Service Provider Empathy and Responsiveness for Customer Satisfaction in the Telecommunications Sector

Customer satisfaction remains one of the crucial determinants of customer patronage and eventual organizational performance. Exploring service provider empathy and responsiveness for customer satisfaction in the telecommunications sector was the main thrust of this paper. The effects of empathy and responsiveness as dimensions of service quality were examined to establish their effect (if any) on satisfaction of mobile network users in the three major senatorial districts in Edo state. Appropriate research questions in alignment with the objectives of the study were raised, coupled with corresponding hypotheses which were tested to conduct the study. The study employed cross sectional research design executed through a survey using a total of 400 respondents as sample derived from a population of 7.1 million subscribers using the Krecjie and Morgan table for sample size determination. Data was obtained through a well- structured instrument designed in a five form Likert scale. The instrument was established to be reliable by using Cronbach alpha test. The obtained alpha values were over 0.7 for all constructs of the variables studied, indicating a high degree of items consistency. We analyzed the data using regression analysis for hypotheses testing. The results show significant effect of service provider responsiveness and service provider empathy on customer satisfaction. From the findings of the study, it is recommended that the telecommunication companies should boost customer satisfaction.