BIBM787-Applied Research Proposal-Click to get assignment

The scope of the study will be focusing on the areas that are essential to the research. The first area will be looking into the factors that affect customer satisfaction. The issue of customer satisfaction is in place because there are factors that led to its presence. The second scope will be to look into the needs of the customers (Hwang & Suh, 2018). The reason for looking into this scope is because the needs of the customers have an effect on the levels of customer satisfaction. When the needs of the customer are met, the customer’s level of satisfaction increases. To understand the significance of the study and the challenge that is at hand, the research will also look into the advantages that come along with the increased levels of customer satisfaction. It is paramount to note that an issue becomes an issue because it hinders the success of a company in one way or another (Neuman, 2016). In this respect, it is essential to understand the advantages of customer satisfaction with the aim of making sure that the study is extensive and it covers all areas that would help to understand the issue in a better way.

Different researchers have looked into the issue of customer satisfaction, and each one of them has been trying to unravel the mystery behind customer satisfaction and business success. Connections have been identified between the levels of customers’ satisfaction and business success and customer loyalty. The following pieces of literature have come in handy to enhance the understanding of the challenge of customer satisfaction in the industry.
The concept of customer satisfaction

Saeidi, Sofian, Saeidi, Saeidi, & Saaeidi (2015), state that customer satisfaction is termed as the level in which the needs and expectations of the customers are met. The reason why customer satisfaction is an essential aspect of the business world is because the customers play an essential role in the success of any given company. Customer satisfaction does not only affect the manufacturing industry, but it also affects the service delivery industry. When an issue sweeps across the board, the issue proves that it needs serious attention not only from the business world but from researchers as well.
According to Min, Lim, & Magnini, (2015) customer satisfaction is an essential aspect that not any business person should ignore. The organizations that have prioritized the needs of the customers have found themselves in the best position to outshine their competitors. It is essential to understand that the reason why businesses are in place is to meet the needs of the customers. The organizations cannot meet the needs of the customers if they do not understand what makes the customers happy. At the same time, it is paramount to understand that competition will never end in the world of business. However, it is by identifying the best strategies to employ that an organization is able to meet the needs of the customers. Competition is healthy in the world of business because it leads to increased quality of products and services. Customer satisfaction is an aspect that comes in handy to help an organization to reach higher levels of success. The reason behind it is because when the needs of the customers are met, the customers consider buying from the organization. When customers choose a specific organization because it meets their needs, the organization wins because it is able to attract more customers than other organizations.

Hwang & Suh (2018) state that Customer satisfaction should not be narrowed down to only providing quality goods and services, but it should be viewed from a broader perspective. The provision of quality goods and services is essential to customer satisfaction. However, it is imperative to note that the business environment is also essential to customer satisfaction. Regardless of the quality of services that a customer receives, the environment must be suitable for the customer. It is essential to note that the concept of customer satisfaction is broad and therefore an organization that has the intention of enhancing customer satisfaction needs to look into the issue from a broader perspective.

Hill & Brierley (2017), state that customer satisfaction has different advantages to a given industry or business. When the levels of customer satisfaction are low, organizations are always in a panic, and this only shows how it is essential in the world of business. Customer satisfaction comes in handy to help in increasing the number of customers who seek the goods or services of the company. Most of the organizations that are successful have reached that level because they have known the essence of customer satisfaction. One of the highlighted advantages of customer satisfaction is an increased number of customers, and that comes in to add to the sales and profits of a given organization.

Hill & Alexander (2017) argue that the loyalty of a customer is fostered when the satisfaction levels are high. Customers do not become loyal to a brand or organization without a reason that pushes them to do so, but they become loyal if the organization meets the needs of the customers. Loyalty is valuable to any company or industry for different reasons. When the customer is loyal, he or she seizes to be only a purchaser and becomes part and parcel of the company. The customer is able to help the company identify issues and look into ways of dealing with them, and this comes in handy to help the company to grow and develop.

According to Han & Hyun (2015), customer satisfaction affects the relationship between customers and service providers. The main aim why customers approach organizations is to make sure that their needs are met. When their needs are met, they unconsciously establish a bond with the organization. Psychologically, when a human being is impressed, he or she tends to develop a bond between him or her and the person who impresses him or her. The bond works to the advantage of the company. A bond between a customer and an organization means that the customer is in the best position to share information with the company. An organization cannot be perfect and sometimes it might need the help of the customers. When the customers feel that the company has established a bond with them, they are always ready to correct the organization when it might be wrong. When an organization has people in place who are willing to share information about their goods and services; the organization benefits because it is corrected whenever it makes a mistake.

Ennew, Binks, & Chiplin, (2015) state that the quality of goods and services and the working environment are the factors that mostly affect customer satisfaction. When the quality of products and services are high, the customers are satisfied, and that increases their levels of satisfaction. In the business world, relationships between organizations and customers are fostered through the products that a company presents to the market. When a company demonstrates that it has the interest of the customers at heart and goes ahead to present quality products and services, the organization is in the best position to foster customer satisfaction. The business environment should also meet the expectations of the customers. Customers want to purchase their products and seek services in environments that are peaceful where the service providers and sellers demonstrate high levels of professionalism and care for the customers.

According to Elias, Mohamed, & Arridha, (2015), understanding the needs of the customers is a factor that affects customer satisfaction. An organization is only able to boost the levels of customer satisfaction if it understands the needs of the customers. The needs of the customer play as a link between an organization and customer satisfaction. In this respect, an organization that does not understand the needs of the customers is likely to miss out when it comes to boosting the levels of customer satisfaction. The satisfaction levels of a customer can be affected negatively. When organization chooses to invest in a market blindly, it exposes itself to the risk of manufacturing products and providing services that do not meet the needs of the customers. When this happens, the satisfaction levels of the customers are affected negatively.

