Product Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Product Quality and Customer Satisfaction
SCHOOL OF COMMERCE
June 2019
ID: GSD/9505/09
June 2019
I declare that this research report is my own work. It is submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirements for the degree of Masters of Marketing management in the University of Addis
Ababa, School of commerce. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination in
any other university.
This thesis has been submitted to Addis Ababa University, School of commerce for examination
with my approval as a university advisor.
_______________________________________
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2.2.1. Product quality .......................................................................................................................... 14
2.2.2. Customer satisfaction ............................................................................................................... 14
2.2.3. Empirical review on telecom product and services ................................................................ 15
2.2.4. Global telecom trends ............................................................................................................... 16
2.2.5. Conceptual framework ............................................................................................................. 18
CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................................................. 19
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY .................................................................................. 19
3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 19
3.2. Description of the Study Area ...................................................................................................... 19
3.3. Data source and Types.................................................................................................................. 20
3.4. Population and Sample ................................................................................................................. 20
3.4.1. Population .................................................................................................................................. 20
3.4.2. Sampling .................................................................................................................................... 20
3.4.3. Sampling technique ................................................................................................................... 20
3.5. Data Collection Procedure ........................................................................................................... 21
3.6. Data collection instrument ........................................................................................................... 21
3.7. Data analysis methods .................................................................................................................. 21
3.8. Reliability and validity ................................................................................................................. 22
3.9. Research Ethics ............................................................................................................................. 23
CHAPTER FOUR..................................................................................................................................... 24
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ............................................................................................................. 24
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 24
4.1. General Information Analysis...................................................................................................... 24
4.2. Correlation Analysis between Dependent and Independent variables .................................... 30
4.3. Regression Analysis ...................................................................................................................... 31
4.3.1. Normality test ............................................................................................................................ 32
4.3.2. Linearity test.............................................................................................................................. 33
4.3.3. Multicollinearity test ................................................................................................................. 34
4.3.4. Model Summery ........................................................................................................................ 35
4.3.5. ANOVA Test.............................................................................................................................. 35
4.3.6. Hypothesis Testing .................................................................................................................... 36
4.3.7. Hypothesis Test Result Summary ............................................................................................ 38
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CHAPTER FIVE ...................................................................................................................................... 39
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION ............................................................... 39
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 39
5.1. Summary of the Findings ............................................................................................................. 39
5.2. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 40
5.3. Recommendation........................................................................................................................... 40
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................................... 43
APPENDIXES ........................................................................................................................................... 46
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to thank my Mum next to my Almighty GOD, who supported and
encouraged me in every facet of my life. Next, I am strongly thankful to my Advisor, Dr. Temesgen
Belayneh for his valuable comment and guidance throughout the study. Thank you Dr! I would
also thank my examiner Dr. Belaynesh for her valuable comment. I would also like to express my
appreciation for ethio telecom sales staff who supported me in collecting data for the questionnaire.
For their support in providing the relevant data acquired. Special thanks to Addisu Kassaw product
marketing manager Kalkidan Nigusse IBU marketing director at ethio telecom, and my friend
Getaw Tsedeke who supported me by providing his laptop while my laptop damaged during
analysis time. Furthermore, I would like to thank Tadlo Adugna, Helen Kifle and Netsanet
Degifew and all my families and friends who were supported me in any way during my study.
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LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS
AI: Artificial intelligence
B2C: Business to consumer
GSMA: Global system Mobile Association
IBU: International business unit
IOT: Internet of things
M2M: Machine to Machine
NPD: New product development
TV: Television
VPN: Virtual private network
2G: 2nd generation network
3G: 3rd generation network
4G: 4th generation network
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LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
Fig 1. Global telecom trend…………………………………………………………………..17
Fig 2. Conceptual framework ………………………………………………………………..18
Fig 5. Device type using for, Source: Survey result (2019) …………………………………29
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Abstract
In today’s dynamic business environment the customer is the heart and soul to the organization.
Therefore, evaluating customer satisfaction is indispensable element in any strategy for product
success and company business performance improvement. Satisfaction is a person's feelings of
pleasure or disappointment that resulted from comparing a consumed product's perceived
performance to expectations. Therefore, satisfaction was examined by the means of a survey using
questionnaires. This research aims to analysis the effect of product quality on customer
satisfaction in telecom sector in case of ethio telecom. In particular, this paper answers the effect
of product quality on customer satisfaction through the eight product quality dimensions. It used
quantitative research analysis method, and the data collected and analyzed with descriptive and
inferential statistics. The result showed a positive correlation among the variables and significant
effect of product durability, aesthetic and perceived quality to customer satisfaction. The result
also showed insignificant effect of product performance, feature, conformance, reliablity and
serviceability to customer satisfaction.
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CHAPTOR ONE
INTRODUCTION
This section mainly addresses the background of the study, statement of the problem, basic
research questions, objectives of the study, significance of the study, scope and limitation of the
study, organization of the paper and definition of terms.
1.1. Background of the study
One of the key issues in product strategy deals is the introduction of new products. The
development and commercialization of new products is a vital part of a firm’s efforts to sustain
growth and profits over time. The success of new products depends on the product’s fit with the
firm’s strengths and a defined market opportunity (O.C.Ferrell and Michael D. Hartline 2011).
New Product development is indispensable in maintaining a successful business. (Baker and Hart,
1999) described that, if the company do not change as the times, the markets and the products
required, it is dead. On the other hand (Nolan, 1999) described, new product development is risky,
and the failure of new products to stand up to the competitor pressures or consumer demands exerts
a force on the organization such that the firm faces increasing survival pressures rather than
demands for growth.
Therefore, the organization develops and familiarizes its competitive marketing strategy to the
fundamental and varying conditions in the market, unless let alone to achieve its objectives, its
continuous survival in the market is uncertain (Ma, 1999). A number of studies have been
conducted to explore the link between product and service quality and customer satisfaction. A
recent Nigerian study by Ojo (2010) described that in order to sustain high levels of customer
satisfaction, it is required for the organization to update its product and services based on the
expectations of customers. Not only meeting the demand of customers, but competitive advantage
comes by exceeding the demands of the customer (Ojo, 2010). This develops customer satisfaction
for long-term customer retention (Arslan, Umair, & Zaman, 2014).
Quality is a standard of relation between the real performance of the product with the customers’
expectations or the difference between the customers’ expectations and their realization of the
service’s real performance (Kotler and Keller 2012). (Macdonald 1998) sees that the advantage of
quality management in productive organizations are taking care of customers through adopting an
effective management outline with the customers, since the customers are the wealth in the
organization. Pointed out that satisfaction is a positive feedback from the customer side towards
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the consumed product. Customer Satisfaction is examination of feedback of customers after they
purchased and used goods or service (Razak & Nirwanto 2016). According to Kotler and Keller
(2012), “Customer satisfaction is a person's feelings of pleasure or disappointment that result from
comparing a product's perceived performance to expectations".
Overall an organization should be able to create superior customer value in order to take
competitive advantages (Day, 1990). Adopting a customer centric vision enables an organization
understand their customers long years ago, to win by carefully positioning itself through
innovation.
