EFFECT OF SERVICE QUALITY DELIVERY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTON ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY IN SOME SELECTED HOSPITALS IN JOS METROPOLIS

Abstract

The study evaluated the effect of service quality delivery and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty in selected hospitals in Jos North Metropolis. The main objective of the study was to ascertain the extent to which customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty in selected hospitals in Jos North Metropolis. The total populations of 456,568 customers of the selected hospitals were used for the study. The study adopted survey method of research with the use of questionnaire to collect data from 400 sampled customers, out of which 360 were duly completed and retrieved. Simple random sampling technique was adopted for the study while Co-variance Structural Equation Modeling (CB-SEM) was used in analyzing the data. From the results, hypothesis one, two and three were tested and it was found that there are significant relationship between service quality delivery and customer loyalty, there is a significant relationship between service quality delivery and customer satisfaction, there is a significant relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty respectively. It was confirmed that customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between service quality delivery and customer loyalty. The study concluded that service quality delivery alone does not ensure long term loyalty of customers but paying attention to customer satisfaction in any organization will further ensure effective customer loyalty. The study recommended that health service organizations should recognized that in the midst of competition, service quality delivery is necessary to sustain loyalty, but where quality is given and satisfaction is not sustained, the tendency of loyalty of such customer will be very low since customers are rational beings; therefore, the study further recommends that health organizations should build up the satisfaction level of their customers by improving on their services, this will go a long way in strengthening the relationship between service quality delivery and customer loyalty.