Impact of experience creation through sensory stimuli in gyms on perceived value, brand strength, and word-of-mouth advertising

Nowadays, with a growing number of services and raising the access level to information and distribution channels, customers show more flexibility in decision-making. Due to intense competition in service industries such as Gyms, managers of these centers need to take new approaches to attract and retain customers. Accordingly, this research aims to investigate the impact of experience creation through sensory stimuli in gyms on perceived value, brand strength, and word-of-mouth advertising.This research is applied in terms of purpose and is descriptive-correlational in terms of data collection. The sample consisted of 215 customers of luxury gyms in Tehran selected through purposive sampling. The main data collection tool was a questionnaire composed of Semi self-made and pre-existing questions. The questionnaires used include sensory stimuli scale (Hosseini et al., 2017), brand experience scale (Brakus et al., 2009), perceived value scale (Wiedmann et al., 2018), brand strength scale (Wymer., 2013), satisfaction scale (Chung et al., 2005), and word-of-mouth advertising scale (Helgesen & Nesset, 2007). Finally, structural equation modeling was applied using Smart PLS 3 software to identify the interactions between the variables.The results indicated that sensory stimuli lead to brand experience creation, and this path leads to customers’ perceived value. Furthermore, perceived value leads to brand strength and ultimately to positive word-of-mouse advertising.