RUNNING HEAD: Service Quality in Professional Soccer

A Service Quality Framework in the Context of Professional Soccer in Greece

Nicholas D. Theodorakis

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Kostas Alexandris

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Yong Jae Ko

University of Florida
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A Service Quality Framework in the Context of Professional Soccer in Greece

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Abstract

This study examines the mediating role of overall service quality in the service quality-

customer satisfaction relationship in the context of professional football.

Quantitative data were collected from a questionnaire survey of 415 spectators

attending a professional football game in Greece. A confirmatory factor analysis was

employed to examine the validity of the scale. Multiple regression analyses was used to

assess the mediation effect of overall service quality. Results of CFA and alpha test

supported psychometric property of the scale. Overall service quality was shown to

mediate the relationship between the five dimensions of service quality and fans’

satisfaction in the context of professional sports. Managers of professional sports teams

can measure service quality at a dimensional level, since such a tool has diagnostic

value, but also they could use the overall service quality scale for investigating it’s

relationships with other consumer variables such as satisfaction and repatronage

behavior.

Keywords: service quality, satisfaction, spectator sports, soccer

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Introduction

Today, sport spectating is one of the most popular leisure activities in our society. The sport

industry has experienced substantial growth with success of the professional sport segment

over the past three decades, and the sport industry becomes a major segment of economy.

However, many sport organizations are recently facing a number of challenges. For example,

competition within spectating sport such as professional football leagues has been increasing

with the addition of rival leagues of same and/or different sports (Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton,

2007). Sport marketers also need to pay close attention to such issues as economic

disconnection, increased cost, emergence of new technology, ongoing expansion of playing

seasons, and increased importance of selling broadcasting rights (Howard & Crompton,

2004)

In response to the increased competition within the sport business environment, there

have been serious investments in sport facility. In the U.S., for example, state government

entities have provided substantial amount of subsidies for professional sports teams’ playing

fields to secure professional sports teams. Crompton (2004) reported that the public sector

has supported 64% of the total cost, approximately $15.2 billion, for stadium construction in

four major professional sports leagues between 1961 and 2003. They continued to build new

stadium for professional sports team to help in generating economic and social benefits such

as job creation, additional tax, and community self-esteem to its community (Sparvero &

Chalip, 2007; Eckstein & Delaney, 2002).

Stadium construction was also boom in major European soccer leagues. For example,

Germany built a number of new stadiums to host 2006 FIFA World Cup. This led to a

significant increase in attendance and revenues for football clubs, with four of them to enter

the top-20 European football clubs in terms of financial performance (Deloitte & Touche,

2008). Also, the Spanish Real Madrid enjoyed a boost in revenues after renovating their
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stadium by developing more corporate hospitality amenities. This enabled the club to offer

superior services to their customers. In the 2006-07 football season it has been reported, Real

Madrid match day income reached €82.2 million (Deloitte & Touche, 2008).

As business environments of professional sport leagues become more highly

complicated and unpredictable, the adaptation of effective marketing strategies and

management principles becomes more important task for the leagues’ organizing bodies than

ever. In particular, providing superior service to the fans is critical as it influence revenue

generation and long term viability of sport organizations. Previous studies have supported

that the provision of high quality services is critical to attract spectators in the stadiums, build

spectators’ loyalty and finally increase club revenue (Dale, van Iwaarden, van der Wiele, &

Williams, 2005; McDonald, Sutton, & Milne, 1995).

Assessment of service quality is recognized as an important issue among scholars and

industry leaders. Thus, the amount of the research on service quality is continuously

increasing in various fields of studies and demand for effective measurement tools and

approaches is growing in professional sport industry. Recently, sport marketing researchers

developed various service quality models (e.g. Hightower, Brady, & Baker, 2002; Ko, 2004,

2005; Ko, Zhang, Cattani, & Pastore, in press; Theodorakis, Kambitis, Laios, & Koustelios,

2001; Tsuji, Bennett, & Zhang, 2007) and tested them in relation to various sport consumers’

behavioural outcomes (Alexandris, Zahariadis, Tsorbatzoudis, & Grouios, 2004; Howat,

Murray, & Crilley, 1999; Howat, Crilley, & McGrath, 2008; Theodorakis et al., 2001). In

most of these studies, researchers did not refer to overall service quality in their models, or

considered overall service quality as the computed sum scores of service quality dimensions,

instead of a distinct multi-item measure, as recent studies from the business and industrial

marketing literature have suggested (Dabholkar, Shepherd, & Thorpe, 2000; Dagger,

Sweeney, & Johnson, 2007). Accordingly, the purpose of our study was to investigate if
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overall service quality can be a distinct concept that mediates the relationship between the

multiple dimensions of service quality and fans’ satisfaction in the context of professional

sports.

