The effects of service provider employment status and service quality exchange on perceived organizational image and purchase intention

Abstract

Volunteers are a major labor source in sports; however, the impact of volunteers on organizational image or on customers' repatronage intentions has not been studied. An experimental study (2 × 3 factorial design) was employed to explore the effect of Employment Status of the service provider and perceived Quality of Service Exchange on Perceived Organizational Image and Intention to Attend a Game with 461 college students who were potential customers of college sports. Quality of Service Exchange included Technical Aspects (presenting of information vs. presenting of no information) and Relational Aspects (willingness to help vs. unwillingness to help). Results showed that both Perceived Organizational Image and Intention to Attend a Game were primarily determined by Quality of Service Exchange. Employment Status and the interaction term between Employment Status and Quality of Service Exchange only minimally influenced the two dependent variables. This suggests that potential customers of college sports did not distinguish the service of volunteers from that of paid-employees. © 2009 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand.