Social Networks and E-Loyalty: A New Means of Sports Training during COVID-19 Quarantines

Abstract

Globally, governments implemented several quarantine periods to attempt to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. As a result, people were unable to carry out their daily activities in person, and many began to undertake activities online. Gyms and sports schools were among the economic sectors that were required to physically close their operations at the beginning of these quarantines. Thus, many people stopped exercising and turned to social networks as a form of entertainment. The aim of this study was to demonstrate how consumers found a new form of entertainment in the social networks of gyms and sports schools, which allowed them to be entertained and perform physical exercise at home. In this manner, consumers generated an e-loyalty towards the social networks of the gyms that they previously frequented physically. Thus, based on the e-loyalty of their social networks, gyms were able to identify a mechanism that enabled them to approach their consumers and continue offering a variety of products and services online, taking into account the context of COVID-19.