Theoretical Background

Measurement of Service Quality in Professional Sports

Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) defined perceived service quality as “a

global judgment, or attitude relating to the superiority of a service” (p. 16). Similarly, Bitner

and Hubbert (1994) suggested that service quality is “the consumer’s overall impression of

the relative inferiority/superiority of the organization and its services” (p. 77). Parasuraman,

Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) developed the SERVQUAL, a measurement scale of service

quality, which include 22 items that represent five factors as Tangibles, Reliability,

Responsiveness, Customer Assurance, and Empathy. The scale has been widely used in

various service industries. The authors argued that the service quality concept should be

measured by the congruence between consumer expectation and perceived performance level.

In this disconfirmation paradigm, service quality is defined as “the extent of discrepancy

between customers’ expectations or desire and their perceptions” (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, &

Berry, 1990, p.19).

Numerous attempts have been made to examine the concept of service quality in

various segments of the sport and leisure industry. Scholars either adopted and modified

SERVQUAL to tailor it to the services of the sport industry (Crompton, MacKay, &

Fesenmaier, 1991; Howat, Absher, Crilley, & Milne, 1996; McDonald et al., 1995; Wright,

Duray, & Goodale, 1992), or developed scales based on unique characteristics of specific

segments of the sport industry (Chelladurai & Chang, 2000; Kim & Kim, 1995; Ko &

Pastore, 2004, 2005). There have also been recent attempts to measure service quality in

spectator sports (Kelly & Turley, 2001; Ko, 2005; McDonald, et al., 1995; Theodorakis &
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Alexandris, 2008; Theodorakis et al., 2001; Zhang, Connaughton, & Vaughn, 2004). By

modifying the five dimensional factor structure of the SERVQUAL, for example, McDonald

et al. (1995) developed the TEAMQUAL, a 39-item scale. The authors measured the

performance of ticket takers, ticket ushers, merchandisers, concessionaires, and customer

representatives by applying simultaneous measurement of expectations and perceptions of

professional basketball fans. Using weighted average scores, the authors suggested that

overall service quality could be measured by averaging the scores of the five dimensions. In

addition, Theodorakis et al. (2001) developed the SPORTSERV scale to assess perceptions of

service quality among sport spectators. This scale comprises 20 performance-only items

representing five dimensions of service quality: Tangibles (i.e. cleanliness of the facility),

Responsiveness (i.e. personnel willingness to help), Access (i.e. accessibility of / to the

stadium), Security (i.e. team provides high standards of security during games), and

Reliability (i.e. team delivers its services as promised). Lately, Theodorakis, Koustelios,

Robinson and Barlas (2009) averaged the scores of the five SPORTSERV dimensions for

examining the relationship between overall service quality and fans’ repurchase intentions.

On the other hand, through an exploratory factor analysis, Kelley and Turley (2001)

developed a nine factor structure including Employees, Facility Access, Concessions, Fan

Comfort, Game Experience, Showtime, Convenience, Price, and Smoking. The authors found

that the influence of each factor differs across a variety of demographic and sport

consumption levels. Ko (2005) developed the Scale of Service Quality in Spectating Sport

(SSQSS) by adapting Ko and Pastore’s (2005) multidimensional and hierarchical model. The

SSQSS was developed to test psychometric property of five dimensions framework including

Quality of Game, Augmented Services, Interaction, Outcome, and Physical Environment.

Several corresponding subdimensions were operationalized within each primary dimension as

follows: (a) Game Quality – Skill Performance, Game Schedule, and Information; (b)
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Augmented Service Quality - In-game Entertainment and Concessions; (c) Interaction

Quality – spectator-employee interaction and inter-spectator interaction; (d) Outcome Quality

– Valence and Sociability; (e) Physical Environment Quality – Ambience, Design, and

Sign/scoreboard. Although Ko (2005) proposed a two – level hierarchical model of service

quality in which several subdimensions lead to five dimensions of service quality, it was not

reported if the five dimensions act as antecedents of an overall service quality construct.

