The effect of service quality of university sport facilities on students' affective and behavioral outcomes

Abstract

Supportive sport facilities in universities are necessary to encourage students to be actively involved in sports. The purpose of this study was to investigate students’ perceptions and expectations of sport facilities in universities, and its relations to satisfaction and subsequent behavioral intention. Data were collected from a large university in Western Singapore from 97 males and 82 females through online survey. The SERVQUAL scale (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988) with five service quality dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) was used using 7-point Likert scale. Sematic differential scale was used to measure student satisfaction with their school’s sport facilities (Cole, Crompton, & Willson, 2002) whereas a 7-point Likert scale was used to evaluate their behavioral intention (Zeithaml, Bitner, & Gremler, 1996). During the preliminary analyses, the responsiveness dimension as well as one item in empathy was removed due to low reliability. Baron and Kenny’s (1986) procedures for testing mediation effects were employed to investigate the mediation effects of satisfaction on the relationships between the individual service dimensions and behavioral intention. Results from the study revealed that while satisfaction played as partial mediators in the relationships between tangibles/reliability and intention, satisfaction was a full mediator in the relationship between assurance/empathy and intention. These results recommend that practitioners should not ignore service quality of tangibles and reliability, coupled with satisfaction since it is a partial mediator in order to improve students’ behavioral intention. Practitioners could improve the outlook and functionality of gym equipment and deliver promises set to students promptly. On the other hand, practitioners could focus more on satisfaction instead of assurance and empathy constructs since satisfaction is a full mediator. Therefore, practitioners could provide better knowledge (e.g. prevention of injury, dietary recommendation) and supportive facilities (e.g. showering, longer opening hours, free car park) to increase students’ satisfaction.