Analysis of existing literature on management and marketing of the fitness centre industry

Abstract

The present paper discusses a literature analysis to provide a comprehensive overview of the current status of research on the management and marketing of fitness centres. Four data bases were utilised: SCOPUS, ABI INFORM, ISOC and SPORTDISCUS. The following combination of search terms was employed: ‘fitness industry’ and ‘fitness centre’. These key words exposed about 87 articles that were published between 1980 and 2013. The articles were categorised chronologically and by publishing journal and content. The results revealed that the body of knowledge of fitness centres is heterogeneous. The thematic areas of the content of the articles are, in the order from the most number to the least number of publications: quality; satisfaction and loyalty; human resources; sociological aspects; organisational culture; segmentation; sport facilities; and innovation.

Key words: Fitness industry; Literature analysis; Systematic revision; Thematic structuring.