La satisfacción del usuario como indicador de calidad en el servicio municipal de deportes. Percepción, análisis y evolución

Abstract

ABSTRACT The research on the quality of sports services provide a basis for organizational structures to give an answer to new tendencies and necessities regarding sports and the physical exercise of the population, procuring new management models that optimize resources and guide actions towards quality (Gálvez y Morales Sánchez, 2010, own translation). The first step in assessing the deployment of a quality system which insures the best service for citizens with "added value" is knowing the users' opinion regarding the received service and knowing the key to user fidelity. A longitudinal study will be conducted which can be useful for the benchmarking of future public sports managers. The objectives of this study will be determining the degree of present user satisfaction with communal sports services offered by the city council of Cartagena, analyzing the development of user satisfaction over time in order to update quality levels offered by those services and providing a practical example of management that is quality oriented. In order to carry out the study a questionnaire compiled by a sociology expert in 1990 with a later approval in accordance with methodologies accepted in the scientific bibliography (Dunn, Bouffard & Rogers, 1999), using Aiken's V statistic was distributed to a sample of 552 users in 1991 and a sample of 677 in 2015. The results confirmed that the average value of satisfaction is high. It can be observed that the assessment of the performed activity is slightly higher at present even though no statistically significant differences with the exercise of 1991 can be perceived. The global analysis of the dimensions of the survey for 2015 shows that all resources of the communal sports services determine the quality although some are more important that others concerning the satisfaction of the citizens. In 2015 the users give more importance to the facilities and activities offered by the municipality. However, according to user satisfaction, the most important part of the organization at both times are the people who provide the service. In general, people of all professions deem very important that the communal facilities are well cared for regarding maintenance, cleaning and materials. The degree of satisfaction varies in all evaluated factors. The data will ensure that decisions will be made to enhance those aspects that were rated the worst by the users and that systems will be applied to secure quality, satisfaction and citizen loyalty to the communal sports services. Keywords: service quality, quality and public services, user satisfaction.