Determinants of customer satisfaction of safaricom mobile subscribers in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The objective of this study was to establish the de terminants of customer satisfaction of Safaricom mobile subscribers in Nairobi, Kenya. The city was stratified into five regions, i.e. Eastlands, Westlands, Southlands, City center and a long Thika road and one Safaricom Retail shop was selected per region. The study coll ected the perceptions of 100 Safaricom mobile subscribers from these five shops in Nairobi through a semi-structured survey questionnaire. The determinants of customer satisfa ction investigated in this study was adopted from the SERVQUAL model and tailored to tel ecommunication industry. These factors were rated for level of importance and sat isfaction on a five point Likert scale with rating ranging from very satisfied (5) to very diss atisfied (1) and very important(5) to not important at all (1).The study found out that facto rs related to appearance of physical facilities, personnel and communication materials ( Tangibility) was the most significant. Other determinants include; Technical quality, Reli ability, Responsiveness to customer problem and Assurance. Conversely Image and Empathy were found to be least significant and include aspects such as network’s success, coun try of origin of network, top executive leadership, contacts in phonebook, involvement in s ocial responsibility, length of time in business, operating hours, specific needs of custom ers, friendly customer service employees and individualized attention. The factors that affe ct customer satisfaction are numerous and constantly change and therefore satisfying customer s is a never ending task. Future studies should focus on those aspects that determine loyalt y as numerous studies have shown that satisfied customers do not necessarily become or re main loyal customers. It is important to note that loyalty enables customers to look beyond the occasional negative experience and continue to purchase a company’s products