Fatores que impactam na intenção de contratar ou na lealdade do consumidor do serviço de personal trainer

Abstract

This dissertation aims to identify the factors that impact on the intention to hire or on consumer loyalty of the personal trainer service and to verify if there are differences between the variables surveyed between these two audiences. The constructs chosen through the literature, mainly international scientific articles, were: social skills, customer orientation, customer perceived expertise, personal trainer physical appearance, consumer familiarity and physical results obtained from the student, being analyzed through the conceptual framework of relationship marketing. The type of the research was confirmatory and the quantitative method, composed of a sample of 577 people obtained through an online questionnaire, and among the respondents, 245 have personal trainer and 332 do not have. In order to reach the objective of this dissertation, the closed questionnaire and the partial least square (PLS) analysis were used as data collection instrument to validate the hypotheses. As results, it was possible to perceive that there are differences between the models studied, in the intention-to-purchase model, consumers have the physical appearance of the personal trainer with greater significance when making the decision to acquire this service, followed by their familiarity by moderating the Professional knowledge, that is, the more previous knowledge of physical activity the consumer has, the more he or she will expect from the professional's expertise. In the loyalty model, it can be verified that the social skills of the personal trainer and the physical results conquered by the students through the personalized classes had greater significations, followed by the physical appearance of the professional and the familiarity moderating the expertise of the service provider. It is concluded that the personal trainer as its own manager, should use different methods and techniques to conquer different audiences. One of the main suggestions in the search intention model is that the personal trainer should show a personal physical appearance that demonstrates health care and muscular tone, as it inspires his clients, besides having superior knowledge to the consumer, since the more information the customer has, the more demanding it will be. In the loyalty model, the personal trainer should emphasize social skills, allowing a better relationship with the client, as well as reaching the expectations of the students regarding the physical results when hiring their services, not forgetting their good physical appearance and demonstrating knowledge regarding physical activity, physiology and physical exercises in relation to their students.