Rajasekhara Mouly (2010) findings on the case company customer satisfaction assessment shows
that customers of ETC were dissatisfied with employees’ interaction skills, disappointed with
customer service delivery system and customers were not pleased with the complaint handling
procedure and its outcome.
Therefore this study is to establish a relationship between product quality dimensions and customer
satisfaction for telecom sector in ethio telecom.
1.2. Background of the company
Ethio telecom, formerly known as Ethiopian telecommunication corporation (ETC) established in
1894 during Emperor Menilik dynasty, and transformed its brand and trade name to ethio telecom
on November 29, 2010 as per the council of ministry regulation No. 197/2010. It is an integrated
telecommunications service provider offering internet, data, voice and value-added services public
enterprise operating in Ethiopia. The company most new products are adapted product, new to the
market product, and modified product.
The company aims next generation network. Its vision is to be a world-class provider of telecom
services, and mission to provide world-class, modern and high-quality telecom services for all
citizens equitably so as to transform the multifaceted development of the country to the highest
level. Its value is customer-centric, excellence, accountability, impartiality and sharing.
Accordingly, ethio telecom is offering product and services to the market as a means of reaching
its vision to be a world class telecom service provider.
It also involved various customers and received feedback from customers through survey
questions, face to face and telephone interview, by visiting major and potential customer by sales
and marketing team, collecting comments from public wing events and from multichannel Medias
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and use the comments for product development enhancement. ethio telecom product roadmap and
portfolio management shows that the company launched in average 34 new products per year to
its residential and enterprise customers. Despite all the efforts there is a poor customer satisfaction.
According to ethio telecom customer annual satisfaction survey conducted at national level last
four years average customer satisfaction result shows 7.1 from 10. If this continues the vision may
not be achieved. Therefore, need to arise the effect of product quality on customer satisfaction and
improve customer satisfaction.
1.3. Statement of the problem
As indicated on the background of the company, ethio telecom launched many products per year
to its customers. The preceding sections of the literature review have focused on how organizations
product quality influence customer satisfaction. It has been ascertained that the product quality is
important in determining the critical success factors for organizational performance. Customer
satisfaction is key to any organization’s success and this success is directly associated with the
demands of the customer (Brady and Robertson, 2001 and Lovelock 2001). ethio telecom customer
satisfaction survey result average result the preceding 5 years showed 7.3 (73% satisfied) this
means there are unsatisfied customers.
Despite the number of researches that discussed and studied the impact of product quality on
customer satisfaction that appear the performance of the company throughout service quality, still
there are no many literature that focus exclusively on the effect of product quality on customer
satisfaction in telecom sector.
Thus, the main reason of this study is to analyze the effect of product quality on customer
satisfaction in telecom sector B2C customers.
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5. How does the product reliability affect customer satisfaction in the case of ethio telecom?
6. How does the product aesthetics affect customer satisfaction in the case of ethio telecom?
7. How does the product serviceability affect customer satisfaction in the case of ethio
telecom?
8. How does the product perceived quality affect customer satisfaction in the case of ethio
telecom?
1.5. Objectives of the Study
1.5.1 General objective of the study
The general objective of the study is to find out the effect of new product quality on customer
satisfaction of the case company.
1.5.2 Specific objectives of the study
The specific objectives of the study are:
1. To determine the effect of product performance on customer satisfaction of the case company
2. To determine the effect of product feature on customer satisfaction of the case company
3. To determine the effect of product reliability on customer satisfaction of the case company
4. To determine the effect of product conformance on customer satisfaction of the case company
5. To determine the effect of product durability on customer satisfaction of the case company
6. To determine the effect of product aesthetics on customer satisfaction of the case company
7. To determine the effect of product serviceability on customer satisfaction of the case company
8. To determine the effect of product perceived quality on customer satisfaction of the case
company
1.6. Significance of the study
This study will be very important to help the entity to be able to address weaknesses in new product
development process. It also supports for thesis preparation, students to build practical knowledge
in the study of customer satisfaction in relation to product quality especially in telecom industry
and will be used as a reference.
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1.7. Scope of the study
The scope of the study is focused on new product quality and its effect on customer satisfaction.
Though the case company operates throughout Ethiopia providing telecom service for both
enterprise and residential customers this research focused on residential (individual) customers.
The study had methodological delimitation to nonprobability sampling and used quantitative
methods by distributing questioners to case company questioners focused on product quality and
customer satisfaction.
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Product Quality: The characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy
stated or implied customer needs.
Product: A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need, including
physical goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations,
information, and ideas.
Sales: the activity or business of selling products.
Strategy: strategy is concerned with making major decisions affecting the long-term direction of
the business.
1.10. Organization of the paper
The paper is comprised in to five chapters in which the first chapter illustrates the study
background, statement of the problem, basic research questions, objectives, significance of the
study and delimitation of the study and definition of terms. The second part will be the review of
related literature, in the third part research design, methodology and the study analysis used be
described. In the fourth part result and discussion will be discussed. In the fifth part research
summary, conclusion and recommendation discussed.
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CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Introduction
This chapter gives an overview of literature that is related to the research problem which presented
in the study. Both theoretical and empirical reviews discussed in this chapter. In the review
arguments of the model, the components of the model, strength and weakness discussed
considering relationship to the study.
Effective product development is guided by a well-defined new product strategy. The new-product
strategy achieves four main goals. It gives direction to the new product team, it helps to integrate
functional or departmental efforts where understood by the new product team, it allows tasks to be
delegated to team members who can be left to operate independently, and act of producing and
getting managers to agree on a strategy requires which increases the likelihood of a more thorough
search for innovation opportunities. (Kotler, Armstrong, Sounders and Wong; 1999). A new
product that is introduced on the market evolves over a sequence of stages, beginning with an
initial product concept or idea that is evaluated, developed, tested and launched on the market
(Booz, Allen & Hamilton, 1982).
A product is a logical or physical object, which can be sold out to an end customer by the operators.
This could be a mobile phone, internet connection, Voice call connection, VPN, Video on demand,
Digital TV connection, etc. ”A product can have its monthly rental, which we call periodic charges
also. A product can be usage generating product or non-usage generating product. A usage
generating product is sometime called event generating product and non-usage generating product
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is called non-event generating product. For example, voice call connection, which comes along
with a phone number, is a usage generating product because it generates usage whenever end
customer uses this product to make a voice call. A simple phone set without a connection is a non-
usage generating product and it could be given to a customer based on monthly rent only. So even
if, a customer is not using it, he/she has to pay monthly rental” (Telecom Billing
(https://www.tutorialspoint.com/index.htm)
1. Idea generation
According to Kotler and Keller (2012), idea generation should be systematic rather than haphazard.
Otherwise, although the company will find many ideas, most will not be good ones for its type of
business. A company typically has to generate many ideas in order to find a few good ones.
(Kotler.P, et al 1999). According to p. Kotler and Keller, (2012), there are different sources for
idea generation and concept development. These are, internal sources, customers, competitors,
distributors, suppliers and other resellers.
2. Idea screening
Kotler and Keller, (2012), said that, the purpose of screening is to spot good ideas and drop poor
ones as soon as possible. According to Pride and Forrel, (2005) in the process of screening, the
ideas with the greatest potential are elected for further review. During screening, product ideas are
analyzed to determine whether they much the organizations objectives and resources. If a product
idea is similar to the firm’s existing products marketers must assess the degree to which the new
product could cannibalize the sales of current products the company’s over all abilities to product
and market the product is analyzed.
