Influence of Customer Experience Dimensions on Purchase Behavior in Kenyan Hotels

Customer experience has been found to be a competitive edge for many hospitality industries. The growth and survival of many hotel industries depend on its ability to manage and create memorable experience. Research on customer experience tends to focus more on managerial outcomes than on the theories underlying the antecedents and consequences of experiences. Whilst realizing the gap between traditional quality management practices and what customers desire from their experiences, firms are challenged to define experience, identify its determinants, make it operational and manage its implementation effectively. This study aimed at assessing customer experience and its relative effects on customer emotions and purchase behavior in the Kenyan hotel industry. The study adopted Berry and Carbone’s conceptualization of customer experience and Shen and Zhao (2005) indicators to measure purchase behavior. A mixed exploratory research design was adopted to conduct the research where self-administered questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data. The study assessed luxury hotels within Nairobi (20), Kisumu (1) and Mombasa (10) since they had a clear and consistent organizational structure and can give more insight into experiences because of their experienced and demanding clientele. The study population was 5,800 guests staying in the hotels. A total of 361 guests were selected as the sample size using multi stage sampling procedure. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics which involved use of means, percentages and tests for normality and inferential statistics which included the use of correlation, principal axis factor analysis and regression. The research findings indicate that the respondents agree with all the 35 dimensions as describing their perceptions about customer experience in the hotel given that all the means of the 35 customer dimensions was > 4. The results proved that customer experience is composed of three set of clues (humanic, functional and mechanic) which impact on customers perception of overall customer experience. Regression results also showed that of the three customer experience factors, only humanic clue factor had significant influence on purchase behavior (β = .17, t = 1.94, p = .05), with the rest of the two factors having no significant influence. The implication of this finding was that any efforts towards enhancing customer experiences in a hotel should focus primarily on aspects of a hotel operation that are equally important to the customer. While acknowledging the importance of all aspects of the hotel operation, managers should recognize the significance of each aspect in influencing purchase behavior. Keywords: Customer, Customer experience, Purchase behavior, customer emotions, luxury hotels. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-21-07 Publication date:July 31st 201

Mediational Role of Customer Emotions in the Relationship Between Customer Experience and Purchase Behavior in the Hotel Industry

Consumers experience a broad range of emotions, both simultaneously and successively while interacting with service providers. The role and effect of emotion are drawing greater attention from marketing intellectuals in their quest for a better understanding of consumers and their consumption experiences. This study aimed at assessing customer experience and its relative effects on customer emotions and purchase behavior in the Kenyan hotel industry. The study adopted Berry and Carbone’s conceptualization of customer experience; Ritchins’ (1997) clues to measure customer emotions and Shen and Zhao (2005) indicators to measure purchase behavior. A mixed exploratory research design was adopted to conduct the research where self administered questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data. The study assessed luxury hotels within Nairobi (20), Kisumu (1) and Mombasa (10) since they had a clear and consistent organizational structure and can give more insight into experiences because of their experienced and demanding clientele. The study population was 5,800 guests staying in the hotels. A total of 361 guests were selected as the sample size using multi stage sampling procedure. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics which involved use of means, percentages and tests for normality and inferential statistics which included the use of correlation, principal axis factor analysis, regression and bootstrapping. Regression results showed that of the three customer experience factors, only humanic clue factor had significant influence on purchase behaviour (β = .17, t = 1.94, p = .05), with the rest of the two factors having no significant influence. The three customer experience factors together with customer emotions account for 44% of the total variance explained in purchase behaviour. Mediation results showed that customer emotions (CE) fully mediates the relationship between Functional clues factor (FCF) and purchase behaviour (PB) (β = .08, t = 1.97, p = .05, VAF = 200%). Customer emotions (CE) partially mediates the relationship between Humanic clues factor (HCF) and purchase behaviour (PB) (β = .14, t = 3.24, p = .00, VAF = 45%) and the relationship between Mechanic clues factor (MCF) and purchase behaviour (PB) (β = .11, t = 2.21, p = .03, VAF = 50%). The study findings complement the existing literature regarding the role of emotions in service settings and offer a new point of view for the linkage among customer emotions, customer experience drivers and customer purchase behavior. The study findings emphasized that hotel operators must consider the impact of customers’ emotions on post-purchasing behaviors in developing better marketing and service strategies for retaining customers. Keywords: Customer, Customer experience, Customer emotions, Purchase behavior. DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/58-05 Publication date:July 31st 201

