3.2. Instruments

To measure the role of digital platforms services in fitness centers, a questionnaire initially developed by Carlson and O'Cass [11] with 48 items was used. It was based on multi-item scales validated in the context of content-driven e-service web sites, and includes four variables: e-service quality (composed of a total of thirty-four items and four key constructs, specifically usefulness, ease-of-use, entertainment, and complementary relationship) [54], customer satisfaction (a four-item scale) [55], attitudes toward the digital platforms (a five-item scale) [17,56,57], and behavioral intentions (a five-item scale) [58]. Responses were based on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

The questionnaire was translated into Spanish. To do so, a panel of three bilingual experts with more than five years of experience in sports management used collaborative back-translation techniques to translate the instrument into Spanish [59]. Next, two individuals with competence in both English and Spanish performed a back-translation of the Spanish items to English to maximize the content equivalence and to reduce interpretation difficulties, and the back-translation was the same as the original items and only required minor editing to obtain a final Spanish scale. Then, to determine the content validity we used a validation group composed of four managers of fitness centers and one consultant specialized in the fitness industry.

To find out the physical activity habits prior to and during lockdown, the participants were asked: does your fitness center offer activities through digital platforms? does your fitness center have a fitness App? approximate habitable square meters of the house in which you are confined; does your home have a garden, terrace or exit to outside?