Influence of Relationship Marketing on Customer Loyalty in Petroleum Firms in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The increased level of competition and regulatory conditions has called for a strong firm-customer relationship. Building of strong customer relation will foster acquisition of valuable resources that will give a firm an insight into marketing intelligence that will help in marketing decision making and therefore remain competitive in the face of unrivalled competitive pressures that characterize the present-day operating environment. A strong customer-firm relationship is expected to affect how a consumer views its relationship with the firm and grow the level of trust between the two parties and consequently the level of customer loyalty. As a result, the study sought to determine the influence of relationship marketing on customer loyalty of consumers of Petroleum firms in Nairobi, Kenya. Towards the realization of the research objective, the researcher utilized the social exchange theory, relationship marketing theory and commitment-trust theory to anchor the study. The identified relationship marketing constructs that the research used include trust, communication, commitment, and problem solving and promise fulfilment. The study used descriptive research design with the target population being 20 registered petroleum companies registered with the Energy Regulatory Authority (ERC). Stratified sampling technique was employed to pick the target respondents. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire that was distributed using a drop and pick later approach. Data was analysed using the descriptive measures, while the relationship was determined using a regression equation. The findings suggest existence of positive effects of customer relationship dimensions (trust, commitment, promise fulfilment, communication, and conflict resolution. However, from the findings, commitment and communication variables were insignificant while the other three variables were found to significantly influence customer loyalty. The study concluded that greater consumer marketing relationship orientation not only yield higher loyalty quality but also result in better relationship continuity. The limitation of the study included non-exhaustive list of independent variables as well as the cross-sectional nature of the study and consequently a longitudinal research design was recommended to further validate the study.