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3. Concept development and testing
Attractive ideas must now be developed into product concepts. It is important to distinguish
between a produce idea, a product concept and a product image. (Kotler.P, et al 1999)
Concept development
A product concept is a detailed version of the idea stated in meaningful consumer terms. A product
image is the way consumers perceive an actual or potential product. The marketer’s task is to
develop this idea into some alternative product concepts, find out how attractive each concept is
to customers, and choose the best one (Kotler.P, et al 1999)
Concept testing
The more the tested concepts resemble the final product or experience, the more dependable
concept testing is, prototypes that can help avoid costly mistakes. (kotler and keller, 2012)
A more concrete and physical presentation of the concept will increase the reliability of the concept
test. Today, marketers are finding innovative ways to make product concepts more real to
consumer subjects (Kotler.P, et al 1999)
As The planned strategy of a new product that outlines the intended target market, the planed
product positioning, and the safes, market share and profit goals for the first few years. (kotler and
keller, 2012)
5. Business analysis
After management develops the product concept and marketing strategy, it can evaluate the
proposal’s business attractiveness. Management needs to prepare sales, cost, and profit projections
to determine whether they satisfy company objectives. If they do, the concept can move to the
development stage. As new information comes in, the business analysis will undergo revision and
expansion (kotler and keller, 2012). Business analysis involves a review of the sales, costs and
profit projections for a new product to find out whether they satisfy the company's objectives. If
they do, the product can move to the product development stage. (Kotler.P, et al 1999)
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6. Product development
The product development step, however, now calls for a large jump in investment. It will show
whether the product idea can be turned into a workable product.(Kotler.P, et al 1999)
7. Market testing
After management is satisfied with functional and psychological performance, the product is ready
to be branded with a name, logo, and packaging and go into a market test. When we develop a new
product, say an improved liquid makeup, we know it’s going to sell because we’re familiar with
the field. And we’ve got demonstrators in department stores to promote it. Many companies,
however, believe market testing can yield valuable information about buyers, dealers, marketing
program effectiveness, and market potential. (kotler and keller, 2012)
When a new product introduction requires a large investment, or the management is not sure of
the product or marketing programed, the company may do a lot of test marketing. The system’s
effectiveness and customers’ acceptance and reactions can then then be guided prior to making the
decision to extend the service to cover all of its domestic or global networks. (Reeder &brierty,
2004)
Once the product has successfully completed the concept and market testing stages it is ready for
launching into aside marketplace. Generally, a product can be launch in two ways, first it can be
launched nationally. On a given date the product is launched and available to customer across the
nation. The second, option is to roll out this is where the product is rolled out area. This can mean
geographically, progressing through several countries (kotler and keller, 2012).
Commercialization incurs the company’s highest costs to date. The firm will need to contract for
manufacture or build or rent a full-scale manufacturing facility. To introduce a major new
consumer packaged goods into the national market can cost in advertising, promotion, and other
communications in the first year. (kotler and keller, 2012)
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1. New to the world products: new products that create an entirely new market.
2. New product lines: new products that allow a company to enter an established market for the
first time.
3. Additions to existing product lines: new products that supplement a company's established
product lines
4. Improvements and revisions of existing products: new products that provide improved
performance or greater perceived value and replace existing products.
5. Repositioning: existing products that are targeted to new markets or market segments.
6. Cost Reductions: New products that provide similar performance at lower cost.
Kotler states that only 10% of all new products are truly innovative and new to the world. These
products involve the greatest cost and risk because they are new to both the company and the
marketplace. Thus, most company new product activity is devoted to improving existing products.
(Kotler, 1997)
Seres (1978) on the other hand, identifies three types of new products:
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Quality has been defined in four categories namely excellence, value for money, conformity to
requirements and meeting of customer’s requirements (Reeves &Bednar, 1994). Eight critical
factors for product quality have been developed and utilized by the researcher’s concerned (Black
&Porter, 1996), and (Zeitz et al., 1997). They are top management support, quality information
availability, quality information usage, employee training, employee involvement, product design,
and supplier quality and customer orientation. Product quality is the ability of a product to meet or
exceed customer’s expectations (Waters & Waters, 2008). The most common operational
definition suggests quality as the customer's insight of product and service excellence. In today’s
competitive environment, quality is the crucial to an organization’s survival and success. Superior
quality validates the worthiness of a company (Reeves &Bednar, 1994).
(Garvin, 1987) developed a system of thinking about the quality of products by describing the
basic elements of product quality in eight dimensions. (Garvin, 1987) and (Kotler and Keller,
2012) developed a systematic thinking about the quality of product by describing the basic
elements in eight dimensions, and that each of its dimensions can be used strategically to gain
competitive advantage. These eight elements are performance, features, reliability, conformance,
durability, serviceability, Aesthetic, and perceived quality. Performance refers to a product's
primary operating characteristics. Features: are additional characteristics that enhance the appeal
of the product to the customer. These are the secondary aspects of performance. Reliability is the
likelihood that a product will not fail within a specific time period when put in use. Conformance
is the precision with which the product or service meets the specified standards. Durability
measures the length of a product’s operating life. Serviceability is the speed, ease and costs with
which the product can be put back into service when it breaks down. Aesthetics refers to how the
product looks, feels, sounds etc. It is a matter of personal judgement and a reflection of individual
preference. Perceived quality is the quality attributed by the customer, noting that perception is
not always reality. According to Kotler and Keller (2011), customer satisfaction is the level of a
person's feelings after comparing the performance of perceived product in the hope. Thus, the level
of satisfaction is a function of the difference between the product or service perceived performance
and the expectation.
2.1.5. Service quality
The quality of service is also reflected in product related strategies. The five distinct dimensions
of quality of service suggested by (Parasuraman A. et al., 1988) are tangibility, reliability,
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responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The elements of tangibility are physical facilities,
equipment’s, and appearance of personnel. The reliability is concerned with ability to perform the
promised service dependably and accurately. The responsiveness is the willingness to help
customers and to provide prompt service. The promise deals with the knowledge and courtesy of
employees and their ability to encourage hope and confidence in customers. The empathy is
concerned with caring and individualized attention the firm provides for its customers. The
features, benefits, quality, and the identity of the product are emerged through the brand name.
2.1.6. Customer Satisfaction
Customers today have different needs and increasingly demand for better quality of products and
services. However, mostly customer priorities often differ significantly from what organizations
think they are (Hax & Wilde, 2003).
In general definition quality is satisfying customer’s requirements at the level of their knowledge
and expectation (Drucker 2005). What quality means for the customer today no longer set up a
competitive advantage for tomorrow but the basic core offering expected by customers. Drucker
(2005) suggests that the aim of any organization is to create value for customers. To have superior
performance, need to serve the customer in unique ways to attract, satisfy, retain and loyal them
(Hax & Wilde, 2003).
Customer satisfaction goes beyond service knowledge that a customer used through. It
incorporates value judgment and comparison to expectation of what the service quality should be;
oftentimes based it is an overall comparison between customer’s perception for its value and the
price that they pay (Rust &Zahorik, 1993).By focusing on customer value organizations think
outwards, toward external customers and about ways in which customers can achieve greater
responsiveness to their needs (Wooduff, 1997).
