Can service quality predict customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in the sport tourism industry? An application of the SERVQUAL model in an outdoors setting

Abstract

This paper aimed to investigate the applicability of the SERVQUAL model in predicting customer satisfaction and customer behavioral intentions in one of the segments of the sport tourism industry, named outdoors. Two hundred and eighty seven (N = 287) individuals took part in the study. These individuals participated in an outdoor program that took place in the lake Plasteera, Greece, and included activities such as lake canoe/kayak, orienteering, and archery. Service quality was measured by the SERVQUAL scale, satisfaction was measured by Oliver (1980) scale, and behavioral intentions were measured by Ajzen and Fishbein (1977) scale. Two sets of data were collected: the first one before customers' participation in the programs in order to measure their quality expectations, and the second one after customers' participation in the program, in order to measure their quality perceptions. The gap scores were calculated, and these scores were used in order to predict customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The results of the study did not provide support for the applicability of SERVQUAL in outdoor services. The five dimensions of the SERVQUAL model predicted very low amount of variances in both the satisfaction and behavioral intentions variables. These results indicate the need for further research on the factors that determine customer satisfaction in outdoor settings.