From the aforementioned studies, it becomes clear that the majority of sport

marketing researchers consider overall service quality to be a higher order factor reflecting a

number of service quality dimensions. However, recently, researchers from the business

domain suggested that consumers, along with the evaluation of different services attributes,

form an overall evaluation of service quality, which is not necessarily the average score of its

dimensions, but a separate multi-item construct (Dabholkar, Thorpe, & Rentz, 1996;

Dabholkar et al., 2000; Dagger et al., 2007; Hightower et al., 2002).

These two different methodological approaches were discussed in details and clarified

by Dagger et al. (2007), who argued that service quality should be conceptualized as a

formative and not a reflective construct. Adopting the formative approach means that the

dimensions of service quality cause the overall service quality and act as antecedents of it. On

the other hand, the reflective approach proposes that the service quality dimensions act as

reflective indicators or consequences of the overall service. Dagger et al. (2007) argued that

the reflective approach is not methodologically correct approach, since high or low levels of

service quality dimensions cannot be due to the high or low levels of overall service quality.

Instead, perceptions about specific service quality dimensions lead to high or low levels of

overall service quality. The formative approach, therefore, proposes that overall service

quality acts a mediator of the relationship between service quality dimensions and outcome

variables (e.g., consumer behavioural intentions). This proposition is also in line with the
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study of Dabholkar et al. (2000) who argued that “direct measures of service quality can

serve as better predictors of behavioural intentions than a value of service quality computed

from measure dimensions (p. 139).

Service quality studies conducted so far in the context of professional sports adopted

the reflective approach. With one notable exception (e.g., Koo, Andrew, and Kim 2008),

there has not been any studies published so far to adopt the formative approach and treat

service quality dimensions as antecedents of overall service quality.

Following the formative approach (Dabholkar et al., 1996; 2000; Dagger et al., 2007;

Hightower et al., 2002), we suggest that sport consumers, along with the evaluation of

different services attributes, form an overall evaluation of service quality, which is not

necessarily the average score of its dimensions, but a separate multi-item construct

(Dabholkar et al., 2000). In this approach, overall service quality is treatded as a mediator of

the relationship between service quality dimensions and various critical behavioural

outcomes such as satisfaction, value, and loyalty.

Therefore, in this study, we propose a framework of service quality in the context of

professional sport by examining the mediating role of overall service quality in the service

quality-customer satisfaction relationship. We have chosen satisfaction as primary outcome

variable in our framework for two reasons. First, customer satisfaction has become a major

corporate goal (Rust & Oliver, 1994). Second, numerous studies supported that service

quality is recognized as an antecedent of customer satisfaction, and researchers suggested that

the enhancement of service quality has been identified as a key strategy for increased level of

customer satisfaction (Anderson, Fornell, Lehman, 1994; Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Zeithaml,

Bitner, & Gremler, 2006).

Methods

Participants and Data Collection

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The researchers collected data from spectators of a professional football team in the Greek

super league. The selected team is well established, playing in the league for many years and

having a strong fan base. The decision to select this team was due to its accessibility. Due to

the absence of a database of the spectators of the team, the data was collected in an on-site

survey. Questionnaires were distributed in the stadium during a home game of the team. Six

research assistants helped with the collection of the data. To ensure representation of all fans

within the stadium, the data were collected in six different areas of the stadium (Robinson,

Trail, Dick, & Gillentine, 2005), during the half time of the game.

Commenting on the data collection method, it should be noted that it is not a strict

probability method; subsequently, any generalizations of the results should be made with

caution. Furthermore, since data was collected from spectators of one team only, it cannot be

generalized to all the spectators of the teams that participated in the Greek super league.

Results can only be considered as indicative of the study population. However, this study

aimed to test a theoretical research model, and not to generalize our results to all of the Greek

fans. The sampling method described above was considered to be appropriate.

A total of 600 questionnaires were distributed, and 415 (N = 415) useful cases were

collected back, resulting in a response rate of 69.1 %. The average age of participants was

33.63 years, ranged from 16 to 71 years. In terms of their gender, 360 (86.7%) were male and

55 (13.3%) were female.

Measures

Service Quality. To assess spectators’ perceptions of service quality, the SPORTSERV scale

was used (Theodorakis et al., 2001; Theodorakis & Alexandris, 2008). This scale comprises

20 performance-only items, measuring five dimensions of service quality. Each dimension

has four items: Tangibles (i.e. cleanliness of the facility), Responsiveness (i.e. personnel

willingness to help), Access (i.e. accessibility of / to the stadium), Security (i.e. team provides
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high standards of security during games), and Reliability (i.e. team delivers its services as

promised). Recently, Theodorakis and Alexandris (2008) documented evidence regarding

SPORTSERV’s psychometric properties in the context of professional sports in Greece.

