Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/msm/wpaper/2014-06.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Building Customer Loyalty among SMEs in Uganda: The Role of Customer Satisfaction, Trust, and Commitment

Author

Listed:
  • Dr. Terry Najja Kakeeto-Aelen

    (Maastricht School of Management, The Netherlands)

  • Professor Jan C van Dalen

    (Maastricht School of Management, The Netherlands)

  • Professor H. Jaap van den Herik

    (Leiden University, The Netherlands)

  • Dr. Bartel A. Van de Walle

    (Tilburg University, The Netherlands)

Abstract
In the marketing arena, the last two decades have been characterised by increased attention towards the subject of Relationship Marketing (RM). Both academics and practitioners today increasingly recognize RM as one of the main marketing strategies that is necessary to keep companies visible and competitive in the eyes of their customers. However, what we observe is that inspite of increased interest in the subject, we know quite little, from an empirical perspective, about the manner in which Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially those in developing countries, use RM to build and enhance long-term relationships with their customers and thus remain competitive. The purpose of this article is to examine the role of customer satisfaction, trust and commitment in the formation and enhancement of long-term customer relationships among SMEs in the service sector in Uganda and to suggest practical tools that policy makers in developing countries can use to enhance SME competitiveness. We obtained the required data for the study from SME owner-managers, customers, and frontline employees of SMEs operating in two service sectors in Uganda, namely the restaurant sector and the travel-agency sector. Our findings indicate that customer satisfaction, trust and commitment all play a significant role in the building and enhancement of long-term customer relationships among SMEs in Uganda. However, their role varies between different SME sectors. The findings also show that in general, those SMEs whose RM practices customers were more satisfied with had higher levels of customer loyalty compared to those SMEs whose RM practices customers were less satisfied with. This study has increased our awareness about the processes that SMEs in developing countries go through to build customer loyalty and thus long-term competitiveness. In this way, the study has helped to narrow the gap in current literature about the RM practices of SMEs in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Dr. Terry Najja Kakeeto-Aelen & Professor Jan C van Dalen & Professor H. Jaap van den Herik & Dr. Bartel A. Van de Walle, 2014. "Building Customer Loyalty among SMEs in Uganda: The Role of Customer Satisfaction, Trust, and Commitment," Working Papers 2014/06, Maastricht School of Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:msm:wpaper:2014/06
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://web2.msm.nl/RePEc/msm/wpaper/MSM-WP2014-06.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2014
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geyskens, I. & Steenkamp, J.E.B.M. & Scheer, L.K. & Kumar, N., 1996. "The effects of trust and interdependence on relationship commitment : A trans-Atlantic study," Other publications TiSEM ef7c8d6c-963d-4ee7-8576-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    2. Imoleayo Obigbemi, 2010. "The Role Of Competition On The Pricing Decision Of An Organisation And The Attainment Of The Organisational Objective," Annals of the University of Petrosani, Economics, University of Petrosani, Romania, vol. 10(1), pages 229-248.
    3. Morgan, Robert M. & Hunt, Shelby, 1999. "Relationship-Based Competitive Advantage: The Role of Relationship Marketing in Marketing Strategy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 281-290, November.
    4. Ch. J. S. Prasad & A. R. Aryasri, 2008. "Study of Customer Relationship Marketing Practices in Organised Retailing in Food and Grocery Sector in India: An Empirical Analysis," Vision, , vol. 12(4), pages 33-43, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lees, Nic J. & Nuthall, P.L. & Wilson, M.M.J., 2016. "The impact of relationship quality on supplier performance in New Zealand agri-food supply chains," 26th International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) World Forum, 2016, Aarhus, Denmark 273035, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA).
    2. Lees, Nic & Nuthall, Peter & Wilson, Mark M.J., 2020. "Relationship quality and supplier performance in food supply chains," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 23(3), August.
