Perceived Green Marketing Practices, Organizational Demographics, Trade Customer Perception And Satisfaction In The Soft Drink Industry In Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The broad objective of the study was to establish the influence of organizational demographics and customer perception on the relationship between green marketing practices and customer satisfaction in the soft drink industry in Nairobi Kenya. The specific objectives were to establish the relationship between green marketing practices and customer satisfaction; examine the influence of organizational demographics on the relationship between green marketing practices and customer Satisfaction; assess the effect of customer perception on the relationship between Green marketing practices and customer satisfaction; and establish the joint effect of green marketing practices, organizational demographics and customer perception on customer satisfaction. The study was anchored on green marketing theory (corporate environmentalism theory), stakeholder theory, marketing mix theory and consumer behavior theory and was guided by positivistic philosophy. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design to determine how green marketing practices, organizational demographics and perception impacted on customer satisfaction in soft drink industry in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study targeted a sample of 180 trade customer firms but, the researcher managed to successfully collect data from 130 of the trade customer soft drink firms. The study adopted Cronbach’s Alpha which is the most commonly used measure internal consistency. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were conducted to determine the hypothesised relationships. The results of the study established that green marketing practices significantly influenced customer satisfaction, organizational demographics significantly moderate the relationship between green marketing practices and customer satisfaction and customer perception significantly mediated the relationship between green marketing practices and customer satisfaction. Lastly, the joint effect of green marketing practices, organizational demographics and customer perception on customer satisfaction was statistically significant. The combined effect of these variables on customer satisfaction was also found to be statistically significant. The study has made contribution to theory, policy and practice. The addition of both customer perception and organizational demographics added value to theory of customer satisfaction. Managers can embrace green marketing practices to gain a competitive edge in a competitive industry. The government can also allocate funds to regulate and implement green marketing practices in both public and private institutions. The study was subjected to limitations. The use of a single sub-sector in the food and beverage sector, selection of study variables, use of a descriptive cross-sectional research design and testing of green marketing practices as a single concept put constraints on the generalization of the results. The use of quantitative methods alone is also limiting. Future research should therefore seek to address these limitations by studying the whole soft drink sector focusing on individual customers, use of a longitudinal and broader research design and incorporation of qualitative research techniques. The inclusion of other study variables in the conceptual framework such as managers and employees characteristics may also bring out other useful insights in the study of green marketing and customer satisfaction.