The Interaction effect of generational cohort on customer orientation and customer satisfaction among airline passengers in Kenya

Abstract

Organisations have improved customer satisfaction by being customer oriented in all levels. At the firm level, organisations seek to develop customer oriented organization by generating market intelligence regarding the needs of the customer and disseminating the intelligence across departments. At an individual level, organisations seek to recruit and train employees to exhibit a customer orientation behaviour using authentic emotions while focusing on customer needs during service encounters.This study focused on customer level by seeking to establish effect of generational cohort on the relationship between customer orientation and satisfaction. This study is based on data collected from 426 airline passengers at domestic terminals in Kenya. The data is analysed using a variety of statistical techniques. Principal component analysis is used to identify the main constructs of customer orientation and customer satisfaction. Regression analysis is used to find out the main effects of the relationship between customer orientation and customer satisfaction, while hierarchical regression analysis is used to probe into the moderating effect of generational cohort on the relationship bteween customer orientation and customer staisfaction. The study found a positive relationship between customer orientation and customer satisfaction and it shows that there is no moderation on the relationship by any of the three generational groups. The key findings of this study indicate that there is a positive relationship between customer orientation and customer satisfaction and that generational cohort do not change this relationship. The contribution of this study to the existing literature in services marketing and customer staisfaction is assesed.