The Psychology of Fitness Center Members: An Examination of Turkish Fitness Clubs

Losing members is a significant issue faced by fitness centers. In this context, it is crucial to understand the variables that will reduce the members’ intention to terminate their membership. Perceived value, emotions, and customer trust can be momentous, as membership has a catalytic effect on satisfaction. However, only a little information is present on its effect in the fitness consumer literature. Therefore, this study aims to examine the theoretical relationship between perceived value, emotions, customer trust, consumer satisfaction, loyalty and word of mouth marketing in fitness businesses. Members from two fitness clubs located in Konya, Turkey (n = 406) were surveyed. Based on the results, the perceived value, trust and emotions were positively related to satisfaction. Likewise, satisfaction was positively related to customer loyalty. Finally, customer loyalty was positively related to word-of-mouth, while satisfaction was not related to word-of-mouth. The study results may contribute to our understanding of the psychology of Turkish fitness center members.