Servqual in A Theme Park

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INVESTIGATING THEME PARK SERVICE QUALITY BY USING MODIFIED

THEMEQUAL MODEL
Conference Paper · April 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3541.9609
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ToSEE – Tourism in Southern and Eastern Europe, Vol. 3, pp. 453-466, 2015
I. Valčić, J. Komšić, N. C. Simpson: INVESTIGATING THEME PARK SERVICE QUALITY BY ...
INVESTIGATING THEME PARK SERVICE QUALITY

BY USING MODIFIED THEMEQUAL MODEL
Iva Valčić Received 23 March 2015

Jelena Komšić Revised 12 April 2015
22 April 2015
Nigel Christopher Simpson
Abstract
Purpose – Theme parks are an interesting segment of the tourism market. In today’s competitive
environment, delivering a high-quality service to meet the visitors’ needs becomes an important
way to create business success. Understanding this concept becomes a big part of the total
success and a relevant issue even for theme parks. In modern tourism research, only a few studies
have explored the service quality of theme parks and its potential for tourism development;
therefore, there is an obvious need for investigation of this matter. This paper aims to: (a) fill the
current gap in research by using a modified THEMEQUAL model for measuring the perception
of service quality in an adventure theme park; (b) assess the perceived service quality attributes;
(c) investigate the relative importance of the service quality dimensions in influencing the overall
satisfaction levels of visitors.
Methodology – The study was conducted using a 27 characteristics self-administrated
questionnaire in Glavani Park based on the modified THEMEQUAL model. The data was
analysed using descriptive and multivariate statistical analysis.
Findings – The results indicated that all 27 characteristics achieved very high scores indicating a
good perception of service quality. A multiple regression analysis identified the dimensions
“ambience” and “responsiveness access” as best predictors of visitor satisfaction.
Contribution – The paper contributes to the existing literature of service quality in the context of
theme parks with its theoretical presentation, empirical findings and practical input; therefore the
findings can be used both by managers in theme parks for improving quality and by the scientific
community as an input to service quality literature and encouragement for further research.
Keywords service quality, THEMEQUAL, multivariate statistical analysis, theme park, tourism,
Croatia
INTRODUCTION
It is widely recognized how service quality holds a relevant role in the enhancement of
any tourism destinations and its improved performance. In today’s competitive
environment, delivering a high-quality service to meet the visitors’ needs becomes an
important way to create business success. Service quality has become a key strategic
variable in organizational efforts to both satisfy and retain present customers and also
to attract new customers (Lewis and Clacher 2001, 166). The growth of tourism in the
past fifty years and the recognition of the economic benefits of tourism have led to the
growth of purpose-built attractions, such as theme parks, specifically designed to attract
tourists, and to encourage them to spend their money (Raluca and Strutzen2008, 636).
Over the years there have been numerous papers addressing service quality in many
touristic fields. However, in modern tourism research authors found a visible gap
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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2637385

concerning the measurement of service quality in theme parks since only a few studies
have explored the service quality of theme parks and its potential for tourism
development. Nowadays, due to both increasing demands from visitors and increasing
significance of theme parks' contributions to tourism, it has become a crucial matter to
put more attention to the service quality in theme parks. This paper aims to: (a) to fill
the current gap in research by using a modified THEMEQUAL model for measuring
the perception of service quality; (b) to assess the perceived service quality attributes;
(c) to investigate the relative importance of the service quality dimensions in
influencing overall satisfaction levels of visitors.
In consideration of the aforementioned, we begin with a review of the literature on