Kotler and Keller (2012) said that satisfaction is a person's feelings of pleasure or disappointment
that result from comparing a product's perceived performance to expectations. Whereas, customer
satisfaction according to (Jahanshahi et al., 2011) customer satisfaction is the result of a customer's
perception of the value received in a transaction or relationship. Kotler and Armstrong (2012)
defined that "customer satisfaction is the extent to which a product's perceived Performance
matches a buyer's expectations." Customer satisfaction consists of several indicators, namely
loyalty, satisfaction, repurchase interest, small desire to make a complaint, the willingness to
recommend the product, and the reputation of the company.
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2.2. Empirical Review
2.2.1. Product quality
Customer perceived quality represents a key determinant of sustainable business success
(Bartikowski et al., 2010). (Kumar et al.,2009) provides evidence of the positive impact of quality
on company performance regarding the four domains of company performance studied, in
particular employee relations participation and morale, operating procedures improved products
and services quality and productivity, customer satisfaction reduced number of customer
complaints and performance increased profitability.
(Karia & Hasmi, 2006) in their study of quality management practices in Malaysia found that they
were positively correlated with employees’ work-related attitudes such as job involvement, job
satisfaction, career satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Although there is a clear contrast on the opinions of the specialists and scholars about the
characteristics that distinct high-quality organization and their studies there is wide agreement on
the importance of the role it plays in the success of these organizations and it’s distinction form
traditional organizations. The organization tends to rate the feeling of the consumer on the level of
their product quality without rating their feelings on the organization itself. (Latif Atiyah, 2016)
2.2.2. Customer satisfaction
Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi (2011) discussed on his finding that, the product quality improvement
increase customer satisfaction. Logical consequences when the customer is satisfied with the
reliable product that emphasizes a standardized quality followed with an affordable price can
increase the customer satisfaction, it appears in the interest of the buyers to repurchase over and
over again. Customer satisfaction and loyalty are the most important factors that affect the
organization. (Ismail Razak, 2016)
Customer satisfaction has a positive impact on the company’s profit. Customer satisfaction is the
foundation of every successful work, since customer satisfaction leads to repurchasing, and sharing
positive feedback with other people to buy the product. Services presented for the customer has a
positive impact thus, the organization gets the customer trust there is a close relation between
service quality and the rate at which customers return to the company. (Latif Atiyah, 2016)
Based on the literature reviewed, it is recommended that strategic issues success factors (strategy,
structure, organizational culture and management) and project related issue success factors (NPD
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process, staff and Information) to be used to study and evaluate the implementation of NPD in the
organization. On the other hand, (Garvin, 1987) and (Kotler and Keller, 2012) framework of the
eight dimensions of product quality to be used in the research survey questionnaires to study and
evaluate the implementation of product quality management in the organization. Hence, the
following hypotheses were developed to test this phenomenon.
Hypotheses
H1 There is a direct relationship between Performance and Customer Satisfaction;
H2 There is a direct relationship between Features and Customer Satisfaction;
H3 There is a direct relationship between Reliability and Customer Satisfaction;
H4 There is a direct relationship between Conformance and Customer Satisfaction;
H5 There is a direct relationship between Durability and Customer Satisfaction;
H6 There is a direct relationship between Serviceability and Customer Satisfaction;
H7 There is a direct relationship between Aesthetics and Customer Satisfaction;
H8 There is a direct relationship between Perceived quality and Customer Satisfaction;
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2014). (Siew-Phaik Loke, Ayankunle Adegbite Taiwo, Hanisah Mat Salim, and Alan G. Downe,
2011) studies from Malesia indicated that reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy
significantly positively influenced customer attitudes in terms of satisfaction and loyalty.
On the other hand Padma Yallapragada (2017) highlighted factors influencing customer
satisfaction in telecom Industry of Dubai, it is concluded that price fairness and coverage are the
key factors contributing towards customer satisfaction of University students very obvious that the
companies should always continue to emphasize on price fairness and coverage for consumer
satisfaction in telecom industry.
2.2.4. Global telecom trends
The telecommunications industry as a service provider, has gone through significant changes in
recent years. “Rapid technology advances, deregulations and greater customer experience have
increased pressure on telecom companies to offer new products into the market” (Robertson and
Jones 1999). In the current space age, technological change advances in information and
computing technologies in terms of hardware microprocessors, storage devices, etc. and software
computation algorithms, databases, Internet, etc. have created continues effects and impacted
every industry. Today, information is at everyone’s hand on a computer and mobile screen.
Telecom systems and networks are connecting far and remote locations in the glob and play a
significant role in the distribution of information and the progress of knowledge. The demand for
different forms of communication, such as telephone, video calls, fax, email and Internet is steadily
increasing and creating new business opportunities for telecom industry. (Beardsley et al. 2004).
According to GSMA (2018) business review evidence many operators are moving beyond their
traditional telecom businesses to explore new opportunities in a fast changing competitive
landscape focusing on areas of monitoring data traffic growth, content, device, cloud and big data
analysis, IOT, machine to machine (M2M), and AI.
Monitoring data traffic growth benefit migrating customers to higher speed networks, use of
shared & tiered data plans, bundling premium content, and sponsored data plans to access games
& content services. Content such as providing non-broadcast TV, user generated video, video on
demand, content view via mobile, operators developing content delivery platforms, direct to
consumer distribution model, video accounts for majority of mobile data traffic are the major offer.
Device smartphone are proliferation, connected devices, internet access channels, augmented
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technologies, and smart speakers that enhance telecom experience. Cloud and big data analysis
are using smartphone & connected devices growth & use to generate huge data. Big data analytics
increases the value of data & its use cases as providers of first-party data. Operators are well
positioned to take advantage of these opportunities. Mobile advertising and big data analytics are
use cases. IOT & M2M is estimated 25 billion IOT connections by 2025 which increasingly be
commoditized and providing an end to end service. It will create big opportunity in enterprise as
well as consumer segment. AI (artificial intelligence) enhances business and digital transformation
drive autonomous and intelligent networks, improve customer experience through greater learning
of their behavior, digital assistants, network planning, customer care and advertising AI as a
service
Connectivity
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2019 …….
Fig 1. Global telecom trend, Source: GSMA business review February 2019
17
2.2.5.Conceptual framework
The conceptual framework developed based on the literature review. It indicates the crucial
relationships between independent dependent variables, which is useful to show the effect of
variables.
Independent variables
Product quality
dimensions
Performance
Features Dependent variables
Reliability
Customer
Conformance
satisfaction
Durability
Serviceability
Aesthetics
Perceived quality
18
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1. Introduction
Research is defined as something that people undertake in order to find out things in a systematic
way, thereby increasing their knowledge. The term methods refer to techniques and procedures
used to obtain and analyze data whereas methodology refers to the theory of how research should
be undertaken (Saunders, 2007).
3.2. Description of the Study Area
The study will be conducted at Telecommunication Company which is named ethio telecom. The
study efforts on the product quality and customer satisfaction. The study area focused at ethio
telecom customers at the capital city of the nation Addis Ababa.
