The role of service quality in shaping customer loyalty in an emerging golf market: Testing the moderating role of golf course image

Abstract

Although the golf market in Vietnam is experiencing rapid growth, there is still a lack of comprehensive evidence regarding the impact of service quality on maintaining customer loyalty in emerging markets for golf. To address this issue, the present study explores how service quality influences loyalty through perceived value, price fairness, and customer satisfaction. Additionally, it examines whether the image of the golf course serves as a moderator in the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. Data were collected through on-site, face-toface interviews using a structured questionnaire administered to 406 participants (golfers) across multiple golf courses in Ho Chi Minh City and surrounding provinces in Southern Vietnam (e.g., Dong Nai and Long An), and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to validate the research model and examine the proposed relationships. The findings reveal a sequential mechanism in which service quality significantly enhances perceived value (β = 0.429, p < 0.001), price reasonableness (β = 0.410, p < 0.001), and customer satisfaction (β = 0.301, p < 0.001). Notably, customer satisfaction emerges as the strongest predictor of customer loyalty (β = 0.312, p < 0.001). The proposed moderating effect of golf course image on the satisfaction–loyalty link is not supported (β = 0.002, p = 0.922). However, golf course image has a strong direct positive effect on loyalty (β = 0.454, p < 0.001). This study advances research on customer loyalty by integrating service quality, perceived value, price reasonableness, and customer satisfaction into an integrated mechanism tailored to Vietnam’s emerging golf services context. Importantly, the results clarify that golf course image operates as a direct antecedent of loyalty, rather than moderating the satisfaction–loyalty relationship. To enhance customer loyalty from a managerial standpoint, it is essential to implement synchronized enhancements in foundational service delivery and the perceived fairness of pricing to boost customer satisfaction. In addition, it is crucial to invest in the golf course's image as an independent factor influencing customer loyalty.