theme parks, service quality and SERVQUAL. Afterwards the paper examines service
quality in Glavani Park by using a modified THEMEQUAL and applying quantitative
analysis. In order to do so a 27- characteristics questionnaire was distributed to the
visitors of Glavani Park. Based on the aforementioned collection of data, the papers
develop a discussion on the analysed data. Finally the authors give their conclusions,
outline the limitations and propose future investigations.
1. LITERATURE REVIEW
The literature review based on service quality showed that “early research efforts
concentrated on defining and measuring the quality of tangible goods and products,
while the seemingly more difficult services sector was ignored” (Wong Ooi Mei et al.
199, 136). However, this started to change and service quality started to be heavily
investigated in the 1980's when its importance tried to be explained by a relevant
number of authors. Service quality concepts have developed in response to the
tremendous growth of service industries, resulting in their increased importance to
world economies (Prakash and Mohanty 2012, 1). Tourism and the hospitality industry
are no exception. Also many investigations confirm service quality as one of the key
parameters for visitors returning to the chosen destination and their recommendation of
it.
The definition of the service quality concept was given by many authors. Grönroos
(1984, 37) illustrated the perceived quality of the service as “an outcome of an
evaluation process, where the consumer compares his expectations with his perception
of the service received”. According to Parasuraman et al. (1988a, 16) perceived service
quality can be defined as “a global judgement, or attitude, relating to the superiority of
the service”. The interactive nature of the service process results in the consumer’s
evaluation of quality immediately after the provision and performance of that service
(Douglas and Connor 2003, 166). It is incumbent upon the manager to ensure that the
customer has experienced something positive to think about (Barrington and Olsen,
1987, 137). Consequently, understanding the perceived and expected service qualities
from the perspective of the customer is necessary for the improvement of the service
provider (Tsang et al. 2012, 418). One more important thing to point out is the
connection between service quality and customer satisfaction. Both are interrelated
concepts as both help to improve the performance of a firm (Tsang et al. 2012, 419);
therefore, researchers and managers thrive for learning details about components of
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service quality in their organization for obvious reasons of customer satisfaction (Seth
et al. 2005, 914).
Literature proposes different tools for measuring service quality, among which a 22-
characteristics instrument SERVQUAL holds a meaningful position, being one of the
most used measurements for service quality. Its development was initiated when
Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1985, 47) investigated customer-perceived quality
for four different settings and outlined service qualities with ten dimensions, which
afterwards were reduced to five dimensions, more general ones: tangibility, reliability,
responsiveness, assurance and empathy. They are defined as follows: (a) Tangibles -
physical appearance of facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials;
(b) Reliability - ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately; (c)
Responsiveness - willingness to help customers and provide a prompt service; (d)
Assurance - knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and
confidence; and (e) Empathy - caring, individualized attention the firm provides to its
customers (Tsang et al. 2012, 420). SERVQUAL is used to ascertain the level of
service quality and to identify where and to what extent gaps in service exist (Chang,
2009, 167). SERVQUAL is usable across the range of services since its dimensions are
universal in nature. For these reasons, SERVQUAL was used successfully over time in
different areas, markets and segments, including also numerous researches in the
tourism sector (Saleh and Ryan 1991; Fick and Ritchie 1991; Akan 1995; Ryan and
Cliff 1997; Tribe and Snait 1998; Wong Ooi Mei et al. 1999; Alexandris et al. 2002;
Akbaba, 2006; Loureiro and González, 2009; Chang 2009; Kuruuzum and Koksal
2010;Blešić et al. 2011;Law and Yip 2011; Ahmad Bhat 2012.; Marković et al. 2013;
Alam 2013).
According to the available data to authors, until now two authors used SERVQUAL in
theme park settings. O'Neill and Palmer (2003) investigated the role of experience
using SERVQUAL dimensions. The study was performed in the adventure theme park
in Western Australia on a group of 138 students on a 22- characteristics questionnaire.
The results showed the difference between inexperienced and experienced visitors, the
first one having factor loadings along five dimensions and second one having strong
factor loadings along six dimensions. Tsang et al. (2012) measured service quality in
Hong Kong Disneyland using THEMEQUAL scale with 26 characteristics. The authors
measured the gap between perceived service quality and expected service quality of
167 respondents along six dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness and access,
assurance, empathy, courtesy. The overall expectation scores are slightly higher than
perceptions ones, indicating a generally satisfactory level on the theme park service
quality.
As noted in the introduction, theme parks present new tourism trends, and, therefore, an
interesting new field for service quality investigation. Despite the global economic
uncertainty, the theme park and attraction industry has exhibited global growth in the
past decade (Milman and Dickson 2014, 448) and prospects indicate that it will
continue to do so (Lobo et al. 2009, 75). This proliferation is the proof of the huge
financial potential, along with other benefits, that theme parks can offer to the tourism
scene. Despite this, research on theme parks is relatively recent and most of the
published studies have appeared within the last two decades (Lobo et al. 2009, 68).
455