3.1. Research Approach
There are two main research approaches that used for any research which is called deduction and
induction. With deduction theory and hypotheses are developed and a research strategy designed
to test the hypothesis. While with induction, data are collected and a theory developed as a result
of the data analysis (Saunders, 2007). This research followed deductive research approach as the
research questions and hypothesis developed and tested. It seeks systematical gathering and
analyzing of relevant data in order to develop foundation for determination of effectiveness of
product quality on customer satisfaction.
3.2. Research Design
The research design refers to the overall strategy that a researcher chooses to integrate the different
components of the study in a coherent and logical way, thereby ensuring will effectively address
the research problem. The classification of research purpose most often used in the research
methods literature is the threefold one of exploratory, descriptive and explanatory (Kent, 2007).
The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of product quality on customer satisfaction
in the case company. Thus, the researcher employed a descriptive and an explanatory research
(sequential explanatory strategy) design by using both quantitative and qualitative approaches in
order to obtain the desired results and to explore detailed evidence about the problem. In research
used both quantitative and qualitative method of research approach.
19
A research that focuses primarily on the construction of quantitative data follows a qualitative
method (Kent, 2007).
A descriptive research method’s main purpose is to describe the characteristics and details of the
population (Robert K. Yin. (2014)). Therefore, to carry out the study to determine product quality
factors and its relationship with the variables identified in the conceptual framework, quantitative
primary data collection is proposed to be collected using survey questionnaires. The questioners
distributed to customers of the case company.
3.3. Data source and Types
In order to collect the data from relevant source, primary and secondary data collection method
deployed. The primary data collected through questioner methods. Whereas the secondary data
collected from journals, articles, related research, company business plan and strategy archive
hardcopy and soft copy documents, and websites.
3.4. Population and Sample
3.4.1. Population
The target population for this study is case company B2C customers.
3.4.2. Sampling
For some research questions it is possible to collect data from an entire population as it is of
manageable size. However, research questions where it would be impossible to collect data from
entire population, sample will be selected (Saunders, 2007). Therefore, questions focused on
product quality and customer satisfaction distributed to case company customers selected samples
at selected ethio telecom shop site at Addis Ababa.
3.4.3. Sampling technique
In order to attain the research objectives, probability simple random sampling employed for
marketing team to select the representative samples. While for case company customer response
because of the geographic dispersion and proximity of the population focused only on Addis
Ababa Customers, nonprobability judgmental sampling technique used to select the members of
the sample. The total population of this study is 41Million Thus, the following formula was applied
in order to calculate the sample size to be representative of the population. The formula by
(Yemane, 1967:886), as cited by (Israel Gelan. D, 1992) used to calculate the actual sample size.
20
In this study, the researcher used level of statistical significance or precision sampling error (e) has
taken 5%, and then the sample size was determined as follows.
n= N/1+N (e)2
Where, n= sample size, N= population. e = tolerable error
41000000/1+41000000(0.05)2 =Sample size= 400
3.5. Data Collection Procedure
To collect the primary data the researcher distributed questioners to data collector friends and ethi
telecom sales representatives. The questionnaire distributed for customers was collected through
personal contact by the researcher and supported by friend and ethio staffs. For the secondary data
business plan, market strategy, product roadmap, articles, journals, books and other relevant
documents reviewed. The secondary data was reviewed online from internet, from the company
website, books, and articles and shared folder.
21
tests to see whether a pattern, observed is due to chance or due to the program or intervention
effect and find out if there is relation between variables.
Used multivariate and bivariate techniques. Multivariate analysis assesses the relationships among
three or more variables simultaneously. The most common multivariate analysis is regression
analyses a single dependent variable and two or more independent variables. Bivariate analysis
assesses the relationship between two variables. The most common bivariate statistics are
correlation coefficients. (Phyllis. T, Ross. D, And Brian. C, 2007)
Accordingly, the researcher used descriptive analysis for the first part of the questionnaire and
inferential analysis like correlation and regression for the second part of the questionnaire.
3.8. Reliability and validity
3.8.1. Reliability
Reliability tests the consistency and stability of a measurement instrument (Andy, 2006). There
are different methods of reliability test, for this study Cronbach’s alpha reliability test is considered
to be suitable. According to reliability statistics, Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient is as shown in the
bellow table 3.1, which is acceptable based on different literatures. As described by Andy (2006)
the values of Cronbach’s Alpha result should greater than 0.7. The Alpha value in this study is
greater than 0.7 and therefore it is good and acceptable.
Table 1 Reliability Test Table
22
3.8.2. Validity
Validity is concerned with the research measuring what it purport to measure and to approximate
the acceptability of the results whether the research findings are really about what they appear to
be about (Saunders, 2007). To preserve data integrity a great attention was put on designing of the
questions and the structure of the questioner. It was also adopted and modified from previous
research work of (Shaheen Mansori 2018) the effects of product quality on customer satisfaction
and loyalty. Furthermore the questioners translated to Amharic language by professionals.
3.9. Research Ethics
Ethical research should consider the outset of the research. It concerns in all the stages of the
research such as collecting the data, data accessing or analyzing the data. It associated with the
power relationship between the researcher and those who accessed the data (Saunders, 2007)
The researcher will apply ethical cod promoted by the Ethiopian government and social values.
Participants can consent, free from compulsion of outside pressure and they comprehend the risks
and benefits involved.
23
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Introduction
This chapter presents the analysis of the data and discussion of the result. In the first part the
demographic data of the respondents presented and then analysis of collected data discussed. The
data collected from respondents were analyzed and interpreted, based on the specific objectives
and hypotheses of the study, using descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and regression
analysis. The data analysis was undertaken with the help of a software Statistics Package for Social
Sciences (IBM SPSS version 20).
Demographi Cumulative
c variables Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
24
Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
25
4.1.1. Gender
Gender allocation of the respondents from the ethio telecom customer’s representative which the
research was conducted indicated on table 2 as it is indicated 58.7% were male and 41.3% were
female respondents.
4.1.2. Age
According to table 2, the age of majority respondent customers has been between 23 and 28 years
old that shares 43.3% followed by 23-39 years old which denoted 28.5%. And the remaining 14.3%
were 18 to 29 years old. The lowest age group found >50 years old 4% and 14-22 years old 8.5%.
The age between 40-49 is 15.7%. This indicates that ethio telecom has a young and adult age group
customers.
As shown on Table 4.1, the marital status of the respondent was single 54.4%, Married 43.9%,
divorced 1.1% and widowed 0.6% respondents.
As indicated on table 2, the respondents’ education qualification levels confirm 35.3% were first
degree holders, followed by Level (29.6%) and grade 9-12 (12.5%), grade 1-8 is (14.8%). The
lowest score concerning education status is 2nd degree which accounts 7.4%. There was only one
(0.3%) respondent educated at PHD level.
4.1.5. Occupation
As shown on Table 4.5, the respondents’ occupation confirmed 67.2% employed, 16% self-
employed, 9.1% student and the remaining 7.7% are unemployed. This shows the highest number
of telecom service customers in Addis Abeba are employed.
