Service Quality Determinants of Electricity Consumers in The Gambia

Abstract

In a competitive market environment where goods and services are rendered to consumers, the quality of products has significant impact on its price. Competition in energy sector directly affects the nature and quality of service delivery to its consumers, thus the quality of service will greatly determine the level of satisfaction customers received from the quality of delivered service. To this effect, this study focus on the utility service industry through investing the determinants of service quality on customer satisfaction on the Gambian electricity service consumers – a case study of National Water and Electricity Company Limited (NAWEC). This paper also identifies key strategies that the utility service company can employ to increase its customer satisfaction. Using non-probability convenience sampling, data was collected from 250 domestic consumers of electricity in the Gambia using self-administered questionnaires. Descriptive statistics; Correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data through IBM SPSS statistics Version 20. The results of the regression analysis identify assurance, responsiveness and empathy as the top most consumer perceived service quality determinants of Gambian electricity consumers respectively. This implies that NAWEC should develop and implement excellent quality service delivery initiatives with much emphasis on service assurance, responsiveness and emotional empathy as well as business models and strategies gear towards consumerism, in addition to professional and competent staff recruitment and training. The result of which will significantly lead to an increase customer satisfaction for the corporation.