Korea Institute of Sport Science The Influence of Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention in the Korean Professional Basketball League Hyun-Duck Kim a , David LaVetter a , & Jeoung-Hak Lee b
Arkansas State University, USA a , & Kyung Hee University, Korea b Achieving success as a sport organization has been linked to customer satisfaction and repurchase intention achieved through higher quality service (Chelladurai, 1999). Unfortunately, little attention has been paid to the concept of service quality and the Korean male professional basketball league. Therefore, this study was primarily designed to identify the effects of five factors of service quality on customer satisfaction, and repurchase intention for spectators in attendance at the Korean professional basketball league. The questionnaire utilized for measuring perceptions of service quality included the following factors: (1) tangibles, (2) reliability, (3) responsiveness, (4) assurance, and (5) empathy as identified by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988). Each of the instruments measuring outcome variables including customer satisfaction and repurchase intention had five items. The findings of analysis of variance indicated that demographic variables including education, income, and season ticket status were significantly related to the mean levels of service quality. The results from the regression model considered the five factors of service quality to be independent variables and customer satisfaction, the dependent variable, indicated that the factors of reliability and assurance were the most influential factors on overall customer satisfaction. This finding indicates that the performances of service encounters have substantial potential for making a significant impression on customer perceptions of service attributes at the professional sport event. The regression model involving the five factors of service quality and repurchase intention revealed that the factors of tangibles and assurance were identified as the most critical related to overall repurchase intention. key words: Service quality, Customer satisfaction, Repurchase intention 1) Received : 27 September 2005, Accepted : 12 June 2006, Correspondence : Jeoung Hak Lee (leex0472@khu.ac.kr) 40 H. D. Kim et al. Introduction Services provided at a sport setting are quite different from other forms of services (Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2000). Mullin, et. al.s study described a sport product as any bundle or combination of qualities, processes, and capabilities (goods, services, and/or ideas) that a buyer expects will deliver wanted satisfaction (p. 12). In fact, all products consist of both tangible and intangible components that contribute to the core benefit. Berry and Parasuraman (1991) provided a superior explanation for distinguishing a service from a tangible product. They acknowledged that if the core benefit source is more intangible than tangible, it would be considered a service (Berry & Parasuraman, 1991). In accordance with their description, many sport and recreation organizations are involved in the production of services rather than that of goods. In a sport setting, Stotlar (1993) emphasized that professional and amateur sports teams, health and fitness centers, arenas, and country clubs are all engaged primarily in providing sport-related services (p. 22). Service providers should develop a professional attitude to maximize the benefits of their business. The needs and wants of sport customers are constantly changing and unpredictable, making quality services in sport more elusive than most realize. Thus, sport marketers involved in the basketball league should understand the importance of providing quality services to their customers and the causal relationships with relevant constructs such as service quality, customer satisfaction, and repurchase intention(Lee, et al, 2000). In the professional Korean basketball league, fan attendance is a major source of revenue which is heavily linked to concession sales at an event. By understanding what factors are engaged in the formation of the overall service in the service context, sports marketers are able to provide a quality service experience for their customers. As a brief descriptor of the league, there are nine host cities which continually provide their fans with healthy, fun filled, and family oriented entertainment for people of all ages in South Korea (KBL, 2005). The Korean basketball league has experienced rapid growth with an increasing number of spectators, media channels, printed publications, and news coverage as the popularity of the game of basketball increased, especially in the past decade in Asia (Kim, Shin, & Song, 2005). Due to the increasing popularity, the league has attracted an ever increasing number of corporate sponsors which make strong The Influence of Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention in the Korean Professional Basketball League 41 financial investments and aggressive marketing efforts (KBL, 2005). However, there is a limited amount of research studies regarding the nature of the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, and repurchase intention due to unique features of a service product in the sport setting (Cho, 2001; Kim et al. 2005; Beck 2005). This study was primarily designed to identify the influence of service quality factors on customer satisfaction and repurchase intention for spectators in attendance at the Korean professional basketball league. Additionally, this study was also designed to measure levels of service quality in terms of a) age, b) gender, c) education, d) income, e) involvement, and f) season ticket holder status. Theoretical Background Service Quality The importance of service has obtained a significant amount of attention by many managers and academic scholars in a variety of fields. Identifying the nature of the relationship between service quality and relevant constructs appears to be advantageous as it assists in the development of better managerial decisions. This realization is reflected by the increasing number of publications devoted to such topics as customer satisfaction, service quality, customer service, and service marketing (e.g., Beck, 2005; Chang, 1998; Choi, 2001; Cho, Lee, & Chon, 2004; Petrick & Backman, 2002). Prior to discussing the concept of service quality and its relationships with other constructs, it is necessary to be concerned with the three fundamental characteristics of a service product. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) stated that, Service quality is an abstract and elusive construct because of three features unique to services: intangibility, heterogeneity, and inseparability of production and consumption (p. 13). Services are different from goods (tangible products) in terms of how they are produced, consumed, and evaluated. First of all, consumers can judge or experience the quality of tangible goods such as a new set of golf clubs and golf balls prior to purchasing those tangible products. However, they are not able to judge the quality of intangible service products such as acquiring the experience in a stadium, new golf resort, hotel, or amusement park. Secondly, services, especially those 42 H. D. Kim et al. involving high labor are heterogeneous: their performance often varies from producer to producer, from customer to customer, and from day to day (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, & Berry, 1990). Lastly, production and consumption of most services are inseparable (Zeithaml et al., 1990). In other words, quality of service is often seen during service delivery, usually in an interaction between the customer and the provider, rather than being engineered at the manufacturing plant, and delivered intact to the customer (Zeithaml et al., 1990). According to Berry and Parasuraman (1991), services are dominated by experience qualities, attributes that can be meaningfully evaluated only after purchase and during production- consumption (p. 7). In addition, customers do not evaluate service quality solely on the outcome of a service. They also consider the process of the service delivered whenever the event is completed (Zeithaml et al., 1990). The definition of service quality may vary and may depend on theoretical assumptions. For instance, service quality has been defined by various academic scholars under their own theoretical assumptions. For instance, Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) who developed the SERVQUAL instrument, which has been most widely adapted as a service quality measurement tool defined perceived service quality as a global judgment, or attitude relating to the superiority of a service (p. 16). Parasuraman et al. (1985) pointed out that the judgment on service quality is a reflection of the degree and direction of discrepancy between consumers perceptions and expectations (p. 1). Asubonteng, McCleary, and Swan (1996), defined service quality as the difference between customers expectations for service performance prior to the service encounter and their perceptions of the service received (p. 64). As discussed earlier, there has been no consensus in defining service quality among researchers engaged in the study of service quality. As a matter of fact, every business is associated with providing service, but depending on the type of business, the portion of service may vary. Berry and Parasuraman (1991) provided a superior explanation for the conceptualization of a service in comparison with tangible goods. In terms of their explanation, if the source of a products core benefit is more intangible than tangible, it would be considered a service (Berry & Parasuraman, 1991). It means that virtually all products are comprised of both tangible and intangible elements that contribute to the core benefit. The central or core products of the Korean basketball League, the game itself and customers service experiences are noticeably more associated with The Influence of Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention in the Korean Professional Basketball League 43 the the intangible product than with the tangible product. Mullin et al. (2000) described several unique features of sport services. First, sport differs from other forms of entertainment because it induces high levels of emotional involvement. Secondly, not only does sport form and strengthen relationships with individual consumers, it also fosters a sense of community in terms of sport marketing. Thus, sport marketers should be able to recognize the central role of social facilitation. Lastly, the needs and wants of sport customers are constantly changing and unpredictable, making sport service more elusive than most realize. According to Milne and McDonald (1999), sport services are categorized into two distinct segments including spectator and participant services. For instance, spectators services (e.g., attending professional basketball games and golf tournaments) deliver various kinds of entertainment values and beneficial opportunities for socialization during the period of the sport event. On the other hand, participant service (e.g., services provided at commercial fitness clubs and private golf courses) delivers a range of beneficial sport experiences that can result in physical, mental, and social benefits for participants. There are various potential motivational factors such as physical fitness, risk-taking, affiliation, stress reduction, and social facilitation for sport participants and spectators (Milne & McDonald, 1999). Recent research