GOOGLESCHOLAR

A report based on analysing data from a survey of service quality at a University Sports Centre

CHAO LIU

13451646

Table of Contents

TITLE PAGE

Abstract………………………………………………………………………3

Introduction…………………………………………………………………..4

Evaluation of Questionnaire Design…………………………………………5

Analysis of Survey Data …………………………….………………………5

Measuring Service Quality Using SERVQUAL…………………………….5

Benefits of service quality……………………………………………………11

Summary……………………………………………………………………...12

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………13

Recommendations……………………………………………………………14

References…………………………………………………………………..16

Abstract

Traditionally, sporting activities has not been regarded as a business for unknown reasons. However, it is increasingly apparent that business and commercial principles are being applied to what is talked of an industry. Clearly, the introduction of sports bodies such as FIFA, IOC, and English Premier League (EPL) has proved that sporting activities are quite a business. For instance, EPL achieved a total revenue of $ 2 billion in the year 2008/2009 with an annual turnover of almost $ 200 million per year. Based on research, it is clear that every sporting activity is a business. Globally, sports have become one of the most famous activities. For example, today people are interested in watching different types of sporting activities such as Football. This paper will evaluate and analyze a survey carried out on users of the University Sports Center. The method used to do this research was a survey, sampling, and observation. SERVQUAL was the data file used by the users to conduct the survey.

Key Words: SERVQUAL, Questionnaire Design, survey, service quality, and customer satisfaction

1. Evaluation of Questionnaire Design

Introduction

Relational benefits are vital factors to construct relationships with clients. Globally, sports have become one of the most famous activities. For instance, today people are interested in watching different types of sporting activities such as Football. This paper will evaluate and analyze a survey carried out on users of the University Sports Center. The method used to do this research was a survey, sampling, and observation. SERVQUAL was the data file used by the users to conduct the survey. The study would be done with the qualitative approach to examine the requirements and explore how the University Sport Center is establishing, implementing, documenting, and assessing the internal controls. Analysis of these measures would be done to evaluate the effectiveness of the internal controls and to determine what additional measures may be taken to determine what can be done to ensure compliance with the internal controls for future years and how the internal controls can bring business value to the stakeholders. The scope of the development would include the 10-K reports, and how effective the controls were listed in the 10-K reports. There would also be a survey done by management volunteers to assess how the costs of compliance brought business value to the firm and what the value contained (Statsofts, 2010).

Qualitative methods were chosen over quantitative methods because of a number of reasons. Firstly, the surveys carried out on the University Sport Center provide detailed information on how sporting activities use internal controls in their office systems. Secondly, the technicalities of obtaining data using qualitative methods would also be useful to University Sport Center. Moreover, the validity of and data and information collected by management volunteers would also be tested for its effectiveness. Several interviews were also carried out on the investment costs of having SERVQUAL as sporting being in place. This information is beneficial to researchers since they will identify whether the implementation of SERVQUAL has a long-term benefit to the University Sport Center (Bryman & Bell, 2007).

In order to improve dissemination of a quality report it was necessary to use survey instrument on different sporting activity with an aim of identifying the best internal control tools that are used to comply with SERVQUAL. Empirical data and information were gathered on the usefulness of the best tools. The data was useful in explaining the gap available in research and specific assurance control. Several proposals were submitted after analyzing data and information on compliance controls. This data would be helpful to the University Sport Center because it will help sporting activities to use suitable infrastructure such as IT for compliance in future years. The research findings were also presented in the paper after a careful analysis of data collected in various sporting activities (Bryman & Bell, 2007).

2. Analysis of Survey Data

Measuring Service Quality Using SERVQUAL

As a way of measuring service quality in University Sports Center, researchers developed a methodology known as SERVQUAL. The methodology examines five major dimensions of service quality (Bryman & Bell, 2007). These dimensions include

i. Reliability

ii. Assurance

iii. Responsiveness

iv. Empathy

v. Tangible

Dimension	Statement	Expectation Score	Perception Score	Gap Score	Average for Dimension in Sports
Tangibles	1	6.7	7.6	7.8	22.1
	2	6.0	7.6	7.5	21.1
	3	2.0	5.6	6.5	14.1
	4	1.3	4.3	1.5	7.1
Reliability	5	2.6	2.9	6.9	12.4
	6	8.5	4.0	9.1	21.6
	7	5.0	8.0	6.3	19.3
	8	2.7	5.7	9.2	17.6
	9	3.0	9.8	2.3	15.1
Responsiveness	10	7.8	6.5	7.6	21.9
	11	4.5	3.2	6.5	14.2
	12	2.4	7.8	4.5	14.7
	13	7.8	4.5	9.4	21.7
Assurance	14	3.4	7.9	7.8	19.1
	15	4.6	8.7	4.5	17.8
	16	5.6	7.6	6.7	19.9
	17	5.4	7.8	8.8	22.0
Empathy	18	3.4	5.6	2.3	11.3
	19	1.2	5.4	6.5	12.2
	20	2.4	4.5	2.3	9.2
	21	2.3	5.6	7.8	15.7
	22	2.3	6.5	3.4	12.2
	23	3.3	4.4	3.3	11.0
Unweighted Average SERVQUAL score:	356.1

