Effect of Service Quality on Customer Retention at Branded Night Clubs in Mombasa County, Kenya: A Pivotal, Core and Peripheral Attributes Model Perspective
Abstract
The main purpose of this research study was to determine the effect of service quality on customer retention at branded nightclubs in Mombasa County. The study was guided by several research questions: Can service quality enhance customer retention, how can service quality initiatives be used to drive the management policy of enhancing firm competitiveness through customer retention and lastly, are there challenges associated with service quality implementation by service firms and if so, what needs to be done. The study sought to investigate the relationship between service quality and customer retention. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional survey design, which is mainly used in preliminary and exploratory research studies. Such design makes it easy for researchers to collect information, summarize, present and interpret data for purposes of clarification. This was appropriate since it sought to provide an overall picture of the extent to which service quality practices contribute to customer retention at branded nightclubs in the County. Primary data was collected from the club operators using questionnaires. The finding was that most of the branded nightclubs in the County implement service quality practices. Demographic data were analysed by descriptive statistics while the relationship between service quality and customer retention was analysed using a regression model. It was established that there is a significant positive relationship between service quality attributes and customer retention. Therefore, this study recommends that management should fully embrace service quality practices in their service firms to enhance their customer retention capabilities. This has a positive impact on their objective of firm profitability arising from repeat purchases.
Key Words: Service quality, Customer retention, Implementation, Challenges
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