ERGİN, Berna M. Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi, Turkey , İMAMOĞLU, A. Faik Gazi Üniversitesi - Beden Eğitimi ve Spor Yüksekokulu, Turkey , TUNÇ, Taner Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi - Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi, Turkey , AKPINAR, Selahattin Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey Üniversitesi - Beden Eğitimi ve Spor Yüksekokulu, Turkey , ÇON, Musa Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi, Turkey

A STUDY ON PERCEPTION AND IMPORTANCE OF THE DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE QUALITY AT UNIVERSITY SPORTS CENTERS

40457

The purpose of this study is to determine the service quality of the sports centers at the universities chosen with regard to the advantages of sports facilities according to the perceptions of the academic and the administrative staff, to find out the effects of personal qualities on the perceived service quality, and to reveal how much they care about the dimensions of the perceived service quality. The population of the study consists of 37578 academic and administrative staff at nine state universities in Turkey chosen with respect to the advantages of their sports facilities in 2009. The questionnaire was published between June 1st and July 30th, and within this period 1520 people took the questionnaire on the Internet. In the study, as data gathering tools “Perceived Service Quality Scale” which was developed from SERVQUAL service quality scale has been used. According to the perceptions of the academic and administrative staff, the independent variables which take place in the scale have been turned into more comprehensible structures with the exploratory factor analysis. According to the results of the study, the prior purpose of the participants in using sports facilities is to “lead a healthy life” and it has been determined that they use these facilities once or twice a week. It has been also determined that “physical characteristics factor”, is the most overrated factor which affects the perceived service quality. The second one was “reliability” (ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately), third one was “responsiveness” (willingness to help customers and provide prompt service), the fourth one was “empathy” (caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers) and the last one was “assurance” (knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence).

41

Service quality , SERVQUAL , sport and fitness , sport facilities

Ondokuz Mayıs University Journal Of Sports and Performance Researches

49