Customer Loyalty Determinants in Nigerian Telecommunication Industry. A Study of Complaint Handling.

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VII, July 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186

Customer Loyalty Determinants in Nigerian Telecommunication Industry. A Study of Complaint Handling.

Anyionu, Samuel Chukwu¹, Opara, Stella Chioma^2
1Department of Marketing Caritas University Amorji-Nike Enugu State-Nigeria
²Department of Public Administration Caritas University Amorji Nike Enugu state- Nigeria

Abstract
The main objective of the study was to determine the effects of complaint handling on customer loyalty. The study was a survey research design. The questionnaire was structured using five point likert scale.The population of the study was 173 subscribers from the different service providers in the south East. The hypotheses was tested using simple regression analysis which was facilitated by statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.The reliability of the scale was accessed by the use of Cronbach’s Apha which yielded 0.86.The findings of the study revealed that complaint handling has significant and positive relationship on customer loyalty. This means that Subscribers will stay with their service providers as long as their complaints are promptly attended to. That failure to attend to their complaints can lead to switching which has adverse effect on the firms’ performance. The study recommended that the network providers should develop some complaint handling techniques that will attract and hold subscribers for a long time.Such techniques include offering high quality services, prompt attention to service failures, providing affordable services, and providing customer satisfaction that will improve the firm’s services. The provision of such techniques will help those who have been assessingtheir customer care units to have solution to their complaints whenever such complaints arise. Prompt attention to these objections will bring closer relationship with the subscribers and their service providers. The service providers should intermittently conduct research to identify the various needs of the subscribers to attract, hold and maintain long term relationship with their subscribers.

Keywords: Customer Complaint, Customer Loyalty, Service Provider, Subscribers, Satisfaction.

1 Introduction

The introduction of the Global System of mobile communication (GSM) in 2001 brought relief to Nigerians but this has its challenges. These challengers ranges from network failure, poor power supply, inadequate infrastructure, rampant switching, multiple taxation and bad network of roads. The aim of the service providers was to provide a hitch free services that will satisfy subscribers’ needs but these challenges set back their efforts in providing the desired services. These made subscribers to experience dissatisfaction with the services of the network providers which led to the series of complaints to the service providers. Subscribers whose complaints were not properly handled started switching to other network providers. Madjid (2016) stated that handling customer complaints begins by identifying the source of the problem that lead to customer’s dissatisfaction. This means that the source of the problem should be addressed to avoid a repeat, as the dissatisfaction may be greater if the complaints are not properly handled. Mannaa (2013) equally suggested that it is extremely important for companies to understand the construct of complaint satisfaction as well as to find what complaining customers expect,

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