality, value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention

Revista de Psicología del Deporte. 2016, Vol 25, Suppl 1, pp. 107-110 ISSN: 1132-239X ISSNe: 1988-5636 Universitat de les Illes Balears Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Correspondencia: Jerónimo García-Fernández. Departamento de Educación Física y Deporte. Universidad de Sevilla. C/ Pirotecnia, s/n, 41013, Sevilla (España). E-mail: [email protected] * Departamento de Educación Física y Deporte. Universidad de Sevilla. ** Departamento de Educación en Internet. Universidad Internacional de La Rioja. *** Sport Management Department. West Virginia University Artículo invitado con revisión. A loyalty model according to membership longevity of low-cost fitness center: quality, value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention Jerónimo García-Fernández*, Pablo Gálvez-Ruíz**, Jesús Fernández-Gavira* and Luisa Vélez-Colón*** A LOYALTY MODEL ACCORDING TO MEMBERSHIP LONGEVITY OF LOW-COST FITNESS CENTER: QUALITY, VALUE, SATISFACTION, AND BEHAVIORAL INTENTION KEYWORDS: Perceived quality, Perceived value, Satisfaction, Loyalty, Fitness center. ABSTRACT: Client loyalty is crucial to fitness centers. Studies have analyzed the relationship between different subjective variables and consumer behavior intentions in these types of sport services within fitness centers. Nevertheless, few are those who have studied the influence of such variables on objective measures like membership longevity. For this reason, the objective of this study was to examine a loyalty model by means of the relationship between perceived quality, satisfaction, and future intentions with regard to client loyalty. The study counted with 15820 client (8462 women and 7358 men) participants who answered an online questionnaire. A descriptive analysis, factorial confirmatory and multi-group analysis were conducted. The findings demonstrate a valid and reliable model where relationships among the variables are positive and significant, with differences among the groups according to the longevity of membership. The fitness industry continues to grow worldwide as indicated by IHRSA (2014). Comprehensively, Europe is the most rentable market with the largest growth in practitioners. Furthermore, Europe is among the markets with most growth, having Spain as one of the countries with the greatest growth in consumers of fitness centers and with the greatest penetration in the industry (European Commission, 2014; IHRSA, 2014; Ministerio de Educación, Cultura, y Deporte, 2015). Yet the principle problem of this market lies in the poor loyalty of its clients (García- Fernández, Bernal-García, Fernández-Gavira and Vélez-Colón, 2014) understanding that the stronger the loyalty the greater financial expense for the client (García-Fernández, Gálvez-Ruiz, Bernal-García and Vélez-Colón, 2016). Precisely, to examine loyalty, studies have been conducted utilizing subjective measurements of behavior (Theodorakis, Howat, Ko and Avourdiadou, 2014) however, there is a dearth studies with objective measures. Among the variables proven to be precursors of client loyalty are quality, perceived value and satisfaction. Precisely in the fitness sector some studies have positively related percieved qualtiy with perceived value; as is the case of Theodorakis et al. (2014) and Nuviala, Grao-Cruces, Pérez-Turpín and Nuviala (2012). Other works have related perceived quality to satisfaction, such as the research of Avourdiadou and Theodorakis (2014), Hsueh and Su (2013), and Tsitskari, Antoniadis and Costa (2014). Similarly, satisfaction has also been positively related with perceived value evidenced by testing with clients from Greek (Theodorakis et al., 2014) and Australian fitness centers (Murray and Howat, 2002). Theodorakis et al. (2014) and Avourdiadou and Theodorakis (2014) tested positively the relationship between satisfaction and future intentions. Lastly, there are positive evidences between perceived value and loyalty of clients of fitness centers. This is evidenced in the work of Murray and Howat (2002) and Calabuig, Núñez-Pomar, Prado-Gascó and Añó (2014). Nevertheless, although in this sector the mentioned relationships have been measured, the model of loyalty according to client membership longevity, an objective measure of loyalty, has yet to be assessed. Based on these evidences, the objective of the current work was to examine a model of loyalty by means of the relationship between perceived quality, perceived value, satisfaction, and future intentions, according to the longevity of membership of the clients. Method Participants The sample was composed of 15.820 clients (8.462 women and 7.358 men) from 54 low-cost fitness centers, where 5.7% (n = 908) were less than 20 years old; between 21-30 years of age were 33.6% of the