Overall Service Quality. We used Dabholkar et al’s (2000) four-item Likert type scale to

measure spectators’ perceptions of overall service evaluations. These items were referred to

“excellent overall service,” “high standards of service,” “service of very high quality,” and

“superior service in any way.”

Satisfaction. An evaluative satisfaction item was used to assess fans’ levels of satisfaction

with the last game they have attended. Similar global satisfaction measures have been used

by researchers from different sport and leisure domains (Howat et al., 2008; Murray, &

Howat, 2002; Petrick, Backman, & Bixler, 1999; Vlachopoulos, Theodorakis, Kyle, 2008).

Responses for all measured items were given on a seven-point Likert type scale,

ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

Data analysis

To test the dimensionality of SPORTSERV, a five factor Confirmatory Factor

Analysis model (CFA) was computed by using EQS (Bentler, 1995). Hoyle and Panter

(1995) suggested the use of both incremental and absolute indices to assess the fit of CFA

models. In this study, the fit indexes used for model assessment were the chi - square statistic

(χ2), the Non-Νormed Fit Index (NNFI), the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and the

Standardized Root Mean Residual (SRMR) (Hoyle & Panter, 1995; Hu & Bentler, 1999). CFI

and NNFI values greater than .90, and SRMR values less than .08 are considered indicators

of good fit (Hu & Bentler, 1995; 1999).

A similar analysis was conducted for the overall service quality and satisfaction scale.

Following Baron and Kenny’s (1986) suggestion, we adapted a four-step approach to

test the mediation effect of overall service quality on the relationship between the five service
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quality dimensions (predictors) and fans’ satisfaction (outcome). This approach suggests the

use of a sequence of regression equations among the variables, as follows: a) a regression

analysis with the independent variables (service quality dimensions) predicting the dependent

(satisfaction); b) a regression analysis with the independent variables (service quality

dimensions) predicting the mediator (overall service quality); c) a regression analysis with the

mediating variable (overall service quality) predicting the dependent variable (satisfaction);

d) a regression analysis with both the independent variables (service quality dimensions) and

the mediator (overall service quality) simultaneously predicting the dependent (satisfaction).

When the effect of the predictor on the outcome is not significantly different from zero, full

mediation is obtained. Partial mediation is obtained when this effect is reduced, but it is still

statistically significant.

Results

Factor Structure and Reliability

SPORTSERV’s items skeweness values ranged from -.70 to .10 and item kurtosis

ranged from -1.44 to -.27. Mardia's coefficient of multivariate kurtosis was 123.06 (Mardia,

1970), suggested that the assumption of multivariate normality was tenable, since this value

was smaller than the 440 cut-off point derived from the formula p (p+2), where p represents

the number of observed variables (Bollen, 1989). Thus, the maximum likelihood method was

used. Results indicated an adequate fit for the five-factor model: X2 = 541.60, df = 160, p <

.001, NNFI = .936, CFI = .946, SRMR = .048.

For Overall Service Quality, items skeweness values ranged from .09 to .42 and item

kurtosis ranged from -.40 to -.61. Mardia’s coefficient of multivariate kurtosis was 14.40,

indicating that the data were normally distributed according to the p (p+2) formula mentioned

above. Hence the maximum likelihood method of estimation was also employed. The

goodness-of-fit indexes showed an adequate fit: X2 = 36.76, df = 2, p < .001, NNFI = .910,
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CFI = .970, SRMR = .027. Descriptive statistics and CFA item statistics for both scales are

presented on Table 1.

Internal consistency reliability was assessed using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient

for all scales measuring the five service quality dimensions, and the overall service quality.

All scales had satisfactory alpha values, ranging from .89 to .94. Composite reliabilities and

average variance extracted (AVE) were also computed. The results indicated acceptable

levels of composite reliability for all constructs, since values exceeded the .60 cut-off point

(Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). The average variance extracted for all constructs were above the .50

threshold (Fornell & Lacker, 1981; see Table 2).

