Determinants of customer satisfaction with the season ticket service of professional sport clubs
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2001
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Customer satisfaction is associated with numerous positive business outcomes (Kotler,
1994) and is recognised as an important field of study. However, only limited research
has addressed the satisfaction of the sport customer with even fewer studies (Madrigal,
1995 ; Wakefield & Blodgett, 1994) examining the determinants of this satisfaction.
Furthermore, no customer satisfaction research has addressed the determinants of
satisfaction with the season ticket service. Season ticket holders are among professional
sport clubs' most important customers. Professional sport clubs need to be cognisant of
those factors that influence the satisfaction of their customers, particularly season ticket
holders. This research empirically tested the detenninants of customer satisfaction with
the season ticket service of professional sport clubs.
Two research models were developed and tested in this thesis: the Expectations Model
and the Non-Expectations Model. The models were grounded in the disconfirmation of
expectations theory of customer satisfaction, sport marketing theory, social identity
theory and services marketing theory. Specifically, the models extended the
Disconfirmation of Expectations Model (DEM) to incorporate club identification and
the win/lose phenomenon as determinants of sport customer satisfaction. The initial
inspiration for the inclusion of the two sport-specific detenninants arose from the work
of Mullin (1985). The models also included the outcome variable of repeat purchase
intention as commonly suggested by the literature. Furthermore, the models accounted
for customer satisfaction arising from both the core (i.e., the actual game) and peripheral
(i.e., factors external to the game) dimensions of the season ticket service, in accord
with services marketing theory.
Season ticket holders from 10 of the 11 clubs in the Australian National Basketball
League (NBL) participated in the research. The research employed a two-stage design
whereby season ticket holders who returned useable questionnaires from the pre-season
survey were later administered with a post-season questionnaire. Of the 808
questionnaires distributed in the second survey, 577 useable questionnaires were
returned, representing a response rate of 71.41 percent.
Structural equation modelling was the dominant mode of analysis employed in this
thesis. The data analysis together with existing theory indicated that the Non Expectations
model was the superior representation of the customer satisfaction process.
The superiority of the Non-Expectations model put in question the utility of the DEM as
a useful paradigm of customer satisfaction determinants.
The research findings indicated that club identification, followed by the win/lose
phenomenon, had the greatest influence on customer satisfaction. All other
determinants were also found to influence customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the
results indicated that customer satisfaction arises from the core as well as peripheral
dimensions of the season ticket service. Importantly, these results revealed that
professional sport clubs do have control over the satisfaction experienced by season
ticket holders irrespective of whether the team wins or loses.
This thesis examined relationships that had not previously been subjected to empirical
investigation. The research findings considerably aid our understanding of the
determinants of sport customer satisfaction, particularly satisfaction with the season
ticket service of professional sport clubs. Furthermore, the findings have significant
managerial implications for professional sport clubs.
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