The impact of service quality on satisfaction and behavioral intentions of marathon event: Evidence from The Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) marathon event scale, Vietnam

Abstract

Purpose: This study investigates the impact of Service Quality (SQ) on Satisfaction (SAQ) and Behavioral Intentions (BIQ) among participants of the Ho Chi Minh City Marathon event. Research Subjects: The survey targeted marathon participants, yielding 420 valid responses. Methodology: The research applied a combination of descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to validate the measurement and structural models. Findings: The findings reveal that service quality (SQ) significantly influences participant satisfaction. Among the six dimensions, Physical Environment Quality (PEQ) (β = 0.421, p<0.001, f² = 0.380) and Information Quality (IFQ) (β = 0.309, p<0.001, f² = 0.213) emerged as the strongest predictors, followed by Outcome Quality (OQ), Game Quality (GQ), and Interaction Quality (ITQ). In contrast, Social Quality (SoQ) did not show a significant effect. Satisfaction was found to be the strongest predictor of behavioral intention (β = 0.726, p<0.001, R² = 0.528) and acted as a key mediator between service quality dimensions and behavioral intentions.