Figure: Calculation of service quality in University Sports Center

Expectations

This section of the survey deals with researchers opinions in enhancing sporting activities. The table below shows the extent to which the University Sports Center ought to apply its responsibilities in sports. Ranks of each statement as follows: Strongly Strongly Disagree Agree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Statement	Score
1. Excellent quality services will have modern looking equipment.	1
2. The physical facilities at University Sports Center will be visually appealing.	4
3. Employees at excellent sport centers will be neat in their appearance.	7
4. Materials associated with the service (pamphlets or statements) will be visually appealing at an excellent sporting.	5
5. When excellent sporting promises to do something by a certain time, they do.	5
6. When a customer has a problem, the management will show a sincere interest in solving it.	4
7. The management will perform the service right the first time.	4
8. The management will provide the service at the time they promise to do so.	5
9. The management will insist on error free records.	6
10. The management will tell customers exactly when services will be performed.	7
11. The management will give prompt service to customers.	5
12. The management will always be willing to help customers.	5
13. The management will never be too busy to respond to customers' requests.	6
14. The management will feel safe in transactions.	2
15. The management will be consistently courteous with customers.	2
16. The management will have the knowledge to answer customers' questions.	2
17. The management will give customers individual attention.	1
18. The management will have operating hours convenient to all their customers.	6
19. The management will have employees who give customers personal service.	4
20. The management will have their customers' best interest at heart.	5
21. The management will understand the specific needs of their customers.	3

SERVQUAL entails caring about the welfare of the competitors, giving back to the community and also being socially, environmentally and financially responsible. Companies should strive to care about the environment and the society. For the last three decades, there has been a controversial debate on the benefits of sporting activities and businesses being ethical and socially responsible. However, research shows that the advantages of SERVQUAL outweigh the disadvantages. Social responsibility helps to increase the positive image for a business thus building trust among consumers and other company’s stakeholders. Moreover, some of the other benefits of corporate social responsibility include increased productivity as a result of investor turnover rates (Statsofts, 2010). It was also found that social responsibility also helps to increase customer loyalty as most of the employees feel that the company is on their side. This contributes to competitive advantage thus attracting many stakeholders to the business entity. The aforementioned reasons show that a social responsibility for business has a positive impact to the attraction of investors, retention of employees and customer retention (Bryman & Bell, 2007).

The implementation of SERVQUAL helps to encourage the best practices in financial reporting. This is because it encourages sporting activities to increase IT infrastructure that would help in the governance and control of financial processes within the company. On the same token, SERVQUAL compliance helps to increase implementation of control mechanisms within an organisation. The policies have a positive impact on the entity-wide and company-wide controls.The implementation of SERVQUAL supports sporting activities to understand the importance of internal controls in financial reporting. Moreover, accountability and transparency in an organisation are also enhanced to support increased productivity. A recent survey on financial accountability shows that internal controls are efficient in an organisation because they increase accountability and integrity to shareholders and investors. Most of the stakeholders in a company oftenly need to have reports on financial responsibility in companies. Ultimately, the primary objective of these financial controls is to improve accountability in organisations (Bryman, & Cramer 1997).

A comprehensive report on SERVQUAL, supported the implementation of the policy arguing that it had many benefits to organisation. Firstly, it helps to increase reinvestment in internal controls and IT infrastructure in companies. Since it is an obligation for every company to implement the policy, it is easier for sporting activities to have increased awareness and focus on accountability of financial information. Opportunities of automation are also identified easily thus reducing time take in financial reporting. Automation process are significant in an sporting activity since they reduce defects that may occur. Alternatively, the focus of financial reporting becomes comprehensive since it is possible to identify and remedy critical deficiencies in statements before they translate to material weaknesses. The management of sporting activities becomes rigor when it comes to selection of accounting policies. This is important in the process of auditing since it increases the ability of a company to function in a proper manner (Robinson, 2005).

The main objective for SERVQUAL is to reduce any chances of fraud through increase of procedures that should be followed in financial reporting. Integrity of data handling in sporting activities is also increased in the auditing process. Auditors oftenly work together with IT professionals to monitor data. The IT professionals usually develop a framework that is used to asses the risks that occur with the usage of data and information in an organisation. This paves a chance for setting up of internal controls to be used in governing all processes that occur in financial reporting. Monitoring and enforcement of actions in the organisations is also critical for the success of the process. Finally, SERVQUAL helps to measure reports on financial statements thus creating a platform for refinements needed in the process. Managers will then have the ability to satisfy compliance requirements (Anderson, 2006).

3. Summary

After investigating the importance of using service quality in a business environment, researchers found that sporting activities that practice social responsibility have a competitive advantage as compared to their counterparts. SERVQUAL can be used in a number of ways to increase business efficiency. To begin with, it was evident that sporting activities increase their customer loyalty through focusing on sales that the environmentally and socially responsible. A research on sporting activities that produce products and services that are socially responsible shows that those sporting activities have increased turnover rates as compared to the sporting activities that produce harmful products. In addition, efficiency in a business can also be increased through building up of a positive reputation between the company and the surrounding environment. For instance, the company should engage in promotion of SMEs and even providing basic commodities such as water and shelter to people. Many people who have been helped by their sporting activities always feel appreciated and they will always go back to those sporting activities to purchase more of their services and products (Bryman & Cramer, 1997).