Eisingerich, Merlo, Heide, & Tracey (2016) argue that many researchers have overlooked the aspect of reputation when it comes to factors that affect the satisfaction of the customers. One of the reasons why organizations are engaging in community activities more than ever before is because the organizations have known that the reputation of a company has an effect on the customers as well. Human beings are created in a way that they only want to be associated with positive things. A customer might be loyal to an organization, but after the organization is associated with negative news, the customer reconsiders his or her position. The world exists as a community and what happens to other members of the community affects the rest directly or indirectly. When an organization is not keen on making sure that its reputation is good, the organization might affect the level of customer satisfaction. It is crucial for an organization to make sure that the process of service delivery is enhanced and at the same time, the reputation of the company is attractive to the customers.

According to Blut, Frennea, Mittal, & Mothersbaugh (2015), satisfaction is secondary, and that means that it is affected by other factors. The main factor is the need of a customer. Customers are driven to different organizations in pursuance of their needs. On the other hand, organizations are in the market with the intention of coming up with goods and services that meet the needs of the customers. It is for this reason that there is a connection between the needs of a customer and customer satisfaction. Each customer has a need and the level of the need depends on how the customer accesses his or her needs. When organizations manufacture goods that meet the expectations of the customers, the goods are likely to meet the needs of the customers. When the needs of the customers are met, the expectations are met as well thus affecting the satisfaction levels. 

The research method that will be suitable in this study will be a qualitative research method. The method provides more detailed data, and this is because the tools used to collect data look for more than statistics from the participants (Smith, 2015). The tool for collecting data will be the interview. Interviews present a platform where the exchange of information is extensive thus the collection of credible data is fostered. The number of participants will be one hundred, and this is because an interview needs work (Taylor, Bogdan, & DeVault, 2015). The type of interview that will be used will be the structured interview, and the participants will be sourced from the city; streets and in businesses. One interview will take approximately twenty minutes, and this is to allow the interviewee to provide as much information as possible.

Some of the ethical issues that will be looked into are privacy and the willingness of the participants. The information that will be provided will be private, and the identity of the participants will not be revealed to the public (Smith, 2015). The participants that will be used in this study must have attained a legal age and must be willing to participate. The information that will be collected will be stored for analysis, and it will not be exposed to people who are not part of the research.

Time Schedule

Month Activity Duration

November Draft a research plan 20 days

December Collect the research materials 20 days

January Collect data from the participants 20 days

February Collect data from the participants 20 days

March Analyze the data 20 days

April Revise the findings and publish them 20 days

Potential limitations are lack of willing participants and covering a substantial geographic area. Getting people who are willing to share their information with the research team can be a challenge. Research does not pay, and that means that people will need to leave their work for a few minutes to participate without financial gains (Willis & Estanyol, 2018). Some people might be willing to do so but some might not be ready to do so, and that leaves a gap. The diversity of information in research is essential. Getting people from many geographical areas can be a challenge, and this is because of the resources and the unavailability of willing participants. The team might cover a narrowed geographical location, and that might affect the credibility of the research findings. 

Blut, M., Frennea, C. M., Mittal, V., & Mothersbaugh, D. L. (2015). How procedural, financial and relational switching costs affect customer satisfaction, repurchase intentions, and repurchase behavior: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 32(2), 226-229.

Eisingerich, A., Merlo, O., Heide, J., & Tracey, P. (2016). Customer satisfaction and purchase behavior: The role of customer input. In Looking forward, looking back: Drawing on the past to shape the future of marketing (pp. 220-220). Springer, Cham.

Elias, N. F., Mohamed, H., & Arridha, R. R. (2015). A study on the factors affecting customer satisfaction in online airline services. International Journal of Business Information Systems, 20(3), 274-288.

Ennew, C. T., Binks, M. R., & Chiplin, B. (2015). Customer satisfaction and customer retention: An examination of small businesses and their banks in the UK. In Proceedings of the 1994 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 188-192). Springer, Cham.

Han, H., & Hyun, S. S. (2015). Customer retention in the medical tourism industry: Impact of quality, satisfaction, trust, and price

reasonableness. Tourism Management, 46, 20-29.
Hill, N., & Alexander, J. (2017). The handbook of customer satisfaction and loyalty measurement. Routledge.
Hill, N., & Brierley, J. (2017). How to measure customer satisfaction. Routledge.

Hwang, S., & Suh, E. K. (2018). An Empirical Study on Nonlinear Relationship between Product Modularity and Customer Satisfaction. Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business Vol, 9(2), 47-55.
Min, H., Lim, Y., & Magnini, V. P. (2015). Factors affecting customer satisfaction in responses to negative online hotel reviews: The impact of empathy, paraphrasing, and speed. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 56(2), 223-231.

Neuman, W. L. (2016). Understanding research. Pearson.
Saeidi, S. P., Sofian, S., Saeidi, P., Saeidi, S. P., & Saaeidi, S. A. (2015). How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of business research, 68(2), 341-350.

Smith, J. A. (Ed.). (2015). Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.

Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R., & DeVault, M. (2015). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Willis, P., & Estanyol, E. (2018). Collaborative Creativity, Leadership and Public Relations: Identifying and Addressing Research Limitations. In Public Relations and the Power of Creativity: Strategic Opportunities, Innovation and Critical Challenges (pp. 135-148). Emerald Publishing Limite