Finding motivation groups within customers – Case Tali Tennis Center cluster analysis

Abstract

The discussion of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation has been ongoing for many decades. This study focuses on how the form of motivation affects customer value creation by examining the customer questionnaire data from Tali Center, which is one of the biggest inside tennis centers in Europe, utilizing a theoretical background of Self Determination Theory.

The motivational variables were compressed into three components: Intrinsic Component, Extrinsic Component I and Extrinsic Component II. K-means cluster analysis was conducted based on these components and it resulted in two clusters: Intrinsically motivated Cluster and Extrinsically motivated Cluster. The characteristics of the clusters were extended by conducting a cross tabulation analysis which resulted in significant differences in demographic variables between the clusters. Finally, the differences in customer satisfaction, frequency of visits, and willingness to pay were examined in ANOVA analyses.

The main findings of this study are that intrinsically motivated customers have a higher level of customer satisfaction (1), the form of motivation is not significant when it comes to willingness to pay or frequency of visits (2), female customers demonstrate more intrinsic motivation than male customers (3), and that age is not a significant determinator in motivation (4).

The findings of this study provide support for Self Determination Theory. When it comes to managerial implications of this study, sport center managers can more easily recognize differences between their customer segments and target services more efficiently.