As described in Table 3, 33.6% of the respondents have monthly income from 5000 to 10000birr,
the second largest group 26.5% is from 3500 to 5000birr.the third group 18.5% have income from
2500 to 3500irr. The fourth group 11.4% have income between 10000 to 30000birr. 5.7% of the
26
respondents have monthly income greater than 30000birr. Income below 1000 and income from
1000 to 2500 is taken 1.4% of respondents for each. The remaining 1.4% is missed data.
As described in Table 4, the majority of the respondents (50.4%) have 100 to 250birr monthly
expenditure for telecom service followed by monthly expenditure from 2500 to 1000 birr 18.2%
from 50 to 100birr 15.4%. the lowest percentage respondents for the expenditure is between 1000
to 5000 birr. 2.3% of the respondents have greater than 5000 monthly expenditure for telecom
service. This shows half of the respondent’s monthly expenditure for telecom service were from
100 to 250birr.
27
Table 4 Frequency Distributions of Respondents Expenditure for Telecom services
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid <30 6 1.7 1.7 1.7
From the collected data as showed on the chart. The majority of respondents (70.94%) were all
offers user, i.e. voice call, Internet service, subscribe device and value added service user. 19.66%
use only voice call, 9.4% use only voice and Internet services.
28
4.1.9. Network mode
Based on the collected data the network connectivity mode used by the respondent indicated that
the majority 66.10% use 3G network mode on their mobile.
As shown on the Bar chart 64.1% (225) of the respondents use Smart phone device, 30.8% (108)
of the respondents use feature phone devices, 4% (14) use tablet and phablet devices, and the
remaining 1.1% (4) use other type of devices.
29
4.2. Correlation Analysis between Dependent and Independent
variables
Correlation analysis is a very useful means to measure the linear association between two variables
with a single number that falls between -1 and +1 (Taylor, 1990). Pearson correlation test was
done to test the strength of a linear association between the variables.
As shown on table 5, Pearson correlation, the highest positive correlation coefficient denoted
between product conformance and durability (.585) indicates that there is a statistically significant
(p < .001) linear relationship between these two variables such that the more conformance a
product has, the more that durable. The second highest positive correlation observed that there is
a statistically significant (p < .001) positive correlation coefficient (.555) for the association
between reliability and conformance of product, indicating that the linear relationship between
these two variables which the values of one variable increase as the other increases. The third
correlation coefficient (.541) also indicates a positive association between product feature and
durability at (p < .001) positive level of significance. On the other hand insignificant correlation
(.098) for the association between performance and serviceability.
Aesthetics has the highest correlation coefficient in relation to customer satisfaction which is
0.501. This indicates that aesthetics has significant positive relationship with effectiveness of
customer satisfaction. Durability, conformance, reliability, perceived quality, feature,
performance, and serviceability have a correlation coefficient of 0.476, 0.426, .364, 0.346, 0.319,
0.311, and 0.287 respectively at 0.01 level of significant. This also implies that performance,
feature, reliability, conformance, durability, aesthetics, serviceability, and perceived quality have
effect on the effectiveness of customer satisfaction with the level of 0.01significance.
According to Ratner (2009) when interpreting correlation coefficient ‘r’ value ranging from 0-0.3
indicates a weak positive and 0.3-0.7 indicates moderately positive relationship. Therefore, the
research finding indicates that serviceability has a weak positive correlation with customer
satisfaction. And the remaining six independent variables (performance, feature, reliability,
conformance, durability, aesthetics, and perceived quality) have moderately positive correlation
with the dependent variable customer satisfaction. The detail correlation analysis output is
summarized on the below table.
30
Table 5. Pearson correlation table (Correlation Matrix with dependent variables)
Correlations
Perfor Featu Relia Conf Dura Aesth Servicea Percei Customer
mance re bility orma bility etics bility ved satisfacti
nce quality on
Performance 1
Feature .206** 1
Reliability .348** .354** 1
Conformance .303** .522** .555** 1
Durability .265** .541** .432** .585** 1
Aesthetics .406** .455** .532** .439** .424** 1
Serviceability .098 .334** .343** .296** .281** .418** 1
Perceived .176** .379** .371** .353** .265** .383** .335** 1
quality
Customer .311** .319** .364** .426** .476** .499** .287** .346** 1
satisfaction
Source: Survey result (2019)
4.3. Regression Analysis
The following eight hypotheses were formulated on the basis of previous research literature
review, and based on (Garvin, 1987) and (Kotler and Keller, 2012) framework of the eight
dimensions of product quality.
31
Before conducting a multiple regression analysis, normality and linearity of the dependent variable
and multi-collinearity test of independent variables were tested. The following tests were
conducted in order to ensure the appropriateness of data to assumptions of regression analysis to
test determinants of effectiveness of customer satisfaction. Having normal distribution is the key
assumption of linear regression (Kothari 2004).
32
4.3.2. Linearity test
Linearity is the assumptions which explain the use of linear regression models for the purpose of
prediction. It shows the degree to which the change in the dependent variable is related to the
change in the independent variables. Linearity of the relationship between dependent and
independent variables is most evident in a plot of residual versus predicted values of the part of
standard regression output. Fig. 7 shows the plot of standard regression output of the study
indicating linearity of the relationship between customer satisfaction (dependent variable) and
performance, feature, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived
quality (Independent variables). The painted graph here under describes that the relationship is
linear. Hence the normality assumption is satisfied as essential and it is possible to conclude that
the inferences of the researcher will made about the population parameter from the sample is valid.
33
4.3.3. Multicollinearity test
Multicollinearity is a situation that occurs when some predictor variables in the model are
correlated with other predictor variables. To measure multicollinearity, it is possible to examine
the variance inflation factors (VIF). VIF measure how much the variance of an estimated
regression coefficient increases if predictors are correlated. VIF values shall not be greater than 10
than 0.1, and any VIF values 5 -10 implies the associated regression coefficients are poorly
estimated because of multicollinearity. Plus the value of tolerance should be greater than 0.1. Table
6of collinearity statistics of the study output shows that all VIF measures of each predictor
variables do not fall neither above ten nor between 5 to 10, and the tolerance value is greater than
0.1. This indicate that there is no serious problem of multicollinearity between independent
variables. Therefore, all the variables were retained for use in the estimation.
Coefficientsa
Collinearity Statistics
1 (Constant)
34
4.3.4. Model Summery
The value R Square in Table 7 indicate that there is almost 37% variation in the dependent variable
(customer satisfaction) due to one unit change in independent variables (product Performance,
feature, reliability, conformance, durability, aesthetics, serviceability, and perceived quality)
Model Summaryb
As indicated on table 7 the value R-square measures the goodness of fit of the independent
variables (product Performance, feature, reliability, conformance, durability, aesthetics,
serviceability, and perceived quality) in explaining the variations in effectiveness of customer
satisfaction. Adjusted R-square measures the proportion of the total variation in dependent variable
explained by the regression model. As shown on table 7, the adjusted R-square value of 0.355
implies that the independent variables in this study explain about 35.5% of the variation in the
level of customer satisfaction. This indicates that the remaining 64.5% of variation in affecting
customer satisfaction is explained by other variables which are not included in the model.
35
Performance, feature, reliability, conformance, durability, aesthetics, serviceability, and perceived
quality) have contribution to customer satisfaction enhancement and the model is well fitted at 1
percent level of significance.
