Panagiotis Papadopoulos

Testing the role of service quality on the development of brand associations and brand loyalty

Purpose – The study aims to: measure brand associations in the context of a fitness club, test the influence of brand associations on the development of brand loyalty, and investigate the role of service quality on the development of brand associations.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 165 members of a managed‐owned fitness club, located in North Greece, participated in the study. They completed a 25‐item questionnaire to measure brand associations, and a 25‐item questionnaire to measure service quality.Findings – The exploratory factor analysis revealed eight brand association factors: popularity, management, logo, escape, vicarious achievement, nostalgia, pride and affect. In terms of the relationships among brand associations, loyalty and service quality, the regression analyses revealed that: five of the eight brand associations (escape, nostalgia, pride, logo, and affect) significantly contributed to the prediction of loyalty, the service quality dimensions predicted significant amount of vari...