Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of service quality on customer loyalty in water sports services organizations. The data of the study were obtained from the customers of commercial organizations providing water sports services in Mugla province in the west of Turkey. As data collection tools; the QSport-14 Scale developed by Yildiz and Kara (2012) was used to measure service quality, and the customer loyalty scale developed by Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman (1996) was used to measure customer loyalty. Descriptive statistics, validity and reliability analysis, correlation, and hierarchical regression analysis were used in the evaluation of the data. Analysis results showed that service quality had a strong effect on customer loyalty (β=0.713; p<0.01). This result revealed that one of the means of ensuring customer loyalty was service quality. In addition, the effect of the 3 sub-dimensions of service quality on customer loyalty was examined separately. Similarly, staff (trainer) (β=0.542; p<0.01), installations (β=0.691; p<0.01), and programme (β=0.597; p<0.01) sub-dimensions also significantly and positively affected customer loyalty. These results revealed that service quality is an important tool in ensuring customer loyalty. In this context, this study suggests that organization managers should make service quality measurements at regular intervals. In this way, if weak areas emerge of the service, improvement strategies can be developed for them. This can play an active role in ensuring customer loyalty.

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