Testing for the Mediation Effect of Overall Service Quality

First Step: Establishment of the Link between Service Quality Dimensions and Satisfaction

A regression analysis was performed to examine the degree to which the five service

quality dimensions could predict fans’ satisfaction. The regression analysis produced a

significant effect (F = 41.07, p<.001). Three dimensions of service quality had significant

contributions to the prediction of satisfaction: Tangibles (Beta = .28, t = 6.77, p<.001),

Responsiveness (Beta = .21, t = 4.05, p<.001), Security (Beta = .20, t = 3.84, p<.001; see

Table 3).

Second Step: Establishing the Link between Service Quality Dimensions and Overall Service

Quality

A regression analysis was conducted to examine the degree to which overall service

quality could be predicted by the five service quality dimensions. The regression was

significant overall (F = 95.04, p<.001). The dimensions of Tangibles (Beta = .38, t = 11.0,

p<.001), Responsiveness (Beta = .35, t = 8.12, p<.001), Security (Beta = .22, t = 4.89,

p<.001), and Access (Beta = .09, t = 2.28, p<.05) offered significant contributions (see Table

4).
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Third Step: Establish the Link between Overall Service Quality and Satisfaction

A regression analysis was performed with overall service quality as the independent

variable and satisfaction as the dependent. The results showed that overall service quality

predicted a significant amount of the variance in satisfaction (F = 363.24, p<.001, Beta = .68,

t = 19.05, p<.001; see Table 5).

Fourth Step: Examining the Mediation Effect of Overall Service Quality

On the last step, a regression analysis was conducted to examine the degree to which

satisfaction could be predicted by the five service quality dimensions and overall service

quality simultaneously. The regression analysis produced a significant effect (F = 62.78,

p<.001). The results showed that overall service quality fully mediated the relationship

between the five service quality dimensions and satisfaction, since the beta scores of

Tangibles (Beta = .07), Responsiveness (Beta = .01), and Security (Beta = .08) were reduced

to non-significant levels (see Table 6).

Discussion

The link between service quality and organizational success is well documented in the

business marketing literature; service quality was found to be positively related to customer

satisfaction and retention (Burton, Sheather, & Roberts, 2003; Dagger & Sweeney, 2006;

Keillor, Lewison, Hult, Hauser, 2007; Olorunniwo, Hsu, & Udo, 2006). Research evidence

from the sport marketing domain also indicated that service quality plays a significant role in

the prediction of sport fans’ future behaviors (Theodorakis, et al., 2009; Wakefield &

Blodgett, 1996). Although service quality has been a popular topic among sport marketing

researchers, it has not been well documented if service quality dimensions are components of

the service quality construct, or if they are antecedents of a separate distinct overall service

quality evaluation (Ko & Pastore, 2005; Koo et al., 2008). Thus, in this study we aimed to
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examine if perceptions about overall service quality mediate the relationship between service

quality dimensions and sport fans’ satisfaction in the context of professional sports.

Two scales were used to measure perceived service quality in this study: The

SPORTSERV (Theodorakis et al., 2001; Theodorakis & Alexandris, 2008) at the dimensional

level, and a four-item scale aiming to capture fans’ overall service evaluations. In terms of

the psychometric properties of the scales used, they were shown to be both valid and reliable.

A confirmatory factor analysis supported the factorial and convergent validity for both scales,

while the alpha scores supported the internal consistency reliability of them.

To examine the interrelationships among service quality dimensions, overall service

quality and satisfaction, a series of regression analysis were conducted. Initially, the ability of

service quality dimensions to predict fans’ satisfaction was tested. The regression analysis

results indicated that fans’ satisfaction is significantly predicted by different service aspects,

such as sport facility’s design, aesthetics, and functionality, reliability in the delivery service

process, parking availability, usage of mass transportation, and easy and fast arrival and

departure from the stadium. Similar results have been reported by other researchers in the

context of professional sports (Brady, Voorhees, Cronin, & Bourdeau 2006; Tsuji et al.,

2007; Wakefield & Blodgett 1994). Next, the results indicated that the service quality

dimensions significantly predicted overall service quality. It is noteworthy that this is the first

attempt to find that spectators develop service quality perceptions in a hierarchical manner.

The results from the third regression analysis also revealed that overall service quality

significantly predicted fans’ satisfaction, exerting actually a greater influence on satisfaction

than on the five-dimensional service quality model.