participants (n= 5313); 29.7% (n= 4698) were between 31-40 years; participants of 41-50 years occupied 21% (n= 3316) of the population, and 10.1% (n= 1585) were over 50 years old. Participants were grouped according to the longevity of their membership in the fitness center yielding five groups. Scales Items G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) M (SD) Q I1 6.55 (2.83) 6.35 (2.79) 6.35 (2.75) 6.37 (2.72) 5.90 (2.78) I2 6.79 (2.67) 6.64 (2.62) 6.58 (2.59) 6.60 (2.55) 6.07 (2.62) I3 6.02 (2.74) 5.89 (2.71) 5.82 (2.69) 5.78 (2.67) 5.57 (2.62) P1 6.37 (2.89) 6.25 (2.97) 6.41 (2.89) 6.46 (2.88) 6.31 (2.88) P2 6.68 (2.80) 6.56 (2.88) 6.67 (2.77) 6.70 (2.74) 6.47 (2.78) PR1 5.96 (2.82) 5.78 (2.82) 5.82 (2.82) 5.85 (2.76) 5.63 (2.76) PR2 5.99 (2.73) 5.81 (2.72) 5.85 (2.67) 5.79 (2.65) 5.49 (2.68) M1 6.56 (2.69) 6.42 (2.66) 6.35 (2.65) 6.30 (2.60) 5.65 (2.71) PV V1 6.89 (2.81) 6.66 (2.83) 6.78 (2.76) 6.71 (2.73) 6.35 (2.80) V2 6.95 (2.92) 6.72 (2.96) 6.88 (2.90) 6.88 (2.83) 6.50 (2.94) S S 6.81 (2.82) 6.61 (2.88) 6.72 (2.81) 6.63 (2.79) 6.35 (2.89) FI FI 6.84 (2.78) 6.64 (2.80) 6.72 (2.75) 6.67 (2.70) 6.32 (2.80) The first group (G1) was made up of those with less than three months of membership (n= 3.466), the second group (G2) consisted of those with a membership duration ranging from three months to six months (n= 2,308), the third group (G3) clustered participants whose membership ranged from six to 12 months (n = 3.040), group four (G4) represented with a membership range of one to two years (n= 4,111), and finally the fifth group (G5) was made up of participants with membership greater than two years (n= 2.895). Instrument An online ad hoc questionnaire was used including longevity of membership in months, eight items for perceived quality (Q) (Brady and Cronin, 2001), two items for perceived value (PV) (Zeithaml, 1988), one item for satisfaction (S) (Cronin, Brady and Hult, 2000), and one item for future intentions (FI) (Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman, 1996). A ten point Likert scale was used (1, completely disagree; 10, completely agree). All ítems have been utilized in related studies in clients of fitness centers. (Avourdiadou and Theodorakis, 2014; Theodorakis et al., 2014). Proceedure Managers of all low-cost fitness centers in Spain were contacted via email (Valcarce, López and García, 2016). In order to increase the number of participating centers the contact was repeated after two weeks. Sixty fitness centers demonstrated an interest in participating. Initially, the researchers sent each center the objectives of the study and the protocol to follow. The protocol consisted of the administrator with the highest position to send the questionnaire via email to all clients. Finally 54 fitness centers participated in the study. Once administrators sent the emails, the responses to the online questionnaires were directed to a data base created specifically for this study. The data was collected from October 1, 2015 through November 30, 2015 and obtained a response rate of 9.7% of the total number of questionnaires sent. Data analysis First, a descriptive analysis of the measures of the items for each group was conducted (G1, G2, G3, G4, G5). Second, the reliability and validity of the scale of perceived quality and value were tested through the composite reliability (CR), average variance extracted (AVE), and the discriminant validity. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess the structural model for each group, using the ratio of chi-square to its degrees of freedom, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), comparative- of-fit index (CFI), goodness-of-fit index (GFI), and root mean error of approximation (RMSEA). Third, a structural multigroup model was estimated to test the research hypotheses, comparing the relationships working with membership longevity taking into account the five groups previously described. Results Descriptive results, in general, did not demonstrate high values (Table 1). These were similar among the five groups with regards to longevity of membership although it is important to state that the lowest valuation came from the group with the longest membership (G5). The composed reliability scored at .96 for the perceived quality as well as for the value scale while the median extracted variance was of .74 and .92, respectively. The square correlation was of .88, thus accepting the discriminant validity. Furthermore, the results of the structural model showed an acceptable fit to the data. The TLI, CFI and GFI values in all models were greater than recommended threshold .90 (Hair, Black, Babin and Anderson, 2009), and RMSEA index results suggesting good fit too, with values under .06 (Byrne, 2000). Finally, in regards to the hypothesized relationships, all demonstrated a significant