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Effect of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction in 9mobile Nigeria
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background to the Study
Service oriented organizations are
increasingly becoming the order of the day globally. Telecommunication service
providers play an important role in socio economic development of any country
in the world (Rajesh & Yadav, 2013). Customers are the life blood of any
business and those businesses that fail to satisfy and retain customers usually
end with a decline in the overall profit (Mishal, 2015). Satisfied customers
form the foundation of any successful business as customer satisfaction leads
to repeat purchase, brand loyalty and positive word of mouth promotion
(Angelova & Zekiri, 2011). Success of a service provider depends on the
high quality relationship with customers (Panda, 2003), which determines
customer satisfaction and loyalty (Jones, 2002 as cited in Garga & Ja‟afaru,
2016). Research has shown repeatedly that service quality influences
organizational outcome such as performance superiority (Poretla & Thanassoulis,
2005), increase in profit (Duncan & Elliot, 2002) and market share (Fisher,
2001), improving customer relations, enhance corporate image and promote
customer loyalty (Newman, 2001). In Nigeria, for instance, the
telecommunication sector contributed N1,399 billion to GDP in the third quarter
of 2016 [National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 2017].Nigeria is the largest
telecom market in Africa (Nigerian Communications Commission, 2016). Therefore,
there is increasing demand for the services of telecommunication companies as
well as increasing concern for the quality of the services they provide
especially as how they affect customer satisfaction. The market for these services
has thrown up intense rivalry among the operators In this
competitive telecommunication market, customer satisfaction becomes the most
important factor for business success (Abdullahi & Sanad, 2017). Service
quality is considered to be one of the main determinants of customer
satisfaction in both manufacturing and service industries (Shafq, Ahmad,
Muhammad, Nakeed & Hassan 2010). It has also been seen as a critical factor
for the success of organizations because of its close link with customer
satisfaction (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985; Gilbert and Veloutsu,
2006). Therefore, much emphasis is placed on service quality as a main
determinant of customer satisfaction. Service quality is multi-dimensional; it
encompasses reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness of
service. All of these dimensions are related to customer satisfaction
(Parasuraman et al., 1985). Some other factors that may affect customer
satisfaction in the telecommunication sector include price, call quality, call
drop rate, geographical coverage, and data quality and speed while not actually
affecting customers‟ perception of service quality. Delivering quality service
to customers is a must for success and survival in competitive
telecommunication industry. Moreover, the key to success in today's competitive
environment lies in delivering quality services to increase the level of
customer satisfaction (Shemwell, 1998). Organizations that provide competitive
service qualities have a lot of satisfied and loyal customer base (Aaker&
Jacobson, 1994; Gilbbert & Veloutsou 2006). There are four major Global
Systems for Mobile telecommunication (GSM) players within the Nigeria's
telecommunication industry. These include Mobile Telecommunication Network
(MTN), Airtel Nigeria, Globacom, and Emerging Market Telecommunication Services
(9mobile Nigeria). With stiff competition within Nigeria's oligopolistic
telecommunication industry, customer satisfaction is a necessity for survival
in the market. 3 Also, with stiff competition, customers have got a variety
choice, increased knowledge about services and prices with the possibility to
switch from one company to the other. This has especially been made possible
with the introduction of Mobile Number Portability (transfer of subscribers to
different network carriers) by the NCC.
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