Ask any rugby fan and they'll tell you - "atmosphere" is everything when it comes to big match occasions such as the upcoming Lions tests and the just completed Super 12 competition. But what exactly makes up "atmosphere" and how does it contribute to a sports patron's overall sense of satisfaction at the experience they have had at a match in the professional era?
Research at Lincoln University has come up with some of the answers through the development of a valuable new business tool that may help to manage the "customer satisfaction" aspect of professional sports events and rugby in particular.
The "tool", developed and validated by Lincoln University masters degree student Mark Collins of Christchurch, is a model for gauging satisfaction levels among professional sport patrons and calculating the relative importance of the various elements of an event that contribute to "service quality", as it's known in marketing theory.
Three primary "dimensions" of service quality have emerged from the study - Outcome Quality, Interaction Quality and Physical Environment Quality - and each of these has a number of "subdimensions" (11 in all) that contribute to a quality spectator experience.
The validity of the model was tested by Mr Collins using patrons at last year's Super 12 clash between the Crusaders and the Highlanders at Jade Stadium as a survey sample. Data was also collected from a series of "focus groups" in which participants were asked to explain all the factors that contributed to their judgement of "service quality" as spectators at Super 12 games.
Although "customer satisfaction" models have existed in marketing for some time and have been applied, for example, to the banking and hospitality industries, there has been no model developed specifically for professional sports events.
"To date, most sports marketing research has been in the areas of body mechanics, physical education and recreation, sociology and psychology," says Mr Collins, who undertook the research for a Master of Commerce and Management degree and was supervised by Senior Lecturer in Marketing Mike Clemes of Lincoln University's Commerce Division.
"Team management and player performances have tended to dominate the picture and there has been almost no concrete information on what sort of 'service' a professional sporting event delivers to its patrons and what the components of 'service' are that contribute to judgements about 'satisfaction'," says Mr Collins.
"Despite the almost universal pervasiveness of sport and the fact that in the professional era it is big business, managers have had no theoretical sports model as a basis for analysing or assessing levels of customer satisfaction."
"Can we assume that just because a team wins a match or a particular competition then all of its supporters are satisfied with the event; or that admission price is the key factor in determining attendance levels?"
To answer these and other questions Mr Collins set himself four research aims -
- To define the components of "service quality" for a professional sport as perceived by the spectators.
- To see how "service quality" related to areas of "satisfaction", "value for money" and "future intentions".
- To see how "fanship" - defined as enduring involvement - affected impressions of service quality and future intentions
- To identify the least and most important service quality dimensions, as perceived by spectators of professional sport in New Zealand.
The point of the study was not to compile an advice list of what professional sports managers should or shouldn't do but to statistically test the validity of a service quality model and its various component parts so that managers had something to employ in the planning, running and assessment of their events.
Through the survey and the focus groups the most important primary dimension in determining Customer Satisfaction in Super 12 rugby was found to be Outcome Quality and within this the most important subdimension, by over double the next ranking factor, is Atmosphere. This in turn was followed by Game Quality, followed by Entertainment.
The second most important Primary Dimension that the research identified was Interaction Quality and the most significant subdimensions within this are, in ranking order, Security, Food and Beverage, Players and Social Factors.
The third most important Primary Dimension was Physical Environment Quality and the ranking of the subdimensions within this is Social Factors, Visuals and Sound, Access, Seats and Cleanliness.
"The study also provides managers with a greater understanding of how important 'Fanship' or 'enduring involvement' is to Service Quality Satisfaction and behavioural intentions," says Mr Collins. Previously, 'Fanship' has not been measured and may best be described as an intense loyalty to a team.
"Managers should increase the level of involvement with their teams and they should improve efforts to target those fans who are less knowledgeable about the sporting event in order to increase future attendance intentions."
"This is particularly important as the results from the sample indicated that the majority of spectators were not season ticket holders - as might be assumed with fans - but they purchased tickets prior to each match."
"As Outcome Quality is the most important primary dimension for determining favourable perceptions of Service Quality, an important aspect of the quality of service is clearly not under the control of marketing personnel."
"This of course has implications for the role of the manager because items within this subdimension include Team Performance, Excitement of Game, Excitement of Atmosphere and Socialisation. The manager must expand his responsibilities to promote factors that are likely to increase the atmosphere of a sporting event such as ensuring that teams perform well and play games against closely matched teams."
"And in relation to Interaction Quality, where Security Employees showed up as the most important consideration with patrons, managers should pay particular attention to the attitudes and behaviour of security staff. This includes such matters as courteousness, helpfulness and knowledge of security personnel, security help with seating and security control of disorderly behaviour."
Under both Interaction Quality and Social Environment the research shows that patrons attach importance to the Social Environment and the items of Enforcement of Non-Smoking Policies, Impact of Other Spectators and Interaction With Other Spectators.
There was considerable difference within the rating of the various subdimensions. For example within Interaction Quality, Security Employees is the most important subdimension followed by Food and Beverage, Players and Social Factors. Within Physical Environment Quality the most important subdimension is Social Factors followed by Visuals and Sound, Access, Seats and Cleanliness. Within Outcome Quality, Atmosphere is the most important subdimension followed by Game Quality and Entertainment.
Mr Collins says now that a validated Service Quality Model has been created and validated for professional rugby it is up to managers to pick it up and put it to use. It also lends itself to utilisation by sports other than rugby.
Mr Clemes sees Mark's research as contributing to the literature on marketing by providing a better understanding of spectator perceptions of Service Quality, satisfaction and value and future intentions as well as fanship.
"Marketers and managers of professional sports events will benefit from the research findings through the practical information the study provides about what spectators consider important in their evaluation of Service Quality," he says.
"This will give marketers and managers an opportunity to develop and implement strategies to ensure a high quality of service that will enhance spectator satisfaction."
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Ian Collins, Journalist
Lincoln University, Canterbury
Tel: 64 3 325 2811 ext 8549
Email: Ian Collins
or
Michael Clemes, Senior Lecturer in Marketing
Lincoln University, Canterbury
Tel: 64 3 325 2811 ext 8292
Email: Michael Clemes