Relationship Marketing Practices and Customer Retention in the Mobile Telecommunications Industry of Ghana

Abstract

This main objective of this study is to determine the relationship between relationship marketing practices and cusotmer retention in the mobile telecommunications industry of Ghana. Specifically, the study sought to analyse the direct and indirect relationship among relationship marketing (RM) practices of trust, commitment, conflict handling on customer retention . To achieve the objectives of the study, hypothesis were formulated based on literature reviewed and a descriptive quantitative study was used to investigate the problem. Methodologically, the study was a cross sectional quantitative survey that involved the use of self administered structured questionnaire to garner data from respondents of four (4) mobile telecommunication operators in Ghana. Using a sample size of 320, convenience sampling technique was used to sample the respondnets. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 software and Partial Least Square's (PLS) Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) were used to analyse the responses. The findings revealed that the RM construct of trust and commitment do not have a direct relationship with customer retention except conflict handling. However, the RM practices were seen to have an indirect impact on customer retention through customer satisfaction. While the methodological limitation of the study are noted, the study offers useful theoretical and managerial contributions. The study recommended that to increase customer retention, mobile telecommunications firms were advised to implement effective conflict handling mechanisms to in order to increase customer retention. Again, the firms were recommended to increase relationship marketing efforts to enhance customer satisfaction in order to achieve a higher customer retention.