ANOVAa
36
with β = 0.082, T= 2.866 and P= .004. This implies that other if things remain constant, for a one
unit increase in product quality from perceived quality results in 0.082 unit increase of customer
satisfaction at 1 percent level of significance.
This means from the customer’s point of view, product aesthetic, durability and perceived quality
are the most important dimension of eight independent variables (product quality dimensions) in
the context of customer satisfaction.
The output results from the table 9 of 351 samples show that hypotheses 1,2,3, 4 and 7 are not
supported as the calculated p-values are more than 0.05 (H1 ‘p’ value of product performance on
the customer satisfaction is 0.067, H2 ‘p’ value product features customer satisfaction is 0.083, H3
‘p’ value of product reliability on customer satisfaction is 0.511, H4 ‘p’ value of product
conformance on customer satisfaction is 0.051, and H7 ‘p’ value of product serviceability on
customer satisfaction is 0.380).
Table9 Regression coefficient analysis of the model
Coefficientsa
37
Except the output of serviceability the study result shows the same result with previous research
done by Shaheen Mansori (2018) on the effect of product quality on customer satisfaction and
loyalty from Malaysia. Besides America journal of international business (Juwita. S, Sukaria. S,
and Khaira. F. 2019) the study on the effect of product quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty
shows that Performance, Durability, perceived quality has positive significant impact on customer
satisfaction. While feature, serviceability and conformance has insignificant effect on customer
satisfaction. Significant positive relationship between reliability and empathy dimension of service
quality with customer satisfaction in telecom sector of Pakistan. (Muhammad. A, Maria. I, Rashid.
Z, 2014)
4.3.7. Hypothesis Test Result Summary
Table 10: Hypothesis Test Result Summary
Hypothesis Result
Performance Not supported
H2 Feature Not supported
H3 Reliability Not supported
H4 Conformance Not supported
H5 Durability Supported
H6 Aesthetic Supported
H7 Serviceability Not supported
H8 Perceived quality Supported
Source: Survey data (2019)
Therefore, based on the research output of p value result, the three hypothesis (H5, H6, and H8 are
supported. However the remaining 5 hypothesis are not supported (H1, H2, H3, H4, and H7). A
possible reason for this could be due to the difference in emphasis of the focus on cost as their
main priority. This is in line with the findings of Saleki and Sayedsaleki (2012). To improve
Customer Satisfaction, the following issues has been highlighted by the customers as the area of
importance, namely a network quality, diversified products, responsiveness to service maintenance
that enhance product and service quality in terms of serviceability, perceived quality, and
conformance. Customer’s representatives highlighted ethio telecom shall invest on innovative and
attractive products.
38
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
This chapter will give summery of the findings, conclusion of the research, recommendation and
future area of research regarding product quality and customer satisfaction.
5.1. Summary of the Findings
In this section, based on the finding of the study summary and conclusions are drawn and possible
recommendations are forwarded. As stated in chapter one the purpose of this study was to
investigate the effect of product quality on customer satisfaction, and specifically to give answer
for the eight quality dimension research questions. In attempt to answer the research questions, the
researcher targeted customers of ethio telecom focus area in Addis Ababa, and gathered 351
useable filled out survey collected through personal data collectors.
Accordingly, the respondents gender percentage composition were almost fairly distributed that
both genders were involved highly in the study. The age ranges of the respondents were comprised
of heterogeneous group (with 43.3% of them aged 23 to 28 years, followed by the age between 29
to 39 years) which in turn enabled the researcher to get varied response across the sample unit.
From the respondent 54.4% are single marital status. 35.3% of the respondents are first degree
holder. The occupation status showed 67.2% of the respondents are employed. Respondent’s
monthly income showed 34.1% of them have a monthly income between 5000 to 10000. From
their income 50.4% of the respondents spent monthly from 100 to 250 birr for telecom service.
From the respondent 70.94% were using all offers i.e. voice call, Internet, buy device from ethio
telecom and value added services together. 66.10% of the respondents use 3G network mode for
their voice and data connectivity. Among the respondents 64.1% were using smart phone mobile
device. This indicates the respondents have the access to use all offers of ethio telecom from their
mobile devices.
The regression summary model indicates adjusted R square value of 0.355 signifying that
independent variables of the study explain about 35.5% of the variation in the level of dependent
variable and the rest 64.5% variation is explained by other variables which is not included in the
model.
39
Results indicate that Durability, Aesthetic and Perceived quality has the highest impact on
customer satisfaction. The results also indicate that Performance, Features, Reliability,
Conformance and Serviceability have influence on satisfaction but this relationship is not
significant. A possible explanation for this could be due to the customer’s attention towards the
cost of products. This is lined with the finding of Shaheen Mansori (2018), and with the findings
of Saleki and Sayedsaleki (2012) that price influences purchasing behavior.
The strongest effect on customer satisfaction comes from Aesthetics, followed by durability of
product and services.
5.2. Conclusion
The study aims to answer the effect of product quality on customer satisfaction using the eight
product quality dimensions.
Based on the results of the research and discussion, conclusions are drawn. Product performance
variables have insignificant effect on customer satisfaction. Feature variables have no significant
effect on customer satisfaction and have no direct effect on customer satisfaction. Product
reliability variables have no significant effect on customer satisfaction and have no direct effect
on customer satisfaction. Product conformity variables have no direct effect on customer
satisfaction and have no significant effect on customer satisfaction. Product durability variables
have a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction and durability effectiveness of 0.282
to customer satisfaction. Aesthetic variables have a positive and significant effect on customer
satisfaction and direct effectiveness of 0.283 to customer satisfaction. Serviceability variables have
no significant effect on customer satisfaction. Perceived quality variables have a positive and
significant effect on customer satisfaction, and perceived the quality direct effectiveness of 0.142
to customer satisfaction. The highest variables of influence on customer satisfaction are product
durability and aesthetics variables followed by perceived quality variable.
5.3. Recommendation
As discussed in chapter one and two, while operating in a fast moving, evolving and dynamic
telecom industry, as the flow of information and communication gets more real time from their
fingertip and have a great impact on the users, satisfying customers will provide ways to sustain
40
ethio telecom. Based on the findings established during the course of this study, the researcher
recommended to the issues identified during the discussion.
The recommendations may apply to ethio telecom depending on management's approach to the
problems.
The descriptive statistics of the study shows that, 70.94% of the company’s customers are using
all offers of ethio telecom (voice call, Internet, buy devices and value added services) which
66.10% of them use 3G Network mode connectivity, and 64.10% use Smart phone device. This
shows that ethio telecom has a huge opportunity to offer more products and services to its
customers hence majority off them use all offers, use 3G network mode and smart phone device.
Thus the researcher recommends the company to devote more time and resource to fully
understand the behavior and demand of product and services to find their interest and create value
for the customers.
Also 50.4% of the customers have a monthly expenditure from 100 to 250birr for telecom services.
The researcher recommends that the company has to figure out the best way to improve customer’s
consumption by providing offers to the customers.
Companies should strive for to develop products based on the concepts of innovation in order to
create value for the customers by improving on the aspects of the product quality that have been
identified by the study and move beyond connectivity to digitalization by providing IOT (internet
of things) and M2M (Machine to Machine) technology offers. The product development may
require research and development for the products that meet the demand of the customers and on
the future needs of the market. Beyond this the company should work on internal success factors
for new product development to enhance the product quality.