by Kelley and Turley (2001) attempted to investigate the importance of service attributes sports fans use when evaluating the quality of the service experienced at sporting events. They initially generated a pool of 35 service attributes of sporting events. In addition to the 35 service attributes, a set of classificatory items was also added on the survey. The sample for this study was collected from fans attending four basketball games during the month of February, including two mens games and two womens games. After the data was collected from the sporting events, a series of statistical methods were utilized for the data analysis. According to the mean importance value for each of the sports marketing service quality attributes, the quality of the game and outcome of the game were identified as the most important attributes in the study (Kelley & Turley, 2001). By conducting an exploratory factor analysis, they (2001) identified nine important dimensions of service quality in sporting events: (1) employees, (2) price, (3) facility access, (4) concessions, (5) fan comfort, (6) game experience, (7) showtime, (8) convenience, and (9) smoking. Theodorakis and Kambitsis (1998) have had success in the measurement of 44 H. D. Kim et al. service quality in the sport setting. They developed the service quality instrument called SPORTSERV, which measures spectators perceptions of service quality in professional sports. The 22 items on the instrument include the following dimensions of service quality: (1) access (four items: for example, parking being available outside the stadium), (2) reliability (four items: for example, the team delivering its services as promised), (3) responsiveness (six items: for example, the teams personnel providing prompt service), (4) tangibles (six items: for example, the stadium being visually appealing), and (5) security (two items: for example, feeling safe inside the stadium). The SPORTSERV scale is a perception-performance based measurement. While it may be comparatively easy to identify adequate dimensions for a specific service, researchers have sought to identify whether there are generic dimensions of service quality that can be identified (Jennifer, 1998). In this regard, the five dimensions of service quality proposed by Parasuraman et al. (1988) have been considered as the most widely accepted dimensions of service quality in various settings. The five dimensions of service quality and their definitions are illustrated in Table 1. Table 1. Five Different Dimensions of Service Quality Dimensions Explanations Tangibles Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel Reliability Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately Responsiveness Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. Assurance Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence Empathy Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers Note. From "SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of s service quality," by Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1988, Journal of Retailing, 64(1), p. 23. Berry and Parasuraman (1991) emphasized that among the five dimensions of service quality, reliability is the foremost criterion customers consider in evaluating a companys quality of service (p. 16). For this study, the five dimensions of service quality proposed by Berry and Parasuraman (1991) have been adopted as the factors of service quality for the assessment of perceived value of service quality. To satisfy the fundamental objectives of a service-based organization, which are The Influence of Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention in the Korean Professional Basketball League 45 the formations of high levels of customer satisfaction and customer retention, Rust and Oliver (1994) suggested that managing service quality basically involves three distinct processes: designing the service product, designing the service environment, and delivering the service (p. 3). It is critical to note that if a service-based organization desires to be successful in the market, the organization should do the smaller things better than their competitors and always be aware of what its employees and customers want and need (Berry & Parasuraman, 1991). Customer Satisfaction Understanding how satisfaction is generated has important implications for management (e.g., product design, service delivery, and marketing mix allocations) (Anderson & Fornell, 1994). Bhote (1996) indicated that: A full 90% of top managers from over 200 of the largest corporations in America were convinced that maximizing customer satisfaction maximized profitability and market share (p. 30) Taylor and Baker (1994) emphasized the importance of understanding the potential determinants of customer satisfaction. The researchers acknowledged that satisfaction is a major outcome of marketing activity and serves to link processes culminating in purchase and consumption with post purchase phenomena such as attitude change, repeat purchase, and loyalty (p. 491). In Anderson and Fornell (1994), customer satisfaction is described as a postconsumption evaluation of perceived quality relative to expected quality (p. 245). In this regard, expectation and perceived quality of a product or a service provides a baseline or anchor for the evaluation of a customers level of satisfaction in terms of the expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm. Therefore, if managers or administrators working in service-based organizations are able to identify how components of a product or service affect customer satisfaction of their customers, they may be able to provide their customers with a better customer experience to maximize customers satisfaction (Petrick & Backman, 2002). Williams (1999) conceptualized consumer satisfaction