Customer Trust and Marketing Performance of Micro and Small Enterprises within Nyanza Region, Kenya

Abstract

Customer trust, as a bonus for reputation, may generate a sizable amount of revenue for businesses as a whole as well as for a nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Thus, there is need for MSEs to embrace marketing startegies which fit their strategic environment to build on their customer trust for higher market performance. However, studies focusing on customer trust and marketing performance of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in Kenya are limited. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish the influence of customer trust on the marketing performance of micro and small enterprises within Nyanza region, Kenya. Social exchange theory (SET) and a cross-sectional survey research design was adopted with a target population of 3,211 registered MSEs owners in the Nyanza out of which sample size of 356 was selected using Yamanes (1967) formula. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0. From findings customer trust explained 49.8 percent variation on marketing performance. A coefficient of .319 indicated that a unit change in customer trust leads to .625 units of positive change in marketing performance. In conclusion customer trust significantly predicts marketing performance at ? = 18.725, ? < 0.05. Thus, there is need for consistency in their quality of services or products with the image projected in the promotion platforms. The MSEs should reflect their values through their actions to appear more authentic to win customers trust and loyalty. In addition, they should strengthen customer follow-ups to address their queries to increase their marketing performance. The finding of this study can help major stakeholders in the MSE sector to strengthen customer trust for
marketing performance.