Service Quality In Fitness Centers: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The fitness center industry has grown rapidly alongside rising public awareness of healthy lifestyles, making service quality a strategic differentiator for retaining members amid intense competition. Although research on fitness center service quality is expanding quickly, the findings remain scattered across diverse models, dimensions, and cultural contexts and have not been comprehensively integrated. This study aims to systematically map and synthesize the development of service quality research in fitness centers, covering measurement models, determinants, outcomes on satisfaction and loyalty, digital transformation, and research gaps. The method employed is a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) following the PRISMA 2020 protocol. The search was conducted in the Scopus database using a TITLE-ABS-KEY strategy with keywords on service quality and fitness centers. Through the stages of identification, screening, eligibility assessment, and inclusion-exclusion criteria, 23 eligible studies were obtained and appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). The results show that service quality is multidimensional, encompassing facility, staff, program, and digital service quality, with instructor quality, cleanliness, and convenience as the most consistent predictors of loyalty. Satisfaction is found to mediate the relationship between service quality and loyalty, while its effect is moderated by experience level, gender, and organizational culture. The findings also confirm a paradigm shift toward service digitalization and co-creation. This study contributes by providing an integrative framework of fitness center service quality and an agenda for future research.