Inventory management and customers` satisfaction in the public health sector in Delta State, Nigeria: marketing analysis

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of inventory management on customers` satisfaction with lead time as a moderator variable in government-owned hospitals in Delta State, Nigeria. It aims to contribute to the extant literature on inventory management and customer satisfaction in developing countries, focusing on Delta State in Nigeria. Two hundred and sixty-five (265) questionnaires were distributed, comprising one hundred and five to measure inventory management variables administered among Medical Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, and Medical Laboratory Scientist. Similarly, one hundred and sixty questionnaires designed to measure customer satisfaction were administered to Patients. The study adopts multiple regression and structural equation modeling to analyze the data. Also, studying the impact of inventory management on customers` satisfaction some marketing analysis approaches were used. The obtained results support the appropriateness of the model as lead time possesses the qualities of a moderator between strategic supplier partnership, lean inventory, and information technology that are proxies of inventory management and customer satisfaction. Besides, the results record a positive and statistically significant relationship between strategic supplier partnership, lean inventory, and customer satisfaction at a 5 percent level of significance, respectively.In addition, lead time has a positive and statistically significant relationship with customer satisfaction. Impliedly, this study concludes that inventory management proxies and lead time drive customer satisfaction. Thus, the government is recommended to focus on the lead time to avert the dearth of basic inventories in the hospitals.