Theme park is the basic term for a compilation of rides and other amusement
attractions grouped together for the purpose of entertaining a group of people (De
Groote2011, 21). Theme park may be defined as a centre which offers rides and
attractions based around a central theme (Lewis and Clacher 2001, 168). These
themes/motifs are of key importance for the functioning of the parks; they create a
feeling of unity with the surroundings which at the same time constitutes a stark
contrast to everyday life (Kruczek 2011, 3) and themes are used to create and sustain a
feeling of life involvement in a setting completely removed from daily experience
(Raluca and Strutzen 2008, 636). If products, experiences, and people are the lifeblood
of the theme parks (De Groote 2011, 22) then service can be qualified as the link
between them that ensures ultimate satisfaction of the customers and their return and
their recommendation.
Given that the theme park experience of visitors plays a significant role in affecting
their satisfaction and their intention to return, theme park operators need not only put
efforts into improving theme park services, but also to understand and carefully
manage the theme park experience (Lo Shuk Ting 2007,ii). It is important for the parks
to know how consumers think, and what makes them visit or not visit attractions, and
when they want to visit a park (Dridea and Strutzen 2008, 639).Theme parks try to
make their own service standards and focus on how to develop service quality, and this
is because service is the most important factor that brings back customers to revisit a
theme park and every customer wants to be treated well with the service they receive
(Paik 2010, 7). High quality and continuous quality improvement in the products of the
parks will definitely bring immense success (Salamat Ullah Bhuiyan and Banik 2013,
37); and a better understanding of the specific perceptions of visitors is one of the
essential factors that can contribute to the better business of the theme parks and a
better position in the tourism market.
2. METHODOLOGY
The main purposes of this study were: (a) to fill the current gap in research by using a
modified THEMEQUAL model for measuring the perception of service quality; (b) to
assess the perceived service quality attributes; (c) to investigate the relative importance
of the service quality dimensions in influencing overall satisfaction levels of visitors.
Based on the existing SERVQUAL model and using the existing literature, we
proposed a modified THEMEQUAL model adapted for the adventure theme park
setting. Deriving from the aforementioned, four hypotheses were proposed:
H1: Overall perception of the service quality in Glavani Park is high.