as a cognitive appraisal of the degree to which a product or service performs relative to a subjective standard. Oliver (1997) indicated that satisfaction is a judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service itself, provided (or is providing) a pleasurable 46 H. D. Kim et al. level of consumption-related fulfillment, including levels of under or over-fulfillment (p. 13). Choi (2001) also mentioned that one simple approach to the concept of customer satisfaction is to understand it as a perceived value (p. 26). Oliver (1997) also pointed out that that satisfaction itself is a desirable end state of consumption or patronization; it is a reinforcing, pleasurable experience (p. 10). With regard to the fundamental concept of satisfaction, Anderson, Fornell, and Lehmann (1994), noted that satisfaction has direct effects on profit through its influence on customer retention. In contrast, dissatisfaction has the effect of increasing the search for alternatives, resulting in a larger brand consideration set than would have existed previously (Anderson et al., 1994). From a managerial perspective, it seems reasonable to be concerned with such questions as, When a customer is dissatisfied, how can he or she be retained? In accordance with the question, Fornell and Wernerfelt (1987) suggested that firms should encourage customers who are dissatisfied with their products or services to complain and then management should respond to complaints in order to retain the customers. One example would be the use of a 1-800 number to handle potential complaints from customers (Anderson & Fornell, 1994). Thus, while preventing dissatisfaction is a worthy and necessary goal, management should be more interested in what it can do to foster satisfaction (Oliver, 1997). Theodorakis et al. (2001) attempted to identify relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction of spectators in professional sports. They found that all five factors of service quality, including: (1) access, (2) reliability, (3) responsiveness, (3) tangibles, and (5) security were positively correlated with satisfaction of the spectators. In the study, the regression model, with the use of all five factors of service quality as predictors, was statistically significant with 40% of overall customer satisfaction explained by service-quality factors. Repurchase Intention Achieving higher levels of customer satisfaction may require a manger to be concerned with such aspects of a service product as price, convenience, or availability. Current literature supports satisfaction as a reliable predictor of repurchase intentions (Bitner, 1990; Cho et al., 2004; Novatorov & Crompton, 2002; Patterson & Spreng, 1997; Tian-Cole et al., 2002; Yoo, Cho, & Chon, 2003). For instance, Tian-Cole et al. (2002), who conducted a study on service quality, The Influence of Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention in the Korean Professional Basketball League 47 satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in the leisure and recreation field, found that visitors future behavioral intentions were expected to be influenced positively by both overall service quality and overall satisfaction. Taylor and Baker (1994) examined the specific nature of the relationship between service quality and consumer satisfaction, as well as how these two constructs combine to impact consumer purchase intentions in four unique service industries including health care, recreation (amusement park) services, transportation (airline), and communications (long-distance telephone) services. The results of their study indicated that satisfaction appeared to moderate the relationship between service quality and purchase intention in the proposed models for the formation of consumers purchase intentions (Taylor & Baker, 1994). According to Petrick (1999), the more loyal a consumer is to a service, the more likely they will be satisfied with the service and the more likely they will repurchase the service (p. 28). Thus, loyalty has been directly related to intention to repurchase. In order to have a better understanding of the concept of repurchase intention, it is critical to be concerned with potential difference between a pre-consumption situation and post-purchase situation. Patterson and Spreng (1997) pointed out that in a pre-consumption situation, customers are more likely to be influenced by such extrinsic indications as brand image, price, store name, and market communication. In contrast, in post-purchase situations, the customers now have the consumption experience and are already familiar with those indications so the customers are less likely to make a purchase decision under the influence of those extrinsic indications. Specifically, the customers in post-purchase situations make a purchase decision on the basis of their own satisfaction/dissatisfaction evaluations. Much research indicated statistically significant and positive relationship between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention. However, the managers in the Korean basketball league should be aware of the fact that even when customers are satisfied, nothing guarantees that they will be repeat customers (Bhote, 1996). Attaining and maintaining high levels of repurchase intention should be an ongoing process or a journey without end (Bhote, 1996). In conclusion, the literature clearly demonstrated positive relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction, and repurchase intentions in various settings. Thus, the managers in the Korean Professional basketball league should be aware of the various factors of service quality (i.e., tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, 48 H. D. Kim et al. empathy, and assurance) that can ultimately predict customers satisfaction and purchase intention.
