The Telecommunication We Should Experience: How Service Reliability, Assurance and Empathy Influence Customer Engagement
Abstract
The network inconsistencies in the telecommunication sector and recurring customer complaints about the quality of services have become a rising concern. Customers’ ownership of multiple network lines as a gateway to meeting their utilitarian and hedonic needs, although temporary, has not mitigated the complaints. The study focused on the dimensions of reliability, assurance, and empathy on customer engagement in the telecommunications sector. While the study adopted a cross-sectional design, convenience sampling was utilised. PLS-SEM through SmartPLS4 was adopted in analysing 315 validated samples. The findings showed the significant effects of reliability, assurance, and empathy on customer engagement, while service assurance was confirmed as the most important predictor among the variables in predicting customer engagement. The implications bordered on enhanced customer trust, improved customer loyalty, increased positive word-of-mouth, and greater customer participation, while the managerial implications point to organisational investments in employee training and professional development in ways that enable employees to demonstrate competence and credibility during service encounters. Therefore, it is recommended that organisations leverage technology to support service assurance while also implementing effective customer feedback mechanisms in addition to the development of relationship marketing programs.
Authors
- O. V. Onya
Department of Business Administration
Alex Ekwueme Federal University
Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State - A. O. Oloveze
Department of Marketing
Michael Okpara University of Agriculture
Umudike, Abia State - B. O. Obasiabara
Department of Marketing
Ebonyi State University
Abakaliki, Ebonyi State - C. Ogbonna
Department of Business Administration
Nnamdi Azikiwe University
Awka, Anambra State