Relationship Marketing and Customer Loyalty in Chain Fast Food Establishments in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria

This study focused on the influence of relationship marketing on customer loyalty in chain fast food establishments in Umuahia, Abia State. Specifically, the study determined the influence of trust on brand attachment; relationship commitment on brand advocacy; service quality on customer patronage, and customer knowledge management on customer experience. Customers of chain fast food establishments in the study area formed the population while the sample size was made up of 200 customers drawn from chain fast food establishments operating in the study area. The research instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics on SPSS version 23 were used to analyze the data generated. Findings revealed that trust has a positive influence on brand attachment (R=0.321); relationship commitment has a significant influence on brand advocacy (R=0.715); service quality has a positive influence on customer patronage (R=0.459); and customer knowledge management has a significant influence on customer experience (R=0.659, R2=0.435). In view of the findings, the study concluded that relationship marketing has a positive relationship with customer loyalty and therefore recommends that operators of chain fast food establishments should build trust, fulfill promises made to customers, target continuous improvement in service quality, and develop database and other social media platforms for proper customer knowledge management as all these contribute in developing a good relationship with the customers leading to customer loyalty.