Methodology Sample and Data Collection Data for this study was collected from the basketball stadium located in South Korea during the professional basketball season of 2004 and 2005. The sample was randomly drawn from spectators attending three mens games held in Seoul during the Korean Professional Basketball League of 2004 and 2005. Mail-back surveys were distributed at the main gate of the basketball stadium. At the gate, every 3 rd
individual was selected and received the survey packet. Participants were asked to complete and mail back the questionnaire by using the pre-paid postage envelope addressed to the researcher. Among the 1000 surveys distributed in the stadium, a total of 745 surveys were returned, accounting for the final response rate of 73%. The sample consisted of about 54% of male and 46% of female respondents. Twenty-two incomplete questionnaires were excluded from the data analysis. Thus, a total of 723 surveys were included for the final data analysis. Their participation in this study was voluntary and the researcher ensured the confidentiality of their responses. Instrument Purification The service quality instrument for this study was modified from Cronin and Taylors (1994) performance-based service quality scale called SERVPERF. The service quality instrument was originally composed of 20 items of five dimensions of service quality. As proposed by Parasuraman et al. (1988), the five dimensions for this study include: (1) tangibles, (2) reliability, (3) responsiveness, (4) assurance, and (5) empathy. Customer satisfaction and repurchase intention questionnaires were modified from Changs (1998) instrument. Each of the questionnaires had five items. A six-point Likert type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly The Influence of Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention in the Korean Professional Basketball League 49 agree) was utilized for scoring the study instrument. Items in the demographic information questionnaire were selected by the researcher to yield descriptive information of the subjects. The demographic information questionnaire includes such questions as gender, age, education, annual income, the number of attendance, and season ticket holder status. A panel of five American experts received the questionnaires to ensure construct validity evidence. For the validation process, a panel of experts were selected because of their extensive amount of knowledge and practical research experience in the field of sport management. As suggested by Chatterji (2002), the panel of experts was asked to perform a structured review of individual items on each factor to ensure their content relevance and content representativeness. The service quality scale modified from SERVPERF (Cronin & Taylor, 1992) was required to be translated from English into Korean for research purposes due to the language difference. The questionnaires written in English were translated by two Korean experts who worked as sport management professors in American Universities. Once the questionnaires had been translated into Korean, the same questionnaires were translated back into English again by other Korean experts. The intention of this back-translation process was to identify potential disagreements on the underlying constructs that were influenced by the translation process as suggested by Bracken & Barona (1991). The translated questionnaires were regarded as representative of the original questionnaire. Pilot Testing and Reliability of Each Factor After the translation process, a pilot test was conducted with 70 spectators from the basketball stadium. The samples for the pilot test were selected as planned for the final data collection. As suggested by Patten (2002), the sample size for a pilot study should be at least 20 respondents. In all, 65 spectators provided their responses to the questionnaires. The results from the pilot test (n = 65) helped to verify the utility, validity, and reliability for the questionnaires. Especially, the potential respondents in the pilot test were asked to provide their comments about the instrument in terms of wording, clarity, scoring routine, and adequacy as recommended by Babbie (1998). Based upon the results of the pilot test, the researcher made slight changes to the items on the instrument. In order to estimate internal consistency among items within each dimension, the 50 H. D. Kim et al. internal consistency reliability coefficient (Cronbachs alpha) was computed on each of the dimensions of the service quality scale, customer satisfaction scale, and repurchase intention scale by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS, v12.0) after the final data was collected. The reliability coefficients for each of the five dimensions of the service quality scale and customer satisfaction and repurchase intention scale were as follows: 1) tangibles (.88), 2) reliability (.90), 3) responsiveness (.79), 4) assurance (.85), 5) empathy (.88), 6) customer satisfaction (.92), and repurchase intention (.73). Since all of the Cronbachs alpha coefficients for the scales were greater than .70, the scales were deemed acceptable as suggested by Cortina (1993). Data Analysis SPSS (v12.0) was used to compute and analyze the data. One-way analysis of variance and post hoc test using Tukeys HSD were primarily used to find out whether significant differences existed among the mean levels of service quality in relation to various demographic variables. