Year: 2014
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Customer satisfaction with the quality of sport services contributes significantly to the sustained \ncompetitiveness of sport organisations, and customer retention. This study measured the \nperceived service quality of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Starter-Beginner coach \neducation courses. A purposive sample of four courses and 56 tennis coaches was drawn. A precourse \nand post course SERVQUAL questionnaire together with a biographical questionnaire \nwere administered. The findings of the current study suggest that tennis coaches are dissatisfied \nwith four of the five SERVQUAL dimensions of service quality namely the reliability of the \nservices, the responsiveness of the ITF as service provider, the tangibles of the course as well as \nthe empathy of the ITF. Tennis coaches expressed overall satisfaction in the service dimension of \nassurance of service users. Satisfaction with service quality differed across the four different \ngeographical course locations suggesting dissatisfaction with personal interaction between head \ntutors and participants. This study should be regarded as exploratory research in the area of tennis \ncoach education service quality. Further research should determine the reliability and validity of \nthe SERVQUAL instrument in sport coach education contexts.
Authors: Anneliese Goslin, Karl Davies
Institution: University of Pretoria
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W25808420