ABSTARCT

The research is a critical analysis of service quality and customer retention in obudu cattle ranch. The need for service companies to understand service quality as one of the most effective means of establishing a competitive position and improving customer retention became imperative considering the growing development in services as well as competition pressures locally and globally. Business must offer services that are of high quality, with the employees of the service business serving as important link to delivering such service to customers.  Three theories that are closely related to the topic were employed as tools to analyze this topic. The Resource-Based View Theory, Expectancy Discontinuation Theory and Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification and Development Theory. These theories suggest that a firm should not be seen as an isolated entity, but need to be viewed as existing in an operating environment that is being connected with other institutions, facilitated and supported by many factors. To this end, customer’s satisfaction level is a result of the difference between expected and perceived service performance or quality. The research utilized the survey research design and assessed the perception of customers of Obudu cattle ranch with regards to the study variable. The result of the investigation in this study showed that all the variables as Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy have a positive and significance relationship with customers’ retention. However, there is a proof of a strong relationship between service quality and customer retention in Nigerian hospitality industry. It is therefore, concluded that service quality must be achieved by the Nigerian hospitality organizations if the industry is to attract customer retention and remain relevance in improving profitability. Based on the findings from this research, it was recommended that there is the need for organizations in the hospitality industry to continue to improve the tangible aspect of their service to enhance customer retention which will in turn enhance profitability and competitive advantage.