Vital Drivers of Golfer Loyalty to the Screen-Golf Café

Abstract

While the screen-golf industry has been rapidly growing for the last decade, empirical research about this lucrativeindustry is rare. The present study attempted to explain golfers’ loyalty formation for a screen-golf café. Inparticular, this research proceeded to investigate the role of the image of screen-golf café, its overall performances,and golfer satisfaction in determining loyalty, and to assess the mediating impact of trust in the screen-golf café andcommitment in the proposed conceptual framework. A field survey was conducted to collect the data at screen-golfcafés located in the metropolitan city, South Korea. The gathered data (185 cases) was analyzed using aConfirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Findings from the SEM revealed thatthe proposed theoretical framework involves a satisfactory fit of the model. In addition, our findings generallysupported the hypothesized associations among study variables. In particular, according to our results, image of thescreen-golf café and overall product performances significantly affected golfer satisfaction; golfer satisfaction acted asa significant antecedent of trust in the screen-golf café and commitment; trust and commitment were positivefunctions of satisfaction; and both trust and commitment significantly mediated the association between satisfactionand loyalty to the screen-golf cafés. Overall, the findings of this study help practitioners in the screen-golf industrydevelop efficient marketing as well as service strategies for loyalty enhancement.