Golf is a leisure sports already popularized in advanced countries and is evaluated as the industry very affirmative and which has merchantable quality in the aspect of economy, environment and sightseeing industry, and recently in China the golf popu...
Golf is a leisure sports already popularized in advanced countries and is evaluated as the industry very affirmative and which has merchantable quality in the aspect of economy, environment and sightseeing industry, and recently in China the golf population is in the trends of rapid increase. In the year 1984 for the first time in China golf market, the golf club ‘Jungsan spar golf club’ was opened and China Golf Association was established in Peking in 1985. In spite of the short historical background less than 30 years, golf sports developed rapidly in China. So far, the fact that in China, more than 1000 golf courses already opened the business and considerable parts of golf courses are under construction was reported through the various media. From 2007 to 2008, the World Cup Golf Competition was held in Mission Hill golf course in China (2008, Chinese News). China is materializing the dream of the great country of golf using vast territory and ample natural resources.
Shandong in China is the area closest to Incheon in Korea with the West Sea between them and is very familiar with Korean due to the trace of the past Korean maritime Admiral Jang Bo-Go and advancement of many Korean enterprises. Many golf courses invite talented persons from foreign countries and construct golf courses and manage and operate them in order to meet the satisfaction level of foreigners. (Chinese Sports News) Especially the golf courses in Qingdao in Shandong in China progress project to attract golf tourists with Korean golfers as major object. However in the process of the entire world’s financial crisis in 2008 as the lowering of the competitiveness of China golf industry is progressing (China News), in order to realize the dream of great country in golf, this is the time to reevaluate the recognition of consumers on the present China golf course, and to establish the appropriate standard suitable for the object and purpose the China golf courses will aim for through comparison of the satisfaction level of Chinese golfers with that of foreign golfers.
This study has the purpose to investigate the relation among each of the variables based on hypothesis of analysis on the influence of perceived value of customer service quality of golf course on customer satisfaction level and customer loyalty. For this purpose, the customers who are using three golf courses located in Qingdao in Shandong in China were selected as the population, and the survey of self-writing type was conducted. The distributed questionnaires were total 335 copies and out of them uncollected or insincerely answered material were excluded and total 300 copies were used for final analysis. After collected materials were coded of the data of this study using SPSS 18.0, and according to the purpose of this study, frequency analysis to understand the attribute of the object of investigation, factor analysis to verify the validity, reliability analysis using Cronbach's α value, correlation analysis to analyze the relation among variables and regression analysis to investigate the result coming from correlation analysis more precisely were conducted. Additionally the differences in recognition of each of the variables of Chinese tourists and Korean tourists who are using golf courses in Qingdao area in China were analyzed using t-test.
As the result of analysis, the 5 factors all in service quality were confirmed to have influence on perceived value. According to the standardized coefficients of regression analysis, the 5 factors of service quality appeared to have influence on perceived values in the order of confidence, reliability, sympathy, materiality and response. It can be thought that if trust is formed on the foundation of certain belief they sympathize with the service of golf course and understand the facilities of golf course and role of the staffs. The members should be equipped with the knowledge and ability which the customers can trust and rely on and should show the right manners and sincerity. After then they should show interest in and consideration for the customers with the ability to implement the promised service reliably and accurately and should have proper facilities and equipment.
In addition, the volition to help customers and the posture to provide prompt service are important. Moreover, the hypothesis that the value perceived by golf course customers would have influence on customer satisfaction and the hypothesis that customer satisfaction of golf course users would have influence on customer loyalty are all adopted. The service value generated from the relative difference between what the customer obtained through the service of golf course and the cost which was paid eagerly for this can be interpreted as the thing which heightens the customer satisfaction level, if the degree of the perception is high. Because the service value felt in the position of the customers are generally evaluated (Oh Seung-ik, 2010) in four categories which are low price, the realization of what they want, quality compared to price, the result of cost and time invested, it is necessary for golf course to understand the trends of customers well and to make endeavor for optimum price decision for the enhancement of the customer satisfaction level. In addition, it can be interpreted that customers who use golf course decide purchase based on value rather than cost and golf courses can heighten the customers’ repurchase rate by meeting the service needs of customers more than they expected and continue and maintain the preferences of the products and services. Based on the theory of Cho Sun-bae that customers tend to expect particular services, and as the services are consumed, if the results are bad through actual growth and comparison process they would be dissatisfied and if the result is the same as the expectation or good they would be satisfied, in order to establish the customer loyalty of the users of golf courses to increase profit it is important to make the enhancement of customer satisfaction level the first priority through the method of exactly understanding the requirements of customers and always brooding over what the result they want is.
Additionally, as a result of comparative analysis on the opinion of Koreans and Chinese out of golf tourists who are using the golf courses in Qingdao area in China, it appeared that the evaluation by Chinese is high in all aspects of service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Chinese evaluated all parts giving the score above average and especially they evaluated highly confidence and reliability. But Korean tourists appeared to evaluate giving the score below average to materiality, sympathy and response out of service qualities. They say that internal and external facilities of the golf courses or the golf course and the attitude of staffs to respond customers cannot reach the service level which Koreans are satisfied with. The first reason why Koreans evaluate Qingdao in China as good area for playing golf is the shortest distance from Korea and the general reason is the fact that facilities for Koreans are good because there are many Korean residents and there are many golf courses and they are inexpensive. In spite of such an affirmative image, if the evaluation on service quality within golf courses is not satisfactory, it has to be difficult to attract Korean golf tourists continuously. Therefore in the golf courses in Qingdao area in China not only the principal agent of management but also the individual staffs should recognize the importance of response to customers and make effort to enhance the service quality. The facilities in golf course are difficult to be changed in a short term but if they maintain the present condition as it is they cannot help lagging behind in the competitiveness with newly constructed golf courses. It is important to aim for enhancement of service quality corresponding to the expectation of visitors through phased and long-term investment and facilities remodeling.