Abstract
Manufacturing firms require adequate business support facilities in order to operate optimally and contribute to the economic growth of nations. The quality of the business support services is as important as their availability or provision. While it has been established that the existing business support services in Nigeria are inadequate, the quality of the existing business support facilities is unknown. Based on the contention that quality is determined by the user or customer, this study evaluates the service quality of electricity services in Nigeria from manufacturers’ perception. The entire population of the study constituting the general managers and assistant managers of the thirteen (13) functioning manufacturing firms in the Kakuri Industrial Estate of Kaduna were surveyed cross-sectionally. A modified SERVQUAL scale with six (6) dimensions and twenty-seven (27)- items was adopted in measuring the service quality of electricity supply to the industries. In the course of data analysis, descriptive statistics showed that the service quality of electricity services is poor for tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and recovery dimensions. Pearson correlation statistical tool applied to test hypothesis one revealed a significant negative association between expected and perceived service quality of electricity supplies (r = -.458; α = .032), while Paired T-test used to test the hypothesis two indicated that there is significant negative difference between the industrialists’ expected and perceived electricity services quality (t = -9.720; α = 000). The study, therefore, recommends that the Nigerian government as well as stakeholders should ensure that the quality of electricity supplies in Nigeria is upgraded alongside the quantity (or megawatts) upsurge in the on-going power reforms in the country.
Highlights
Manufacturing firms are the economic nerve of every country
Though all business support facilities are essential for efficient operation of manufacturing firms, certain business support facilities are fundamental to their survival
While it has been established that the quantity of electricity supply in Nigeria is grossly inadequate, the service quality of the electricity services in the country or any of its parts is, to the best of our knowledge, unknown
Summary
Manufacturing firms are the economic nerve of every country Their optimal operations depend on the quality of business support facilities such as electricity, water, and telecommunication among others. It has been established that manufacturing sectors in Nigeria depend more on electricity than other infrastructures such as water, road, telephone and communication in order to operate efficiently (Adepoju and Abubakar, 2010). There is a general consensus among marketing scholars that the quality of intangible products like public utilities can best be determined by the users or customers (Parasuraman et’ al., 1985 and 1988; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Tea, 1993) Based on this consensus that quality is determined by the users or customers, the service quality of public utilities like education, health, and telecommunications have been evaluated from customers perspectives in foreign countries like Japan, UK, Malaysia, and India, etc. To determine manufacturers’ expectation of each of tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, empathy, and recovery dimensions of electricity services provided by PHCN
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