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction, and repurchase intention. The five dimension of service quality factor was examined by factor analysis. Additionally, a regression coefficient from multiple regression analysis was primarily used to identify the influential levels that service quality factors have on measures of customer satisfaction. All the statistical significance tests were performed at an alpha level of .05. Results The mean score of the overall service quality was 4.44 with a standard deviation at 0.87. The overall mean score for the service quality scale, including the five service quality factors was calculated by 1) combining the scores of all the items in a scale and 2) dividing the combined scores by the number of items. Among the five dimensions of service quality, the service assurance factor showed the highest mean score of (M = 4.63, SD = 1.04), closely followed by the tangibles factor (M = 4.61, SD = 1.05), the reliability factor (M = 4.58, SD = 1.06), and responsiveness (M = 4.27, SD = .98). The mean score of the customer satisfaction scale was 4.69 The Influence of Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention in the Korean Professional Basketball League 51 (SD = 1.06) whereas the mean score for the repurchase intention scale was 4.50 (SD = .94). The results of descriptive statistics are as shown in Table 2. Table 2. Number of Items, Mean, Standard Deviation, and Reliability Coefficient on Each Factor Measurements Factor N M SD Alpha Service Quality Tangibles 4 4.61 1.05 .88 Reliability 5 4.58 1.06 .90 Responsiveness 4 4.27 .98 .792 Assurance 3 4.63 .1.04 .85 Empathy 4 4.13 1.11 .92 Customer Satisfaction 5 4.69 1.06 .73 Repurchase Intention 5 4.50 .94 .88 The results of the analysis of variance indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the mean levels of service quality in terms of Gender (F (1,722) = 14.380, p < .05), Age (F (4,719) = 5.120, p < .05), Education (F (4,719) = 6.664, p < .05), Season ticket holder status (F (1,722) = 11.476, p < .05). According to the results, male participants perceived the overall service quality higher than female participants. The age distribution of the respondents was categorized into five groups: 1) less than 25 years old (n = 11), 2) 26 to 35 (n = 83), 3) 36 to 45 (n = 161), 4) 46 to 55 (n = 151), 5) over 55 (n = 28). The results of post-hoc test using Tukeys HSD shows statistically significant mean differences between the groups of less than 18 years (M = 4.74), 19 to 25 years (M = 4.40), and 26 to 35 years (M = 4.31). The highest educational level was categorized into five different levels: 1) Less than High School Graduate (n = 131), 2) High School Graduate (n = 175), 3) 2-year College Graduate (n = 154), 4) Attending University or Bachelors Degree (n = 243), and 5) Graduate Degree or Higher (n = 23). The results of the multiple comparison test indicated that the mean score for the group of less than high school graduate was statistically significant and higher (p < 0.5) than the mean scores of other categorical variables in the groups of education. 52 H. D. Kim et al. Statistically significant mean difference was also found for the season ticket holder status. For more detail, participants who purchased a season ticket (M = 4.57) perceived the overall service quality higher than the non-season ticket holders (M = 4.57). The final five dimensions of service quality factors were based on the following criteria: (a) a factor had an eigen-values equal to or greater than 1; (b) an item had a factor loading equal to or greater than .40 without double loading. The results showed that five factors were extracted for service quality factor. A total of 20 items were retained, the factors loading are showed in Table 3. Table 3. The Factor Analysis for Five Dimension of Service Quality Item F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 SQ1 SQ2 SQ3 SQ4 .672 .568 .529 .594 SQ5 SQ6 SQ7 SQ8 SQ9 .615 .600 .624 .608 .588 SQ10 SQ11 SQ12 SQ13 .403 .716 .674 .471 SQ14 SQ15 SQ16 .481 .710 .703 SQ17 SQ18 SQ19 SQ20 .801 .804 .653 .705 Note: F1: Tangibles Factors, F2: Reliability Factors, F3: Responsiveness Factors A multiple regression analysis was performed to examine the relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, and repurchase intention for the spectators in attendance at the games. The results of the regression analyses indicated that the effects of the five service quality factors on the customer satisfaction was statistically significant (F (5,718) = 198.18, p < .05) while 58% of the overall customer satisfaction was explained by the five factors of service quality. The Influence of Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention in the Korean Professional Basketball League 53 Additionally, a regression coefficient from multiple regression analysis was used to identify the influential level that service quality factors have on the overall customer satisfaction. The coefficients indicated that the factors of assurance ( = .38, p = .000) and reliability ( = .21, p = .007) exerted the strongest influence on the overall customer satisfaction, closely followed by the factors of tangibles ( = .11, p = .007) and empathy ( = .10, p = .001). The factor of responsiveness did not show a statistically significant unique relationship with the overall customer satisfaction (see Table 4). Table 4. The Influence of the Five Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction Variables Beta t Sig. Model 1 Tangibles .112 2.698 .000 * Reliability .211 4.602 .007 * Responsiveness .067 1.554 .121 Assurance .389 9.954 .000 * Empathy .106 3.221 .001 * Note. *p < .05 To investigate the influential levels of five service quality factors on the overall repurchase intention, the multiple analysis method was also applied. This regression model considered repurchase intention to be a dependent variable and the five factors of service quality to be an independent variable was statistically significant (F (5, 718) = 103.828, p =.00), and 42% of overall repurchase intention was explained by the five factors of service quality. The regression coefficients revealed that the factors of empathy ( = .27, p = .000), assurance ( = .22, p = .000), responsiveness ( = .11, p = .017), and tangibles ( = .10, p = .028) indicated statistically significant unique relationships with the overall repurchase intention as illustrated in Table 5. 