Customers’ perceptions of service delivery by trade and investment KwaZulu-Natal in the greater Durban area

This study aims to evaluate the perceptions of customers regarding the service delivery of Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal. Several research studies on service quality have resulted in positive outcomes for organisations which have proven that services can be improved upon, revenues can be increased, customer retention can be maintained, and this can result in attracting new customers through positive word-of-mouth outreach. This research unravelled a level of awareness as identified by the Corporate Strategy Plan compiled by Sigma International 2019 of the services offered by Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal (TIKZN). The gaps that highlighted the perceptions and expectations created were the motivation behind this study, which examined the effect of service delivery from a sample size of 400 businesses locally within Central Durban, Amanzimtoti, Umhlanga, Westville and Morningside, as well as some of the businesses that lie on the outskirts of the greater Durban area. A quantitative approach was adopted in this study and data was gathered through questionnaires. The study also used the probability cluster sampling technique to draw a sample from the Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal’s database. Customer perception and expectations of service quality were measured using the SERVQUAL instrument, which consists of five dimensions: reliability, tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, and assurance. Gap analysis was used to evaluate gaps in terms of the quality of services delivered. The data collection procedure ensured that ethical considerations were followed in collecting data from the respondents. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data by means of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 27®). The findings of this study using SERVQUAL illustrate that customer expectations were higher than perceptions across all five service quality dimensions. The results imply that customers were not happy with the level of service being delivered by Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal on each of the dimensions. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations have been proposed to close the gaps and ultimately improve service quality so that Trade and Investment KwaZulu-Natal is able to achieve customer satisfaction and improve service delivery. These findings of the study are limited to KZN and should not be generalised beyond this region. Therefore, it is recommended that future research investigate employeerelated aspects of service quality effectiveness, such as role stress, ambiguity, conflict and job satisfaction, as well as other customer-related service outcomes apart from perceived service quality.