The impact of perceived service provider empathy on customer loyalty: some observations from the health and fitness sector

Abstract

The leisure product is often dependent on the person delivering the service. The research presented here sought to better understand how important the empathy component is in that personal delivery of a service. Health and fitness clubs, faced by high rates of customer attrition, traditionally promote themselves on the basis of either price or facilities, but are these two tools the only ones that the marketing of the clubs should be limited to? For this study, the impact of service provider empathy, as perceived by health and fitness club members, was examined in an attempt to better understand the impact of the concept on customer loyalty. The findings indicate that for those with a low level of self-responsibility for getting the most out of the service experience, those without previous experience of gyms and those with heightened self-consciousness, empathy is an important factor impacting upon their anxiety levels as well as on their loyalty to a club.

Keywords:

• empathy
• loyalty
• gym
• service quality