Relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the clinical laboratory of the University Hospital of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

The customer satisfaction-customer loyalty association is one of the most vital relationships for marketing theory and practice. However, there is a lack of consensus in the literature and among researchers about the causal link between the two concepts. The purpose of this research is to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in a clinical laboratory. This study proposes a mathematical model examining the relationship among two variables: customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. It is based on the survey data collected from 330 attending physicians in the University Hospital of Kinshasa. The chi-square test of independence and linear regression analysis techniques are used to investigate the relationship between the two variables. The key findings of the study indicate that customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are related (χ2 = 226.978, df = 1, p < 0.001). There is a strong positive significant linear relationship between the two variables (r = 0.892, N = 330, p < 0.001). The R2 value of 0.795 reveals that customer satisfaction accounts for 79.5% of the variation in customer loyalty. The mean customer loyalty value increases by 0.945 for every one unit change in customer satisfaction (loyalty = 0.945satisfaction + 0.347). Customer loyalty is a function of customer satisfaction. Laboratory management should concentrate on customer satisfaction to improve customer loyalty and, thus, assure laboratory survival in the current competitive environment. Keywords: Customers’ satisfaction, clinical laboratory, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Customers’ loyalty.