Relationships among Service Quality, Value, and Student Athlete Satisfaction at Taiwan's National Tug of War Competition

INTRODUCTIONTug of war is a relatively new sport in Taiwan compared to sports such as track and field, baseball, and basketball. The country's formal tug of war competition started in 1997 (Lee & Hsieh, 2011), and the sport has been promoted by Taiwan's Ministry of Education since the early 1990s due to its traditional teamwork spirit and its basic skill requirements. With the government's support, the Chinese Taipei Tug of War Association has made strong efforts to introduce these competitions at all school levels and to hold competition events for students. As a result, the sport has become increasingly popular at all school levels, and Taiwanese athletes have won the World Championship several times. Students' sporting events play an important role in the country. They are the main channel for incubating elite athletes, and they are a way to develop knowledge about holding even larger sporting events. There are six major national sporting events in Taiwan, and two of them are held for student athletes. Therefore, there is a need to understand the quality of sporting events for student athletes.In the sports business, products or services are classified as core products and extension products (Li, Hofacre, & Mahony, 2001; Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2016). Core sports products include (1) consumer participation in exercises or recreational or professional competition; and (2) spectators attending sports events and watching performances. Extension sport products depend on the existence of core products. For example, athletic shoes, apparel, sporting equipment, and coaching services are a consequence of people participating in sports, and sports-related broadcasting, marketing service, news, souvenirs, lottery, and online fantasy games are extension products of spectatorship. Therefore, core sport products are key factors in the success of the sports business, and a sporting event can generate these two core sports products.The success of a sporting event is determined by the degree to which it satisfies participants/athletes and spectators/fans with quality service (Ko, Kim, Kim, & Lee, 2010). This study focuses on participation-specifically, on athletes in a sporting event-because it is crucial to the event's success. For example, Venus Williams, a leading female tennis player, first participated in the WTA Taiwan Open in 2016. Her participation drew on average around 1,500 fans per day, which is two to three times more spectators than the previous year (Zeng, 2016). Williams was happy with her experience at the Taiwan Open and promised that she would attempt to convince her sister, Serena Williams, the highest ranked player in the world, to participate in the Taiwan Open the following year (Peng, 2016). What satisfies players or athletes and motivates them to participate in a sporting event? From a participant's point of view, service quality of a sporting event includes professional and well-organized competition settings, judges, schedules, staff, and other logistics. These factors influence a participant's perceived value of the event and the amount of time, money, and effort he or she is willing to expend to prepare for and take part in the event. Eventually, the service quality and value that an athlete perceives from the event may influence the participant's satisfaction and willingness to appear in future editions or promote the event. This study attempts to address specific service factors, degree of influence on service value and satisfaction, and the impact of demographic variables for a sporting event.The main purpose of this study is to discern, among several service factors in a sporting event, which factors have the most significant influence on participants' perceived value and satisfaction. The study will also identify a path model among service quality, perception, and satisfaction. By setting a path model, moderation effects will be examined by gender, level, and experience. …