H2: Tangibles is the most important perceived service quality dimension in the theme
park settings.
H3: Overall visitor satisfaction with Glavani Park is high.
H4: Responsiveness and access is the best predictor of the overall visitor satisfaction
in the theme park settings.
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Taking into account that Glavani Park was awarded with the “Certificate of
Excellence” three years in a row, it can be assumed that offered service quality and
satisfaction with the service are high. Therefore, we proposed H1 and H3. Furthermore,
based on the previous research (Tsang et al.) where “tangibles” was the most important
perceived service quality dimension and where responsiveness and access was the best
predictor of the overall visitor satisfaction, we proposed H2 and H3. This enables the
comparation of our research results with previous research.
Given the research purpose and proposed hypothesis, the questionnaire was developed.
For the purpose of testing the modified THEMEQUAL model and assessing service
quality and visitor satisfaction of Glavani Park, the questionnaire consisted of three
parts. The first part examined perceived service quality of visitors visiting Glavani
Park. In total the 27 characteristics which have been compiled from Tsang et al. (2012),
Lo Shuk Ting (2007) and Bigne et al. (2005), and modified according to the Glavani
Park setting, were listed. The second part examined the satisfaction level.
Characteristics were taken into consideration under the guide of previous studies, while
the third part collected demographic information of the respondents - gender, age, level
of education, occupation, motives for visiting the park, and frequency of visiting the
park. Respondents were instructed to evaluate the perceived service quality on a 5-
point Likert scale (1=“strongly disagree”, 5=“strongly agree”). The questionnaire was
prepared both in the English language and in the Croatian language to capture
international and domestic visitors. During its distribution, the questionnaire was
accompanied by the written explanation clarifying the aim of the research and
promising anonymity to the respondents.
The target sample population of the present research was visitors to the theme park
Glavani Park. Glavani Park is set in the Istria region and mainly contains high level
adventure paths. Because of this, it can also be characterized as an adventure/adrenalin
park. It was opened in 2011 and today represents one of the main tourism destinations
in inner Istria. Glavani Park was awarded the “Certificate of Excellence” for 2012,
2013 and again in 2014 by the world’s biggest travel website “Trip Advisor” (Glavani
Park). The theme park Glavani Park was chosen due to two important characteristics -
availability and accessibility (open all year). Since the visits to the theme park are
seasonal, because it changes not only according to the season, but also depending on
the day of the week, and even, the hour of the day (Lobo et al., 2009, 68), it was of
fundamental importance to have the support of park management for the collection of
the questionnaires. For all the named reasons, Glavani Park was chosen as the setting
for this research. The park director helped to distribute and collect the surveys from the
park visitors using a self-administered questionnaire. The participation was voluntary
and the data were collected using a convenience sample approach. The data collection
duration was three months in the winter time and 154 usable questionnaires were
collected.
Data were analysed using a software package for statistical analysis SPSS 20.
Descriptive statistics were adopted to measure the perceived service quality of
respondents. Reliability analysis was performed to test the internal consistency of
factors by using Cronbach alpha’s coefficient. Based on the visitors’ perception scores,
the six dimensions of the THEMEQUAL model were then used in the multiple
457
regressions to determine the implications and relative importance of each dimension of

the service quality in predicting overall visitors’ satisfaction level in the theme park
3. RESULTS
A descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the respondents’ demographic

profile. The results are shown in Table 1.
Among the 154 respondents, slightly more females (58.4 percent) than males (41.6
percent) were included in the study. The sample included domestic (74.7 percent) and
international visitors (25.3 percent). Most of the respondents (80.5 percent) were
younger than 40 years, completed college or university education (49.4 percent) and
were employed (51.3 percent). According to the motives for visiting Glavani Park, the
main motive was “desire for an adrenaline experience” (84.4 percent), followed by
“rest and relaxation (34.4 percent), “escape from the daily routine” (32.5 percent) and
“enjoying nature” (31.8 percent).
Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the respondents (N=154)
Characteristics Percentage Characteristics Percentage

Gender Age
Male 41.6 less than 20 22.1
Female 58.4 21 – 30 40.9
31 -40 17.5
Education 41 -50 12.3
Primary school 1.3 51 -60 5.2
Secondary school 37.0 61 and above 1.9
College and
49.4
University
MSc or PhD 19.0 Occupation
Employed 51.3
Type of visitors Unemployed 6.5
Domestic 74.7 Pupil 16.9
Foreign 25.3 Student 23.4
Retired 1.9
Motive for visiting Glavani Park
Escape from the daily Number of visits to Glavani Park
32.5
routine
Rest and relaxation 34.4 One time 51.3
Enjoying nature 31.8 Two times 18.2
Desire for an
84.4 Three times 11.0
adrenaline experience
Four or more
19.5
times
Source: Authors
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Table 2 presents the average scores of each characteristic and dimension across the
whole sample and provides an interesting insight into the visitors’ appreciation of the
service quality provided in the theme park. Scores were calculated by averaging the
visitors’ ratings of the different characteristics (which were recorded on a five-point
Likert scale). Scores close to 5 indicated a strong level of agreement with a
characteristic (or dimension) while scores close to 1 indicated a strong level of
disagreement.
Table 2: Visitors’ perceptions of theme park service quality (N=154)
Perceptions
Characteristics
Mean Rank SD
Mean tangible 4.38 - -
V1 – modern outlook of facilities 4.08 27 0.926
V2 – visually appealing facilities 4.40 23 0.805
V3 – visually appealing informative
4.19 26 0.801
materials
V4 – willingness to solve problems 4.84 3 0.478
Mean reliability 4.59 - -

