The impact of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty among telecom companies in Kuwait

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks go out to all who have helped me complete this study and with whom this project may have not been possible. In particular, my gratitude goes out to friends, facilitator and family for extensive and helpful comments on early drafts. I am also deeply indebted to the authors who have shared my interest and preceded me. Their works provided me with a host of information to learn from and build upon, also served as examples to emulate.

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DECLARATION

I, (Your name), would like to declare that all contents included in this thesis/dissertation stand for my individual work without any aid, & this thesis/dissertation has not been submitted for any examination at academic as well as professional level previously. It is also representing my very own views & not essentially which are associated with university.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSii

DECLARATIONiii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

1.1 Introduction1

1.2 Customer satisfaction1

1.3 Service quality2

1.4 Customer satisfaction and service quality3

1.5 Overview of Kuwait telecom sector5

1.5.1 Zain8

1.5.2 Wataniya8

1.5.3 VIVA8

1.6 Problem definition9

1.7 Research question10

1.8 Structure of the dissertation10

Chapter 2: Literature Review10

Chapter 3: Methodology10

Chapter 4: Finding and Analysis11

Chapter 5: Conclusion and Implications11

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW12

2.1 Customer Loyalty12

2.2 Behavioral loyalty12

2.3 Attitudinal loyalty interaction with behavioral loyalty13

2.4 Customer loyalty and independent variables13

2.5 Customer satisfaction and service quality15

2.6 Antecedents of satisfaction16

2.7 Loyalty group18

2.8 Competitive market20

2.9 Loyalty program22

2.10 Types of Relationships23

2.11 Aspects of Customer Loyalty and customer satisfaction24

2.12 Loyalty Phases and customer satisfaction25

2.13 Loyalty Indicators27

2.14 Responsiveness and Reliability27

2.15 Empathy29

2.16 Service Evaluations29

2.17 Word of Mouth30

2.18 Patronage Purchase behaviour31

2.19 Customer Value Scales31

2.20 Managerial Implications32

REFERENCES34

APPENDICES37

Interview questionnaire37

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This study is about the impact of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty among telecom companies in Kuwait. Introduction chapter provide the information about the definition of customer satisfaction, service quality. It will also elaborate the relation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The overview of Kuwait telecom sector is provided in this chapter. This chapter will state the research question and problem definition as well (Atuahene-Gima 2006).

1.2 Customer satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is understood as a consumer's perceived value received from a product or service provider during his/her transactional or on-going relationships. Doyle (2009) also suggests that customer value judgment may affect customer satisfaction perceptions. Customer satisfaction can be understood as either an outcome or a process. Some researchers defined customer satisfaction as a consumer's state of being as a result of consumption experience. On the other hand, the process oriented 22 customer satisfaction examines whether the whole processes of consumption experiences achieves an expected result or not. It looks at the entire consumption processes and finds a specific process that might lead to customer satisfaction (Doyle 2009).

Antecedents of customer satisfaction are sought from two groups of studies. Some studies have sought demographic or socio-psychological characteristics of consumers as antecedents of consumer satisfaction. These studies have demonstrated that customer satisfaction is related with age, personal competence, education, race, and marital status. However, Bell (2007) concludes that the overall correlation between customer satisfaction and these variables seems to be ...