Scheduled for Leisure and Recreation Free Communications, Thursday, April 1, 2004, 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM, Convention Center: 209


Leisure and Recreation Service Quality of the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong

Joyce Chan, Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China, Siu Yin Cheung, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China and Jennifer Y. Mak, Marshall University, Huntington, WV

According to Sports Participation Survey of the Hong Kong Sports Development Board (2001), it showed an increasing trend in adult spending on sport and recreation. Almost half (46%) of adult respondents spent HK$3393 per capita and total expenditure of HK$8.8 billion on sports-related goods or services within 12 months. As the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong seriously to assess how well we are meeting, anticipating, and delighting members our focus should be on understanding their needs and fulfilling their expectations. The purpose of this study was to examine the members' expectation and perception on the service quality of the Recreation and Sports Department at the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong. The questionnaire was adapted from the SERQVAL (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985) and QUESC (Kim, 1995). Data were collected from 562 respondents (male =195, female 344) with an age range of 11 to 80. The data were analyzed by using descriptive analyses, paired t-tests and 2X4X3 factorial analyses. Results indicated that gap scores on 17 out of 33 items were found to be significantly differences. Significant differences were also found in 6 out of 11 dimensions (ambiance, employee attitude, information available, price, and ease of mind) and overall service quality. There were no significant differences in members' perception among gender, age and income. However, a significant difference was found between members' expectation and their income level [F (422) = 2.16, p<.05]. Members' monthly income over HK$30,000 (US$3,850) have higher expectation then members' monthly income less than HK$30,000. This is a first of its kind research study evaluates service quality of the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong. This provides a channel to listen to the voice of the customer and assist the managers to improve the service quality by pinpointing areas that need managerial actions.


Keyword(s): administration/mgmt, international issues, recreation programming

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