According to research findings, it was also evident that people always want to work with ethical businesses. As a matter of fact, it is evident that business has changed as more people are becoming aware of the working with ethical businesses. Ethical and social issues have become an issue of concern for many people and this has triggered business owners to shift the way they carry their businesses. Consumer perceptions have become an essential aspect for their retention. Any business that needs to have long-term retention of its consumers, employees and even investors should be willing to build a positive image that would benefit the reputation of the business. From extensive research, business can become ethically responsible by solving the local problems of the communities that live in their surroundings. This helps to improve the performance of business in the end (Anderson, 2006).

From the research findings, the management of the company should carry out an extensive research on the needs of the local people and try to solve them. This will help to improve the confidence of the consumers thus building a positive image for the business. The management of the company should also consider making decisions that are ethically based. For instance, the preparation of the budget should also have activities that are geared towards improving the lives of the local people. Some of the areas that people feel need to be improved include; recon structuring the roads, improving waste management and providing social amenities to the local people. Additionally, the management should also strive to set funds to engage in providing solutions to environmental issues (Anderson, 2006).

4. Conclusion

In summation, being more ethical and socially responsible helps to increase efficiency in a business. Social responsibility in a business contributes to building a team among the employees and this contributes to improving of relationships that are vital for productivity in the workplace. In addition, being ethical promotes reputation of the company as this builds up a positive image for the investors and customers. While the customers increase their turnover rates, the business increases its efficiency since the flow of income for the company is maintained all over the year. Moreover, the turnover for investors is also high, as they know that the business is stable due to the customer turnover rates. Consequently, the main objective for being socially responsible is solving the social problems, which businesses have as this increases the efficiency in the business while contributing to increase in business functions. The company should strive to use its resources to solve the social problems for the people as this helps to increase its business efficiency and builds image that is beneficial for the competitive advantage of the company. As described in this paper, it is evident that. SERVQUAL can be used in a number of ways to increase business efficiency. To begin with, it was evident that sporting activities increase their customer loyalty through focusing on sales that the environmentally and socially responsible. Also, a research on sporting activities that produce products and services that are socially responsible shows that those sporting activities have increased turnover rates as compared to the sporting activities that produce harmful products.

5. Recommendations

I recommend the management to change its policies to suit social responsibility for the best interests of sports in the end. The University Sport Center should develop policies that are geared towards improving the lives of the local community. The University Sport Center has a moral obligation to enact policies and make decisions based on development of products and services that cater for the needs of the local people. It is evident that consumers cannot be forced to consume products and services they do not need. For this reason, the University Sport Center should develop services that are tailored to create more jobs for the people, pay wage and salaries to the members of the communities and also ensure that there is safety of the competitors in the Sport Center. The University Sport Center needs the people for its survival while the people need the company for employment. The Sport Center should provide client satisfaction for the people and improve sports thus improving efficiency in the end (Statsofts, 2010).

Secondly, I recommend the management of sports to engage in activities that will help to build a positive image and reputation for sports. This includes producing products that are designed to provide good value of the money for the people. The durability and safety of a quality service should be the utmost priority for sports. The management of University Sport Center should also take measures that are aimed at improving the business strategies such as the adequate supply of services and products, providing full information to all business customers and also enacting fair standards of advertisements in sports. Furthermore, in order to promote the goodwill of sports, the management of the University Sport Center should also engage in social functions such as sponsoring of sports and local features aimed at building up the image of the company at the grassroots. This will increase the reputation of the company that is essential for business efficiency (Statsofts, 2010).

Thirdly, I recommend the management of sports should strive to invest in providing a solution to social problems. Most of the sporting activity investments should be geared at solving social problems that affect people at the grassroots. Some of the investment should help to sustain people through provision of local amenities and also solving local problems. Consequently, the management of the company should allocate its resources in education, charities and even organizations that support the sustainability of the local communities. Although the University Sport Center may have limited resources, it should involve many stakeholders in correcting social problems for the people. In order to build the confidence of the people the University Sport Center should engage in providing solutions to the domestic problems. Efficiency is improved when the customers participate in activities that are geared towards improving social relations with the people (Milne, & McDonald, 1999).

References

Anderson P. (2006)  Statistics for Business and Economics.  London: Thomson. Print

Bryman A., & Cramer D. (1997) Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS for Windows. Routledge. Print

Bryman A & Bell E. (2007)  Business Research Methods. 2nd Edition.  Oxford University Press

Field A (2009) Discovering Statistics Using SPSS 3rd Edition. SAGE. Print.

Milne, G. R., & McDonald, M. A. (1999) Sport marketing: Managing the exchange process. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett.

Statsofts (2010) Electronic Statistics Textbook. Print. [online] Available from http://www.statsoft.com/textbook/ [Accessed 20 September 2014]