Title: Complaint behaviour by third parties: exploring service quality, customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth in health clubs

Authors: António Carrizo Moreira; Pedro Miguel Freitas Da Silva

Addresses: DEGEI, GOVCOPP, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro 3810-193, Portugal ' DEGEI, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, Aveiro 3810-193, Portugal

Abstract: In recent years, in the services market, we have witnessed a growing importance of concepts such as service quality, satisfaction, word-of-mouth and complaint behaviour. The proposed conceptual model aimed to examine the existing relationships among these dimensions in the context of health clubs. Data was collected through questionnaires and analysed using structural equations modelling (SEM) to simultaneously test all the relationships in the model. Overall, the results suggest that quality is assessed through staff, programme and facilities evaluation, and that service quality is crucial for both satisfaction and word-of-mouth generation. Customers do not complain to third parties, i.e., to external parties that are not involved, but have some influence on the service provider even when low quality is delivered or they are dissatisfied.

Keywords: health clubs; service quality; word-of-mouth; WOM; customer satisfaction; complaint behaviour; third parties; structural equations modelling; SEM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2016.077923

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2016 Vol.16 No.3/4/5/6, pp.152 - 171

Accepted: 13 Jan 2016
Published online: 22 Jul 2016 *

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