54 H. D. Kim et al. Table 5. The Influence of the Five Service Quality Factors on Repurchase Intention Variables Beta t Sig. Model 2 Tangibles .107 2.197 .028 * Reliability .065 1.213 .226 Responsiveness .112 2.397 .017 * Assurance .223 4.861 .000 * Empathy .271 6.974 .000 * Note. *p < .05 Discussion This study provides some interesting findings that help us further our knowledge of various services provided within the Korean professional basketball league. Among the six demographic variables, four demographic variables, including gender, age, season ticket holder status, and education level were found to be significantly related to the overall perception of service quality. That is, it is concluded that the demographic variables which showed statistically significant differences in the mean levels of service quality are influential factors on the overall service quality. It may be beneficial for managers in the sport organization to develop new strategies based on these findings. In other words, segmenting customers on the basis of their gender, age, season ticket holder status, and education level should be considered for marketing efforts to be targeted appropriately. Mullin et al. (2000) acknowledged that market segmentation is one of the key strategies that creates the bridge between managerial analysis and managerial action. Knowing customers from the demographic data can assist sport managers to pinpoint areas that need improved quality of service. The findings from the regression model considered the five factors of service quality as independent variables and customer satisfaction as the dependent variable suggested that the factors of assurance and reliability were the most influential factors on the overall customer satisfaction. The factors of assurance and reliability are primarily associated with human performance (Parasuraman et al., 1988). For instance, the factor of assurance refers to knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence. Additionally, the performances of The Influence of Service Quality Factors on Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention in the Korean Professional Basketball League 55 service encounters have considerable potential for making a significant impression on customer perceptions of service attributes at the sport event. Thus, education and training for the managers who are in charge of training and educating their staff members should be taken into consideration by the management. Most importantly, the managers in the sport context should utilize management audits to continually evaluate and monitor the overall service environment from the customers perspectives. The management audits will facilitate sport managers knowledge about the services they offer and the performances of service encounters as suggested by Bhote (1996). The findings of the regression model involving the five factors of service quality and repurchase intention indicated that the factors of empathy, assurance, responsiveness, and tangibles were identified as most critical factors in the overall repurchase intention (see Table 4). Whether it may be a point of sale for goods, directions to a particular service, or resolving a customer complaint, managers in the Korean basketball league may improve the quality of service and increase customer satisfaction and repurchase intention by establishing a sound managerial philosophy of practicing appropriate responsiveness, assurance and empathy to spectators. According to Theodorakis et al. (2001) who found the tangible aspect of service quality as an important predictor of customer satisfaction and repurchase intention, managers in a service based organization should make major improvements in all the aspects of service in order to enhance the level of overall service quality when the resources are limited. To be effective, the factors of service quality should be prioritized based on the findings of this study to provide competitive advantages in delivering superior levels of customer satisfaction that may positively influence the overall repurchase intention. Additionally, because tangible aspects of service were also identified as one of the most influential factors on the study variables, managers may implement a reward system for each single game attended by a consumer in order to retain repeat season-ticket holders and encourage potential season-ticket holders. The rewards may be food or merchandise coupons for arena purchases or coupons to be used off-site. This managerial action could stimulate customers to increase repurchase intentions (i.e. future season-tickets, merchandise and concession sales) at future events. Although results in this study indicated tangibles, assurance, empathy, and 56 H. D. Kim et al. reliability as predictors of service quality, researchers can extend studies to incorporate other demographic variables such as fan involvement, loyalties to particular players or teams, attitudinal preferences, and number of years of season-ticket holders to more closely examine how they interrelate with factors of service quality, customer satisfaction, and purchase intention. The sport service marketers should manage the five dimension service quality of service marketing in order to reinforce the desired attitudes and behavior during service delivery. Additionally, researchers can also enrich the theoretical foundation for the relationships among the study variables by utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM). 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