ABSTRACT

Today, the global health/fitness industry is worth over 94 billion dollars. The 210,000 clubs are under keen competition among themselves for the 183 million potential members (The IHRSA Global Report, 2019). Therefore, top management of health/fitness clubs should develop sound operating and management processes to enhance service quality. Lam, Zhang, and Jensen (2005) developed the first ever validated Service Quality Assessment Scale (SQAS) to examine service quality of health-fitness clubs. Using the SQAS, this study examined service quality factors and their relationships with the sociodemographic and consumption behavior variables. Results of the multiple regression indicated a significant negative relation between membership length/use frequency and workout/locker room facilities, whereas travel time was positively related to physical facility but negatively related to program. Meanwhile, the MANOVA showed that members of different gender and ethnicity had similar view regarding the service quality. Married members are more “easy-going” when interacted with the employees, while members who were professional and had a higher level of education were less satisfied with the health-fitness clubs. In conclusion, owners of health-fitness clubs should set a higher standard for their employees, program quality, and the cleanliness/maintenance of their facilities in order to improve service quality or member retention.