V5 – immediately available facilities 4.37 24 0.808
V6 – reliable facilities 4.65 18 0.662
V7 – accurately service performing 4.67 14 0.627
V8 – never too busy staff 4.68 11 0.635
Mean responsiveness and access 4.76 - -
V9 – exactly performed service 4.62 20 0.706
V10 – offering service on time 4.66 17 0.670
V11 – willingness to help 4.88 1 0.462
V12 – easily obtained information 4.81 7 0.521
V13 – easily access to the staff 4.77 9 0.530
V14 – confidence to the visitors 4.80 8 0.516
Mean assurance 4.72 - -
V15 – feeling safe 4.68 12 0.602
V16 – sufficient knowledge 4.82 5 0.504
V17 – convenient operation hours 4.67 15 0.606
Mean empathy 4.77 - -
V18 – best interest at heart 4.82 6 0.487
V19 – offering individual attention 4.64 19 0.591
V20 – understanding specific needs 4.68 13 0.604
459
Perceptions
Characteristics
Mean Rank SD
V21 – pleasant experience 4.85 2 0.482
V22 – consistently polite staff 4.84 4 0.517
Mean ambience 4.53 - -
V23 – attractive activities 4.74 10 0.614
V24 – unique activities 4.42 22 0.806
V25 – providing ‘adventure’
4.67 16 0.627
environment
V26 – sufficient number of activities 4.25 25 0.926
V27 – providing unique experience 4.55 21 0.742
Overall mean 4.63 - -
Note: Perceptions means range from 1(“strongly disagree”) to 5 (“strongly agree”)
Source: Authors
The service quality of the theme park was measured on 27 characteristics and six
dimensions. The highest rated quality dimension from visitors’ perspective was
“empathy” (4.77), followed by “responsiveness and access” (4.76), “assurance” (4.72),
“reliability” (4.59), “ambience” (4.53) and “tangible” (4.38).
The highest performed dimension “empathy” included following characteristics: “best

interest at heart” (4.82), “offering individual attention” (4.64), “understanding specific
needs” (4.68), “pleasant experience” (4.85) and “consistently polite staff” (4.84).
Empathy entails personal attentiveness, an ability “to enter” into and identify with
another person’s situation and such an ability is an important quality factor for most
customers (Edvardsson 1998, 145), which this study confirms.
The second highest performed dimension “responsiveness and access” confirmed the
findings of Lee et al. (2000, 217) who showed that responsiveness is a significant
factor for people-based industries. Visitors desire staff members who react quickly and
are accessible.
The results of the dimensions “reliability”, along with already mentioned “empathy”
demonstrated that the performance of staff within the park was very good. The staff
was never too busy, performed the service accurately and the facilities were
immediately available. The characteristics “immediately available facilities” (4.37),
“reliable facilities” (4.65), “accurately service performing” (4.67), and “never too busy
staff” (4.68) represent the dimension “reliability“ which assessed a 4.59 mean score.
According to Parasuraman et al. (1988b, 23), assurance is defined as knowledge and

courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence. Glavani Park
visitors rated the assurance with a very high mean score (4.72).
460
The dimension “ambience” was rated with 4.53 and included characteristics as
“attractive activities” (4.74), “unique activities” (4.42), “providing ‘adventure’
environment” (4.67), “sufficient number of activities” (4.25), and “providing unique
experience” (4.55). Wong and Cheung (1999, 319) delineated the importance of theme
and atmosphere, which are the essential parts of a theme park in creating a uniqueness
experience.
All tangibles utilized in the park drove the competitive advantages and novelty.
Findings have shown that visitors were surprised and satisfied by the physical outlook
and its product (4.08).
The overall perceptions mean score was 4.63 indicating a very high level of service
quality. All 27 characteristics achieved mean scores between 4.08 and 4.88. The lowest
mean score was achieved by the characteristics “modern looking facilities” (4.08) and
“visually appealing informative materials” (4.19), while the highest mean scores were
achieved by the characteristics “willingness to help” (4.88), “pleasant experience”
(4.85), “willingness to help the visitors” (4.84) and “consistently polite staff” (4.84).
Comparing the results with Tsang et al. (2012), it can be noted that the overall
perceptions mean score was 3.67. All 26 characteristics were rated with mean scores
between 3.43 and 4.24. The highest rated dimension was “tangibles” (3.85), while the
lowest rated dimension was “empathy” (3.54). These results are showing a substantial
difference comparing to this study.
The reliability analysis was performed. The results showed that Cronbach’s alpha value
for the overall perception scale was 0.961 and indicates its high reliability. That is well
above the minimum value of 0.60, which is considered acceptable as an indicator of
scale reliability (Hair et al. 2006, 125).
The satisfaction level was measured using a 5-point Likert scale. Findings showed a
very high satisfaction level (4.69), implying that visitors were generally very satisfied
with the service quality of the park. In total, 84 percent of visitors were very satisfied,
14 percent of visitors were satisfied and 2 percent of visitors were not satisfied.
Indicators such as the visitors’ public reviews and the TripAdvisors’ Certificate of
Excellence confirm the very high level of satisfaction.
To investigate the relative importance of the service quality dimensions in influencing

