Conceptualising customer value in a leisure service setting: value is in the eye of the beholder.

Currently there is little research that considers value or value creation from a sport and physical activity context or from the participant’s perspective. Despite the emerging importance of value as an incentive for customers to perform desired behaviours, this study’s investigation represents the first examination of the value construct as it pertains to the consumption of sport and physical activity opportunities. Sheth & Uslay (2007:303) called for marketers to use the value creating paradigm to ‘reach beyond value in exchange and even value in use’ to think about other types of value, whilst this research was focused specifically on identifying the various dimensions of customer-perceived value in a sport and physical activity setting, insights gained from this study also question the simplicity of value being conceived as an either (value-in-exchange) or (value-in-use) concept, and this is where the paper’s significant contribution to further our theoretical understanding can be found. Whilst accepting further work is required to refine the original S&PAVAL model that is presented here, and to test it in a wider variety of settings, this paper contributes to a deeper and more meaningful investigation into customer value theory.