Finally, the mediation effect of the overall service quality on the relationship between

the five service quality dimensions and satisfaction of spectators was tested. The regression

analysis results indicated that overall service quality fully mediated the relationship between
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service quality dimensions and satisfaction, supporting our main hypothesis. These results are

consistent with Koo et al.’s (2008) study, which was conducted among collegiate basketball

teams in the U.S. Koo et al. (2008) reported that overall service quality perceptions partially

mediated the relationship between service quality dimensions and fans’ satisfaction. Similar

results also presented by Dagger et al (2007) who conducted a study in the context of health

services. Our results are also consistent with Dabholkar et al’s (2000, p. 166) argument:

“…consumers evaluate different factors related to the service but also form a separate

overall evaluation of service quality”. We argue that this approach is more congruent with

the widely accepted conceptualization of service quality; as previously discussed, quality is

defined as a consumer’s judgment of an entity’s overall excellence or superiority

(Parasuraman, et al., 1985; 1988). However, our results still provide evidence for the

importance of the dimensions in the proposed service quality framework in professional

sports, suggesting that higher levels of service quality on the dimensional level increases

perceptions of overall service quality. The following section provides several practical

implications referring to both service quality dimensions and overall service evaluations.

Managerial implications

Referring to the role of service quality dimensions, we propose that sport managers

should measure service quality at a dimensional level, since such a tool has diagnostic value.

Sport managers can check service deficiencies and weaknesses in their services, allocate

budget where required, and make appropriate improvements. However, sport managers could

use the short overall service quality scale for investigating complex relationships between

service quality and other behavioral outcomes that have practical interest for them (e.g., ticket

season holding, repeat patronage, behavioral loyalty; Pritchard, Funk & Alexandris, 2009).

Measuring service quality in an aggregated level could help them save money and time, since

short scales are more easily distributed and guarantee a higher response rate.
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In addition, overall service quality evaluations can be examined in relation to various

sport fan segments. These segments can be drawn based on behavioral and attitudinal

variables such as team identification, fan motivation, brand associations, level and frequency

of attending matches (Funk, Mahony, & Ridinger, 2002; Funk & James, 2006; Ross, 2007;

Trail, Fink, Anderson, 2003). Recent studies showed that different fan segments have

different service needs and require a different marketing approach (Greenwell, Fink, &

Pastore, 2002; Hill & Green 2000; Theodorakis et al., 2009). Sport managers should track

periodically service quality perceptions and satisfaction indicators among different fans

segment, aiming to provide tailored services to them and foster fans’ loyalty. Finally, since

service quality was found to be a significant predictor of fans’ satisfaction, sport managers

should work on new service developments, or improvement of the existing ones, since new

services are required to address changing consumer needs and meet consumer expectations.

Limitations and Future Studies

The results presented in this study are based on a convenience sample of Greek

football fans. Both the contextual (football) and cultural (Greeks) aspect of the study should

be considered in any attempt to make generalization of the results. Subsequently, as

previously discussed, the results cannot be generalized to all the Greek fans. They should be

verified in samples including fans of more teams and spectators in different types of sports.

Additionally, the service quality framework that we suggested in this study should also be

verified among football fans from different cultures. As Taylor, Sharland, Cronin, and

Bullard (1993) have suggested, researchers and practitioners should be very careful in

generalizing service quality theoretical models and business practices in different

international sport and recreational service settings. Furthermore, cross-cultural studies could

examine the role of culture in the relationship between service quality and spectators’

behavioral outcomes. It will also add to our knowledge basis regarding sport fan behavior
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internationally. In the present study, data was collected from a single football game in

Greece. This does not guarantee that results can be generalized to all Greek football

spectators. Collecting data in more games could increase the confidence in generalizing our

results. Also we measured spectators’ perceptions of service quality at a specific moment in

time. However, other important factors such as team performance might impact overall

spectator satisfaction. In addition, the model of service quality used in this study includes

process-related dimensions. Future research should also incorporate service quality

dimensions, such as game quality and valence (Ko, 2005). Finally, we should address the

validity of using satisfaction as a dependent variable; we used customer satisfaction as the

dependent variable, since it has been proposed and empirically supported (Anderson &

Sullivan, 1993; Dabholkar et al., 2000; Dagger et al., 2007) that satisfaction is correlated with

service quality evaluations. However, future studies should include more outcomes in their

models, such as behavioral intentions, perceived value, and behavioral loyalty to better

predict the behavior of the sport consumer.

In summary, the present study contributes to the sport marketing literature by showing

that overall service quality represents a distinct construct, that is formed by sport consumers

in their evaluation of the overall service experience. It was also found that service quality in

this context is a multilevel construct and a number of context-specific service quality

dimensions act as antecedents and cause overall service quality perceptions.

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