overall satisfaction levels of visitors, a multiple regression analysis was performed.
Overall satisfaction level of visitors was used as the dependent variable and the six
THEMEQUAL dimensions were used as the independent variables. The results are
shown in Table 3.
461
Table 3: Impact of service dimensions of the satisfaction level of visitors
R= 0.737
R2= 0.543
Adjusted R2 = 0.536
Standard error= 0.349
F= 89.53%
Significant level of F= 0.000
Independent variable Beta t Significance
(Constant) - 10,041 0.000
Responsiveness and access 0.266 3.635 0.000
Ambience 0.534 7.299 0.000
Source: Authors
The coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.543 is indicating an explanation for the

54.3% variation in satisfaction level. The significance value of two factors (“ambience”
and “responsiveness and access”) was less than the significant level of 0.05 indicating
that the regression model was statistically significant and that the two service quality
factors positively affected the respondent’s overall satisfaction of service quality. The
beta value indicates that “ambience” was the best predictor of visitor satisfaction
(Beta=0.534), followed by “responsiveness and access” (Beta= 0.266). This means that
these two factors were essential for the high service quality in the theme park settings.
The dimensions “tangibles”, “reliability”, “assurance” and “empathy” showed
statistically insignificant influence on visitors' satisfaction and therefore were not
included in the table 3.
Comparing the results with Tsang et al. (2012), R2 of 0.336 is shown explaining 33.6%
variations in satisfaction level. Three independent variables, “responsiveness and
access”, “assurance”, and “empathy” were a statistically significant predictor of visitor
satisfaction (p< 0.05) and the beta value confirmed that “responsiveness and access”
was the best predictor of visitor satisfaction (Beta= 0.272), followed by “assurance”
(Beta=0.154), and “empathy” Beta = 0.150). The dimensions “tangibles”, “reliability”,
and “courtesy” showed statistically insignificant influence on visitors’ satisfaction.
CONCLUSION
Today, all organisations operating in modern economies have become either purely
services-based entities or product-based and service-dependent entities, and all have to
compete on the basis of their service-quality results (Dedeke 2003, 276). The tourism
sector, more specifically theme park setting, is no exception; therefore theme park
managers are increasingly aware of the advantages of providing a high quality service
and generating visitor satisfaction (Lewis and Clacher 2001, 169). Many countries and
areas have paid close attention to develop the profitable theme park (Deng 2011, 2),
since it can provide visitors a sole reason to travel to a specific location (Paik 2010, 5).
Theme parks have been one of the industries that have grown the most in Europe in
recent years, the reasons for this being increased leisure time, and increased demand for
entertainment and supply led facilities (Modrego et al. 2000, 386).
462
In order to empirically contribute to the topic, the present paper analyses and discusses
the perception of service quality in the theme park surrounding. In general, the visitors
to Glavani Park have a very high overall perception of service quality. The results’
analysis showed that the visitors’ highest perception concerns “empathy” and the
visitors’ lowest perception concerns tangible; therefore, both results being somewhat
different compared to other application of THEMEQUAL (as aforementioned). The
overall satisfaction level of visitors to Glavani Park is also very high, indicating that the
management of this theme park understands the specific needs of visitors and matches
it with the offer. This study was used to test four hypotheses, and due to the results
analysis, two hypotheses are accepted and two hypotheses are rejected. H1 proposed
that overall perception of the service quality in Glavani Park is high. This hypothesis
was confirmed as the overall perception mean score of 4.63 indicates a very high level
of service quality. This finding goes in line with already established ratings for Glavani
Park (available on the Internet) and confirms continuous high service quality which
enables the opportunity for the good position in the tourism market. H2 proposed that
“tangibles” is the most important perceived service quality dimension in the theme park
settings. H2 is rejected since the findings show that the most important perceived
quality dimension in the theme park setting is “empathy”, while the least important one
is “tangibles”. This finding is in contrast to many previous SERVQUAL studies,
highlighting the specific characteristic of theme parks and indicating that different
service quality measures should be developed for different service settings. H3 was that
the overall satisfaction with Glavani Park is high. This hypothesis was supported by the
result of 4.69, indicating very high satisfaction level. This once again confirmed the
well-established rating of Glavani Park. H4 proposed that “responsiveness and access”
is the best predictor of the overall visitor satisfaction in the theme park settings. This
hypothesis was rejected since the best predictor turned out to be “ambience”. However,
since the “responsiveness and access” was one out of two predictors in total, the
importance of “responsiveness and access” cannot be overlooked.
Several limitations associated with this paper are recognized. The period of data
collection was in the winter time, which in general has an effect on lower numbers of
visitors to Glavani Park, which also influences, as well, the sample size. Another
limitation is visitors’ demographic characteristics, since the majority of respondents
were domestic visitors which may not match the exact visitors’ profile of Glavani Park.
Last, only the investigation of the service quality perception was employed. Future
research may consider an investigation during the high tourism season which will also
enable a better demographic picture and a larger sample size. The future studies should
also include the investigation of both expectations and perceptions.
The paper contributes to the existing literature of service quality in the context of
theme parks with its theoretical presentation, empirical findings and practical input;
therefore the findings can be used both by managers in theme parks for improving
service quality and by the scientific community as an input to service quality literature
and encouragement for further research.
463
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Iva Valčić, MA, PhD Student

Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Opatija
Primorska 42, P.O.Box 97, 51410 Opatija, Croatia
E-mail: iva.valc@gmail.com
Jelena Komšić, MA, PhD Student

Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Opatija
Department of Quantitative Economics
Primorska 42, P.O.Box 97, 51410 Opatija, Croatia
Phone: +385-51- 294681
E-mail: jelenak@fthm.hr
465
Nigel Christopher Simpson, Director

Istra Život d.o.o. (Glavani Park)
Glavani 4, 52207 Barban
Phone: +385-91-8964525
E-mail: nigel@glavanipark.com
466
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INVESTIGATING THEME PARK SERVICE QUALITY BY USING MODIFIED

Conference Paper · April 2015

Measuring online reputation impact on tourism destination competitiveness View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

INVESTIGATING THEME PARK SERVICE QUALITY

Iva Valčić Received 23 March 2015

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2637385

In consideration of the aforementioned, we begin with a review of the literature on

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2637385

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2637385

H1: Overall perception of the service quality in Glavani Park is high.

regressions to determine the implications and relative importance of each dimension of

A descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the respondents’ demographic

Table 1: Demographic characteristics of the respondents (N=154)

Characteristics Percentage Characteristics Percentage

Table 2: Visitors’ perceptions of theme park service quality (N=154)

Mean reliability 4.59 - -

The highest performed dimension “empathy” included following characteristics: “best

According to Parasuraman et al. (1988b, 23), assurance is defined as knowledge and

To investigate the relative importance of the service quality dimensions in influencing

Table 3: Impact of service dimensions of the satisfaction level of visitors

The coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.543 is indicating an explanation for the

Iva Valčić, MA, PhD Student

Jelena Komšić, MA, PhD Student

Nigel Christopher Simpson, Director

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