Fatemeh Abdavi; Sajjad Pashaie; Mitra Gafari
Abstract
Nowadays, one of the tools for communicating with sports clients and engaging with audiences in public relations is sports marketing. The present study seeks to investigate the mediating role of sport customer appreciation in influencing communication marketing components on loyalty. The statistical ...
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Nowadays, one of the tools for communicating with sports clients and engaging with audiences in public relations is sports marketing. The present study seeks to investigate the mediating role of sport customer appreciation in influencing communication marketing components on loyalty. The statistical population of this study includes all the clients of Tabriz city gym clubs. In this study, random cluster sampling was done to reach the customers of bodybuilding clubs due to the size and distribution of the statistical population. The statistical sample of the study was based on the Morgan table of 385 (athletes) from club clients. Questionnaire was used for data collection. Relationship between variables using AMOS20 structural equation modeling, and using common and standardized regression weights were analyzed. Also for testing the research hypotheses error level of 0.01 was considered. The results of the empirical test of the research model confirm the essential role of relational marketing components (direct communication, tangible reward, interpersonal communication, and preferential behavior) in the appreciation and loyalty of fitness club customers at the significant level of 0.01. The mediating role of gratitude in influencing relational marketing variables is also important. Therefore, public relations will increase the incentive to attract customers and allow club managers to fill the vacuum of non-customer relationship through marketing as an alternative. It is suggested that bodybuilding clubs increase the quality of their communication with their clients by lending confidence to their clients, to make them loyal to themselves