The service quality of sport-entertainment facilities of Mashhad municipality with the approach of an elderly-friendly city in 2018

The phenomenon of increasing elderly population is one of the most important economic, social and health challenges in the 21st century. Currently, Iran's population is not structurally elderly, but soon, the elderly population in Iran will form a significant part of the country's population structure.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the quality of sports and entertainment facilities in Mashhad municipality with the approach of an elderly-friendly city. The statistical population included two parts: spatial and human. Using Cochran's sampling method, and according to the total population of people 60 years and older living in Mashhad (22481 people), the sample size was determined to be 378 people (15).. Then, by using a pilot project in some sports and recreational places, the attitude of the elderly towards the services provided by the Mashhad municipality was investigated.
The criteria for entering the study include the ability to do sports, the absence of sensory and motor disabilities, not taking anti-depressants, not suffering from Alzheimer's disease and physical illness or the history of any specific disease that may endanger a person's health by doing sports (16). The exclusion criteria included unwillingness to continue cooperation in the research. Demographic profile questionnaires, socio-economic status questionnaire (17) and service quality measurement questionnaire of Parasuraman et al. (1988), were used to collect data. 0.88 (18). Finally, 352 questionnaires were collected for statistical analysis.
One-Sample Kolmogorov Smirnov statistical test was used to determine the normality of the data obtained from the demographic variables. Non-parametric tests such as Wilcoxon statistical tests, Friedman's ranking, repeated measurement and Ben-Froni's post hoc test were used to determine the quality of sports services in the thirteen districts of Mashhad Municipality. The probability value of α=0.05 was used to analyze the results in the SPSS-25 software environment. The research design of the present study was approved by the ethics committee of the Islamic Azad University of Mashhad with the code IR-IAU-MSHD.REC.1397.027.

Based on One-Sample Kolmogorov Smirnov’s results, the null hypothesis was rejected, so non-parametric tests such as Wilcoxon statistical tests, Friedman's ranking, measurement Repeated and Ben-Ferroni post hoc test were used for data analysis.
The findings demonstrated that among the five dimensions of the SEROQUEL model, the assurance dimension with the highest score (3.735 ± 0.707) ranks first. Dimensions of tangibles (3.717±0.734), reliability (3.692±0.603), responsiveness (3.476±0.839) and empathy (3.326±1.087) were placed in the second to fifth ranks respectively. Also, perceptions-expectations difference scores of the elderly regarding the quality of municipal sports facilities compared, results showed in all dimensions, the score of perceptions of the existing situation was significantly lower than their expectations which showed a negative gap in all five dimensions. The largest negative gap (-0.747) was related to the dimension of assurance. The smallest negative gap was related to the responsiveness dimension.
In interpreting the results of Will-Coxon's test to understand the difference between the current and desired conditions of the quality of sports services provided by Mashhad Municipality for the elderly, the value of Z, which is significant at the error level of less than 0.001, It confirms that there is a significant difference in the level of perception-expectation. The negative gap indicates the amount and direction of these differences.
In compare the average data among dimensions of service quality, by repeated measure, results showed there is a significant difference between the score of service quality dimensions in the perception section (P≥0.05), but the results of Bonferroni's post-hoc test showed that the only significant difference in current situation is located between the score of the reliability dimension and other four dimensions of quality (P≥0.05). difference between the other four dimensions (tangibles, assurance, responsiveness and empathy) were not significant.
In examining the expectations of the elderly regarding the quality of municipal sports facilities, it was observed that the mean score of expectations in all dimensions is higher than perception. The results of the Friedman ranking test showed a significant difference between the scores of these dimensions (Table 6). According to the significance of Friedman's test, the chi-square value obtained for the average perceptions was equal to 36.661, which is at the error level of less than 0.05.

According to the results of the present research, in measuring the quality of sports facilities in Mashhad Municipality from the perspective of the elderly, in the perception section, the dimension of assurance with the highest score and the dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness and empathy were ranked in the second to fifth ranks, respectively. Also, in the expectations section of the assurance dimension, tangibles, reliability, responsiveness and empathy were ranked first to fifth respectively. In all dimensions, the scores of seniors' perceptions of service quality were significantly lower than their expectations, and in other words, there was a negative gap in all five dimensions. The biggest negative gap was related to the dimension of assurance, reliability, tangibles, empathy in the next categories and the least was related to the dimension of accountability. The following researchers also reported a negative gap in the evaluation of the quality of services in university sports facilities, sports clubs and recreational sports facilities in all dimensions, which were in line with the results of the present study (11,12,19,20) The existence of a negative gap in all dimensions of quality indicates the existence of problems in service provision and makes it necessary to pay attention to the quality-of-service provision and improve it.
Compared to the results of foreign research results showed that the quality of public sports services has an average level (31). Unfortunately, no positive gap was found in any of the dimensions of service quality in the present study and other internal studies, which indicates the low and unacceptable quality of services provided at the level of sports facilities in the country.