Based on the study findings, the predictor variables studied explains only 35.5% of the variance in
the dependent variable, Aesthetics, reliability and perceived quality are found to be the significant
determinant factors on effectiveness of customer satisfaction. In order to enhance this, the
researcher recommends that, ethio telecom has to understand preferences are different for product
quality from customer to customer therefore ethio telecom shall focus on individual market rather
than mass market. Plus, ethio telecom should provide a platform for its customers to speak their
demand to use for product development.
41
Recommendation for future research
A judgmental sampling was undertaken to gather the customer’s feedback. It may be challenging
to expect a higher response rate as respondents may not entirely understand the value of the
research, thus limiting their efforts participation. Recommendation for future research can be made
to address the problems. Predicting variables that are explaining 64.5% of variance in effect of
customer satisfaction are not discussed in this study. Thus the researcher recommends future
researchers to consider these variable on their study. Furthermore, the study was conducted only
from customer perspective who are living in Addis Ababa. Therefore, the researcher recommends
future researchers to include from the organization perspective and take the sample at nationwide
level.
42
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APPENDIXES
Appendix1
QUESTIONNAIRE
Unfortunately, I have a very tight schedule. So, I kindly request your swift response to enable me
to complete this research within my tight schedule.
General Instructions
There is no need of writing your name
Product refers voice call, SMS, Internet, device, Value added service like CRBT, airtime credit,
conference call, call me back etc.
Part One: General Information
1. Gender
Male Female
2. Age
14-22 23-28 29-39 40 -49 over 50
3. Marital Status
Single Married Divorced Widowed
4. Educational Background
Not educated 1-8 9-12 Level
BA/BSC MA/MSC/MBA PHD
5. Your monthly income in birr <1000 1000-2500 2500- 3500 3500-5000
5000- 10000 10000-30000 >30000
46
6. Your monthly expenditure in birr for telecom service. <30 30 – 50 50-100
100-250 250-1000 1000 -5000 >5000
7. Your occupation: Employed self-employed student other
8. What telecom service you used?
Fixed telephone or mobile voice Internet Value added services (CRBT, conference
call, airtime creditor, call me back, other) Device both voice call & internet
all offers
9. Which network connectivity mode you are using for your mobile service? 2G 3G 4G
10. What type of mobile phone you are using? Feature smart tablet Other
Part two: Research questions
Mark ‘√’ in the extent of your agreement or disagreement with the following statements in relation
to Product and service quality, and customer satisfaction.
The scale refers to the following: 1 =Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree; 3=Do not agree or disagree;
4=Agree; and, 5=Strongly Agree
Product quality
Performance 1 2 3 4 5
1 Product and service performance is important to me
2 Product and service performance always meets my expectations
Product and service performance meets the technology standard
Features
3 Product and service features is what I need for my operation
4 Product and service features are desirable & useful
Product and service features are innovative and simple
Reliability
5 Product and service reliability can meet my needs
6 Product and service is always reliable
Promised product and service dependably and accurately reliable
Conformance
7 Product conformance can meet my needs
8 Product always conforms to needs
47
Product and service is always meets the promised standards
Durability
9 Product durability is important to me
10 Product is always durable
Product and service is always meets the promised durability
Aesthetics
11 Product aesthetics is important to me
12 Product is aesthetic
Product and service aesthetics is innovative and simple for use
Serviceability
13 Product and service serviceability speed is important to me
14 Product and service has high level of serviceability easiness
Product and service has cost effective serviceability
Perceived Quality
15 Product and service quality can meet my standards
16 Product and service has high quality
Product and service has technology standard quality
Satisfaction
17 Ethio telecom has a strong focus on its customers
18 Product design differentiates it to meet customer requirement
19 Employees are motivated to serve its customers
20 Top managements are committed to customer satisfaction
21 Engages in continual monitoring of its customer satisfaction activities
22 Engages in a continuous improvement cycle
23 Engages in activities to add value to its customers
Thank you!
48
Appendix 2
መጠይቅ
ለመሳተፍ ፍቃደኛ በመሆንዎ እጅግ አድርጌ አመሰግናለው፡፡ የጥናቱ ዋና አላማ በማረኬቲንግ ማኔጅመንት
ሆኖ ያለኝ ጊዜ አጭር ነው፡፡ በመሆኑም ጥናቴን በአጭር ጊዜ አጠናቅቅ ዘንድ የእርስዎን ፈጣን ምላሽ
አጠቃላይ መመሪያ
ስምዎትን መጻፍ አይጠበቅብዎትም
ተጨማሪ አገልግሎቶች እንደ ጥሪ ማሳመሪያ፣ የካርድ ብድር፣ ኮንፍረንስ ደወል፣ መልሰው ይደውሉልኝ
እና ሌሎች ፡፡
ክፍል አንድ: አጠቃላይ መረጃ
1. ጾታ
ወንድ ሴት
2. ዕድሜ
3. የትዳር ሁኔታ
4. የትምህር ደረጃ
49
5. ወርሃዊ ገቢዎ በብር <1000 1000-2500 2500- 3500 3500-5000 5000- 10000
10000-30000 >30000
6. ወርሃዊ የቴሌኮም አገልግሎት ወጪዎ በብር. <30 30 – 50 50-100 100-250
250-1000 1000 -5000 >5000
7. የሥራ ሁኔታዎ: ተቀጣሪ የግል ስራ ተማሪ ስራ ፈላጊ
ሌላ
Part two: Research questions
ከምርቱ እና አገልግሎት ጥራት፣ እና ከደንበኞች እርካታ ጋር በተያያዘ ከዚህ በታች በተዘረዘሩት ዓረፍተ ነገሮች ላይ
ብቃት 1 2 3 4 5
ይዘት
50
አስተማማኝነት
ተስማሚነት /መጣጣም
ውበት
ተበላሽቶ ቶሎ የመስተካከል
ያገኙት ጥራት
እርካታ
51
17 ኢትዮ ቴሌኮም ለደንበኞቹ ከፍተኛ ትኩረት ይሰጣል
አመሰግናለው!
52
Appendix 3
Frequency chart of agreement towards the issues
Disagree
Variables Agree in % in %
Performance 41.3 22.87
Feature 42.87 19.37
Reliability 42.24 20.7
Conformance 43.19 25.17
Durability 43 19.56
Aesthetics 41.49 22.79
Serviceability 46.13 18.8
Perceived
quality 44.82 18.42
Satisfaction 39.55 13.8
Source: survey data (2019)
0
Mobile BB data & Fixed line
Internet
2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18
Source (ethio telecom business plan report) Source (ethio telecom business report)
53
Customer satisfaction score
9
8 7.8 7.8
7 7.3 7.2
6 6.3
5
4
3
2
1
0
2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18
Appendix 4
Ethio telecom major product and services trend
2001
Earlier 1997 1999
54
Call center
2005 2006 2015
3G/WCDMA
Internet
Mobile Broadband 4G-LTE Mobile
Video calling
Fiber 4G Data
MMS
CDMA Voice Internet
CDMA 1X
EVDO
Mobile VPN
55