Using Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) to Improve Golf Club Management: The Gap between Users and Managers’ Perceptions

Abstract

This work is carried out in order to provide new evidence on the usefulness of the Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) in the management of golf courses, identifying the main strengths, weaknesses, and discrepancies between managers and users. This information will make it possible to identify potentially mistaken beliefs of managers regarding the service and to design improvement strategies based on the results. The participants were 11 managers, with an average age of 35.4 years (σ 6.5), of whom 72.7% were men and 27.3% were women, and 891 users, with an average age of 47.5 years (σ 12.3), of whom 81.7% were men and 18.3% were women. The instrument used was the Q-Golf scale, and among others, it was applied to the IPA. The results obtained show how the perception of managers regarding the service is worse than that of users. Additionally, the global assessment of the users is higher than the average assessment of each of the items of the club. This positive halo effect, which is not found in the case of managers, is very interesting from the point of view of the loyalty of golf users.