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Challenges in the Era of Globalization - iaabd

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<strong>Challenges</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Era</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Globalization</strong><br />

Edited by Emmanuel Obuah<br />

identified three retention-build<strong>in</strong>g approaches through add<strong>in</strong>g f<strong>in</strong>ancial benefits, social benefits, and<br />

structural ties (Kotler and Keller, 2006; Wunderman, 2000).<br />

Effect <strong>of</strong> Service Quality on Customer Retention<br />

The quality <strong>of</strong> service is considered to be a critical success factor for contemporary service companies.<br />

Service quality's close conceptual, as well as empirical l<strong>in</strong>k to customer satisfaction turned it <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> core<br />

market<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>strument, mak<strong>in</strong>g it <strong>the</strong> most researched area <strong>in</strong> services market<strong>in</strong>g (Fisk et al., 1995; Bolton<br />

et al., 2000). In addition, <strong>the</strong> accumulated research has l<strong>in</strong>ked service quality positively with pr<strong>of</strong>itability<br />

(Fornell, 1992). This l<strong>in</strong>k, however, is not straightforward (Zeithaml et al., 1996). The contribution <strong>of</strong><br />

service quality to pr<strong>of</strong>itability is generally expla<strong>in</strong>ed by two underly<strong>in</strong>g processes: firstly by <strong>the</strong> fact that it<br />

is regarded as one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> few means for service differentiation and competitive advantage which attracts<br />

new customers and contributes to <strong>the</strong> market share; and secondly by <strong>the</strong> view that it is an important means<br />

for customer retention. In <strong>the</strong> long run, build<strong>in</strong>g and ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g a successful long term customer<br />

relationship as well as survival <strong>in</strong> today’s competitive marketplace demands <strong>the</strong> delivery <strong>of</strong> quality<br />

service to customers. Customer retention <strong>the</strong>n implies a long-term commitment on <strong>the</strong> part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

customer and <strong>the</strong> firm to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> relationship (Wilson, 1995). Thus, improved service quality<br />

translates <strong>in</strong>to favourable behavioural <strong>in</strong>tentions which <strong>in</strong> turn, lead to customer retention.<br />

Hypo<strong>the</strong>ses Tested<br />

The alternative hypo<strong>the</strong>ses tested <strong>in</strong> this study were:-<br />

1. H1: Tangibility has a significant positive <strong>in</strong>fluence on customer retention.<br />

2. H2: Reliability has a significant positive <strong>in</strong>fluence on customer retention.<br />

3. H3: Responsiveness has a significant positive <strong>in</strong>fluence on customer retention.<br />

4. H4: Assurance has a significant positive <strong>in</strong>fluence on customer retention.<br />

5. H5: Empathy has a significant positive <strong>in</strong>fluence on customer retention.<br />

Methodology<br />

The study was limited to MTN, market leader <strong>in</strong> Ghana <strong>in</strong> terms <strong>of</strong> customer base. Also, <strong>the</strong> study was<br />

limited to <strong>the</strong> Greater Accra Region, as MTN had most <strong>of</strong> its Customer Care Centres (15 <strong>in</strong> all) <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

region. Simple random sampl<strong>in</strong>g was used to select five (5) <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> lead<strong>in</strong>g Customer Care Centres from<br />

which 30 customers were randomly selected from each centre. Enough similarity existed amongst <strong>the</strong><br />

elements with<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> population to conclude that a few <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> elements (<strong>the</strong> sample) adequately represented<br />

<strong>the</strong> characteristics <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> total population (Page and Mayer, 2000). The ma<strong>in</strong> <strong>in</strong>struments used for <strong>the</strong><br />

study were questionnaire and structured <strong>in</strong>terviews. A pilot study was conducted with 10 respondents<br />

which helped to ref<strong>in</strong>e <strong>the</strong> f<strong>in</strong>al questionnaire used for study. Some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> issues <strong>in</strong>clude content,<br />

anonymity and complexity <strong>of</strong> questions. In addition, Parasuraman et al.'s (1988) SERVQUAL <strong>in</strong>strument<br />

was chosen to measure service quality <strong>in</strong> this study s<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>the</strong> model, accord<strong>in</strong>g to Brown and Bond<br />

(1995), is considered to be a reliable measure <strong>of</strong> service quality. Besides, this <strong>in</strong>strument has been widely<br />

used <strong>in</strong> research and its psychometric properties have been exam<strong>in</strong>ed by a number <strong>of</strong> studies (Zhao et al.,<br />

2002). In all 150 MTN customers were surveyed with 146 valid responses (97.3% response rate). The<br />

objective was to obta<strong>in</strong> an accurate pr<strong>of</strong>ile on <strong>the</strong> customers’ perceptions <strong>of</strong> service quality (Cron<strong>in</strong> and<br />

Taylor, 1994). The data collected were analyzed us<strong>in</strong>g SPSS. Analysis techniques employed<br />

<strong>in</strong>clude: regression analysis, cross-tabulations, analysis <strong>of</strong> means and descriptive.<br />

Results, Analysis, and discussions<br />

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