THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: NIGERIAN EVIDENCE

Abstract

SMEs are an important part of a nation’s economy as they represent the majority of businesses and contribute significantly to GDP. A crucial component of sustainable SME performance is customer satisfaction. The reality is that customer satisfaction is largely dependent on employee performance. This is because employees are the ones who serve customers, and the quality of service received has a huge impact on customer satisfaction. This study provides a Nigerian test of the employee motivation/customer satisfaction hypothesis. It achieves this aim by investigating the relationship between employee motivation of bakery employees and satisfaction levels of their customers in Ilorin, the capital city of Kwara state, in Western Nigeria. A questionnaire survey research design was utilized to measure the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation levels of 40 employees from four bakeries in Ilorin, whilst the satisfaction levels of 40 wholesalers from these bakeries were also measured. The results revealed that there was virtually no relationship between employee motivation and wholesaler satisfaction. The main implication of this finding is that SMEs in Nigeria cannot rely on motivating employees as the sole means of ensuring customer satisfaction. They have to integrate other strategies as well, such as enhancing product quality and utilizing innovative marketing techniques.