The Influence of Customer Perception on the Relationship Between Green Marketing Practices and Customer Satisfaction in the Soft Drink Industry in Nairobi Kenya

Abstract

The objective of this study was to establish the influence of customer perception on the relationship between green marketing practices and Customer Satisfaction in the soft drink industry in Kenya. This study was anchored on consumer behavior theory and was guided by positivistic philosophy. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design to determine how green marketing practices affect customer satisfaction in soft drink companies in Nairobi County, Kenya and how the relationship is influenced by customer perception. The study targeted a sample of 180 trade customers but, the researcher managed to successfully collect data from 130 of the trade customers. The study adopted Cronbach’s Alpha. Descriptive statistics (mean scores and measures of dispersion) and inferential statistics (correlation, analysis of variance and regression analysis) was conducted to determine the expected relationships between green marketing practices and customer satisfaction. R 2 increased from .121 to .223 when customer perceptions were included (.223-.121=.102). The results imply that customer perception explain an additional 10.2% of the variation in customer satisfaction. The results indicate that the effect of green marketing practices on customer satisfaction in the final step of the analysis (path c) is significant at 0.05 significance level. The regression coefficient reduced from β=.389 in path “a” to β=.349 in path c’ and was statistically significant at 0.05 level of significance. Based on the overall study results obtained from the tests of the study hypotheses, it is concluded that customer perception had a statistically insignificant mediating effect on the relationship between green marketing practices and customer satisfaction Keywords: Customer Perception, Green Marketing Practices, Customer Satisfaction, Soft Drink Industry, Nairobi Kenya DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-3-17