Exploring the Psychological Mechanism of How the Multidimensional Service Quality of Fitness Centers Affects Consumer Satisfaction and Loyalty Depending on the Level of Exercise Involvement

This study aimed to examine the influence of core services and the physical servicescape and social servicescape on consumer satisfaction and loyalty via perceived price fairness, flow experience, and rapport in fitness centers. Additionally, the present study explored how exercise involvement moderates the relationship between perceived price fairness, flow experience, rapport, and consumer satisfaction. For these purposes, targeting adults using fitness centers in South Korea, a total of 763 participants were sampled based on a cross-sectional design and used for data analyses involving confirmatory factor analysis for measurement validation and latent moderated structural equation modeling for hypothesis testing. The results showed that the core services, physical servicescape, and social servicescape enhance perceived price fairness, flow experiences, and rapport between staff and consumers, respectively. The study findings also indicated that exercise involvement significantly moderates the effect of price fairness and flow experience on satisfaction but not rapport. These insights offer practical and theoretical implications for fitness center management, emphasizing the importance of tailored service strategies in retaining loyal customers.