lineal effect. The relationships of the standardized solutions among the latent variables were positive and significant in all groups. Specifically, the standard coefficients of regression demonstrating a stronger relationship between perceived quality and perceived value, with values (β) between .93 (G4 and G5) and .95 (G1). With regard to the relationship between these two variables with satisfaction, they demonstrated to be very similar. Looking at the relationship with perceived quality (see Table 2), the strongest relationship was found in G3 (β= .54). In the case of perceived value the strongest relationship was in G2 and G4 (β= .48). Yet, the influence on future intention, satisfaction had a stronger relationship than value. Satisfaction obtained values between .64 (G4) and .74 (G2) while value obtained lower values ranging from .22 (G2) and .31. (G4). Jerónimo García-Fernández, Pablo Gálvez-Ruíz, Jesús Fernández-Gavira and Luisa Vélez-Colón 108 Revista de Psicología del Deporte. 2016, Vol 25, Suppl 1, pp. 107-110 Note: M= Median; SD = Standard deviation Table 1. Descriptive statistics (median and typical deviation) Path βG1 βG2 βG3 βG4 βG5 C -> PV .95** .94** .94** .93** .93** C -> S .50** .45** .54** .45** .46** PV -> S .44** .48** .39** .48** .46** PV -> FI .25** .22** .23** .31** .28** S -> FI .70** .74** .72** .64** .68** Discussion The objective of the study was to examine a model of loyalty by means of the relationship between perceived quality, perceived value, satisfaction, and future intentions according to the client’s membership longevity. The results show a positive and significant relationship between quality and perceived value (Nuviala et al., 2012; Thedorakis et al., 2014) and satisfaction (Avourdiadou and Theodorakis, 2014; Hsueh and Su, 2013; Tsiskari et al., 2014). Perceived value also obtained positive and significant values (Murray and Howat, 2002; Theodorakis et al., 2014), and future intentions (Calabuig et al., 2014) and satisfaction with future intentions (Avourdiadou and Thedorakis, 2014). The findings indicate that the model of loyalty is significant and different in every case according to longevity of membership. Precisely, the strength of the relationship depends on the relationship among the variables and the longevity of the client’s membership. As explained, the findings show that the strongest relationships are found first among quality and perceived value, second, among satisfaction and future intentions. Interestingly, the groups of participants with the shortest membership time showed the strongest relationship among the variables. The present study fills a void in the literature of fitness center client loyalty, however it has some limitations. Among the limitations is not have used a greater number of items to evaluate the different variable analyzed. Furthermore, the study examines consumers of a specific model in the fitness sector for which it cannot be extrapolated to all models within this sector. These limitations offer more possibilities for investigation. First, increasing the number of questions per variable which may allow the incorporation of more variables which could result in client loyalty. Second, the investigation and analysis of the model and methodology in other emerging models within the fitness sector such as research on personal training, or premium fitness centers characterized by high monthly fees. A loyalty model according to membership longevity of low-cost fitness center: quality, value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention 109 Revista de Psicología del Deporte. 2016, Vol 25, Suppl 1, pp. 107-110 Note: p<. 001***; p< .01**; p<. 05*. Table 2. Coefficients of standardized regression UN MODELO DE FIDELIDAD SEGÚN LA PERMANENCIA DE CLIENTES EN CENTROS DE FITNESS LOW-COST: CALIDAD, VALOR, SATISFACCIÓN E INTENCIONES DE COMPORTAMIENTO PALABRAS CLAVE: Calidad percibida, Valor percibido, Satisfacción, Fidelidad, Centro de fitness. RESUMEN: Debido a que la fidelidad del cliente es un tema crucial en los centros de fitness, algunos trabajos han analizado la relación entre diferentes variables subjetivas y las intenciones de comportamiento del consumidor en estos servicios deportivos. No obstante, son pocos los que han estudiado cómo repercuten dichas variables según medidas objetivas como la permanencia. Por esta razón, el objetivo de este trabajo fue examinar un modelo de fidelidad mediante la relación entre la calidad percibida, el valor percibido, la satisfacción y las intenciones futuras según la permanencia de los clientes. Para ello se contó con la participación de 15820 clientes (8462 mujeres y 7358 hombres) que contestaron a un cuestionario on-line. Se realizaron análisis descriptivos, factorial confirmatorio y análisis multigrupo. 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