SOURCE:

Faculty: Management Sciences
Department: Marketing

CONTRIBUTORS:

Madumere, H. I.
Nwaizugbo, I. C.

ABSTRACT:

This study assessed the link between service quality perception and customer loyalty intention to road transport firms in the South East of Nigeria. The RATER, 5Rs and Rockbridge’s models were used. The cross-sectional survey design was adopted as structured questionnaire was used to elicit needed primary data for the study. A total of 340 respondents, drawn from the customers of four organized road transport firms in the South East were studied. Stated hypotheses were tested using Simple Regression Analysis at 0.05 level of significance in SPSS version 20. Findings revealed among others that there is a strong, positive and significant relationship between the RATER variables (reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness) and customer loyalty intention (5Rs: repeat, retain, recommend, rebuild, reap and Rockbridge’s: satisfaction, mobility) variables. It was equally discovered that customers’ satisfaction level with the prevailing service quality in their chosen firms was ‘Fair’. It was recommended among others that road transport firms that wish to remain competitively relevant and retain the loyalty of their customers should lay emphasis on “consistency in good service quality delivery”. It was equally recommended that the road transport firms should use the RATER model effectively in their service provision as this will serve as a guide to improved service quality provision. The study provides more insight into the service quality-customer loyalty relationship in the organized road transport industry in Nigeria by advancing a proposed framework, adapted from the three models used, for future researchers and policy makers.