The Mediating Role of Customer Satisfaction Between Service Quality and Customer Loyalty: A Study in Commercial Sport Organizations

This study aimed to examine the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in sports organizations. The sample of the study consisted of the customers of commercial sports organizations (fitness centers, health & sports centers and gyms) in a big city in eastern Turkey (n=409). Three scales were used as data collection tools in the study: The QSport-14 developed by Yildiz and Kara (2012), the customer satisfaction scale developed by Cronin, Brady, and Hult (2000), the customer loyalty scale developed by Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman (1996). The data were analyzed with the structural equation model. SPSS and Smart PLS statistical programs were used in the analysis of the data. First of all, the scales were subjected to measurement model analysis. At the measurement model stage, the validity and reliability analyzes of the scales were made. Then, structural model analysis was applied. In the structural model stage, the estimation evaluations of the model were made. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses. The results of the analysis showed that service quality had a significant and positive effect on customer loyalty (β=0.898; p<0.001), and customer satisfaction had a significant and positive effect on customer loyalty (β=0.848; p<0.001). Another analysis result indicated that customer satisfaction had a full mediation effect between service quality and customer loyalty (β=0.761; p<0.001).