Programmatic implications of some vitamin A supplementation and deworming determinants among children aged 6-59 months in resource-poor rural Kenya

Introduction: controlling vitamin A deficiency and soil-transmitted helminth infections are public health imperatives. We aimed at revealing some caregiver and child-related determinants of uptake of vitamin A supplementation and deworming, and examine their programmatic implications in Kenyan context. Methods: a cross-sectional study of randomly selected 1,177 households with infants and young children aged 6-59 months in three of the 47 counties of Kenya. The number of times a child was given vitamin A supplements and dewormed 6 months and one year preceding the study was extracted from mother-child health books. Results: coverage for age-specific deworming was considerably depressed compared to corresponding vitamin A supplementation and for both services, twice-yearly provisions were disproportionately lower than half-yearly. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed relatively younger children, of Islam-affiliated caregivers (vis a vis Christians) and those who took less time to nearest health facilities as more likely to be supplemented with vitamin A. Similar observations were made for deworming where additionally, maternal and child ages were also determinants in favour of older groups. Other studied factors were not significant determinants. Programmatic allusions of the determining factors were discussed. Conclusion: key to improving uptake of vitamin A supplementation and deworming among Kenyan 6-59 months olds are: increasing access to functional health facilities, expanding outreaches and campaigns, dispelling faith-related misconceptions and probably modulating caregiver and child age effects by complementing nutrition literacy with robust and innovative caregiver reminders. Given analogous service points and scheduling, relative lower uptake of deworming warrants further investigations

Career path determinants of Eco-Tourism and Hospitality Management university graduates

There has been an increase in the number of hospitality management university graduates working in non hospitality organizations in Kenya. Despite this, studies have not been undertaken to investigate the factors that influence these graduates’ career decisions. The purpose of this study was thus to investigate the career path determinants of Maseno University’s hospitality management graduates. The population of study was ecotourism, hotel and institution management graduates of Maseno University working within and outside the hospitality industry. 150 respondents, from the sampling frame consisting of students who graduated between the years 2005 and 2010, were selected through snowballing. Structured questionnaires were self-administered to the respondents. Frequencies, percentages, means, factor loadings and regressions were computed and presented using SPSS version 17. The study revealed that the graduates’ major career path determinants are unpredictable events, career satisfaction levels, chance and permanency of career

Social science and indigenous ecological knowledge in Kakamega Forest, Western Kenya. eco.mont (Journal on Protected Mountain Areas Research)|eco.mont Vol. 8 No. 1 8 1|

There is ample evidence in literature that indigenous knowledge, practices and beliefs often contribute to conservation and in some cases enhance local biodiversity. As a result there has been renewed interest in the use of indigenous knowledge, especially in forest management and conservation. Despite the renewed interest, incorporation of indigenous ecological knowledge in natural resource planning and management remains elusive. Using focus group discussions and in-depth individual interviews, the study gives an account of the beliefs, practices and norms that have been used for conservation by the adjacent community of Kakamega Forest over the years. The study also highlights the implications of successive forest management regimes on the use of resources and indigenous ecological knowledge. Results indicate that the local community applied various beliefs, practices and norms to regulate use of Kakamega Forest. However, the advent of forest management regimes has brought resource use restrictions which often neglect indigenous ecological knowledge. This study provides key intervention strategies important for enhancing the complementary functions of indigenous ecological knowledge and forest management objectives