Customer service and overall satisfaction with angling experiences

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between individual customer service items and satisfaction with facilities, services, information, recreation experience and overall quality of fishing for a diverse group of anglers at lakes in the New England region. Recent attention to customers and their experiences and attitudes has increased the interest of, both managers and researchers in issues like customer satisfaction. In an attempt to make satisfaction models more useful, Burns et al. (1999) created a customer satisfaction model with four domains (facilities, services, information, and recreation experience). This model was designed to be more easily understood by recreation researchers and managers because the items within the domains were more relevant and tangible. The domains used were also believed to be flexible in nature and adaptable to the needs of the specific recreation area under study. This study builds on previous research by continuing exploration of the factors influencing satisfaction with the recreation experience. The relationships between twelve customer service items and satisfaction with the four domains of facilities, services, information and the recreation experience were tested. The individual items were most strongly related to satisfaction within the facilities domain. Results also revealed direct relationships between these variables and overall satisfaction with the fishing experience. Satisfaction with the number of fish a person can catch and the services domain showed the most influence on overall satisfaction with the fishing experience.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the 2002 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium

Citation

Wickham, Thomas D.; Graefe, Alan R.; Burns, Robert C. 2003. Customer service and overall satisfaction with angling experiences. In: Schuster, Rudy, comp., ed. Proceedings of the 2002 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-302. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 47-51