In the U.S., collegiate athletic events are part of the nation's popular culture and help to build the culture of participating institutions. According to Roy, Graeff, and Harmon (2008), collegiate athletic events, especially at the NCAA Division - I, have significant financial and psychological impacts on three key stakeholder groups (i.e., students, alumni, and community residents). In this regard, the purpose of this study was to find out the influential levels of service quality factors on spectator satisfaction and revisit intention at the collegiate basketball events.
Method
For this study, a total of 522 subjects were randomly selected at three different men's basketball events held in the southeastern United States. Onsite survey was administered for data collection process. Every third person entering the main gate was asked to complete a survey on a voluntary basis. The survey consists of four sections (i.e., service quality, spectator satisfaction, revisit intention, and demographic scale.
Analysis/Results
Findings from analysis of variance regarding service quality and the demographic variables indicated that based on the respondent's age levels, there was statistically significant difference (F (5,546) = 3.48, p = .00). Multiple regression analysis was utilized in order to investigate the relationships among service quality, spectator satisfaction, and revisit intention. The results of multiple regression analyses indicated that service quality were significantly associated with spectator satisfaction (R2 = 0.624, F (5,516) = 292.11, p = .05). In addition, 49% of variance in spectators' revisit intention was explained by the overall service quality factors (R2 = 0.491, F (5,516) = 99.49, p = .05). For more detail, the regression model considered revisit intention to be the dependent variable and the five factors of service quality to be independent variables indicated that the factors of tangibles (ƒ" = .264, p = .05) and assurance (ƒ" = .315, p = .05) showed the strongest effects on the spectator satisfaction.
Conclusions
Findings such as these may allow managers to have a better understanding of the service quality factors that influence spectator's satisfaction and revisit intention at the collegiate athletic events. In response to those findings above, segmenting spectators by demographic variables should be considered for marketing efforts to be targeted appropriately. In this presentation, more of findings from this investigation will be discussed. Finally, implications will also be provided in order to give a sense of service marketing strategies for the administrators and managers involved in the collegiate athletic programs.
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