    3. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/eu4vqp9ompqllr09hc03jc5h8 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Ahmed Ibrahim Alzahrani & T. Ramayah & Nalini Suppiah & Osama Alfarraj & Nasser Alalwan, 2020. "Modeling Blog Usage From a Developing Country Perspective Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(3), pages 21582440209, July.
    5. Vithya Leninkumar, 2017. "The Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Customer Trust on Customer Loyalty," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 7(4), pages 450-465, April.
    6. Judit Oláh & Attila Bai & György Karmazin & Péter Balogh & József Popp, 2017. "The Role Played by Trust and Its Effect on the Competiveness of Logistics Service Providers in Hungary," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-22, December.
    7. Matanda, Margaret Jekanyika & Freeman, Susan, 2009. "Effect of perceived environmental uncertainty on exporter-importer inter-organisational relationships and export performance improvement," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 89-107, February.
    8. Zur, Andrew & Leckie, Civilai & Webster, Cynthia M., 2012. "Cognitive and affective trust between Australian exporters and their overseas buyers," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 73-79.
    9. O'Malley, Lisa & Prothero, Andrea, 2004. "Beyond the frills of relationship marketing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(11), pages 1286-1294, November.
    10. Juan Oliveros Fontaine & Cristina del Campo & Elena Urquía-Grande, 2024. "What Are Investors Most Interested in about Sustainability? An Approach from the Scientific Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-23, April.
    11. P. Van Kenhove & K. De Wulf & D. Van Den Poelt, 2003. "Does Attitudinal Commitment to Stores Always Lead to Behavioral Loyalty? The Moderating Effect of Age," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 03/168, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    12. Quang Linh Huynh, 2018. "A Thorough Assessment of the Causal Relationship from Tourist Satisfaction to Destination Loyalty: A Study in Tra Vinh," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 8(2), pages 191-197.
    13. imen ABDENNADHER & Karim TRABELSI & Tarek ABDELLATIF, 2017. "Les influences des déterminants de la qualité relationnelle des banques islamiques sur l’engagement de leurs clients," Journal of Academic Finance, RED research unit, university of Gabes, Tunisia, vol. 8(1), June.
    14. Evens Salies, 2012. "Product Innovation when Consumers have Switching Costs," Chapters, in: Michael Dietrich & Jackie Krafft (ed.), Handbook on the Economics and Theory of the Firm, chapter 31, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Magnani, Giovanna & Zucchella, Antonella & Strange, Roger, 2019. "The dynamics of outsourcing relationships in global value chains: Perspectives from MNEs and their suppliers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 581-595.
    16. Schulze, Birgit & Wocken, Christian & Spiller, Achim, 2008. "(Dis)loyalty in the German dairy industry: a supplier relationship management view ; empirical evidence and management implications," DARE Discussion Papers 0806, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    17. repec:dgr:rugsom:03g23 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Cai, Shaohan & Yang, Zhilin & Hu, Zuohao, 2009. "Exploring the governance mechanisms of quasi-integration in buyer-supplier relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 660-666, June.
    19. Chang Ok, Jin & Sang-Bum Park, 2018. "A Study on Factors Affecting Intention of Choosing Internet Banking and Intention of Continuity," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 10(12), pages 1-54, December.
    20. Chatterjee, Patrali, 2004. "Interfirm alliances in online retailing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(7), pages 714-723, July.
    21. Wang, Cheng Lu & Shi, Yizheng & Barnes, Bradley R., 2015. "The role of satisfaction, trust and contractual obligation on long-term orientation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 473-479.
    22. Mitev, Ariel & Bauer, András & Gáti, Mirkó, 2019. "A személyes értékesítők hálózatépítési tevékenysége [Networking activities of salespersons]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(1), pages 95-113.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Relationship Marketing; SMEs; Customer Satisfaction; Trust; Commitment; Customer Loyalty;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:msm:wpaper:2014/06. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Maud de By (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/msmmmnl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.