Service innovation and customer satisfaction: the role of customer value creation

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between service innovation, customer value creation (CVC) and customer satisfaction (CS) with specific emphasis to Ghanaian telecommunication operators. Design/methodology/approach - Assuming a positivist philosophical approach with a quantitative data analysis technique, the study samples 510 registered adult customers of at least one telecommunication network in Ghana. An exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to assess and confirm the proposed scales validity and the relationships of the research model. Findings - The study unveiled that a service firm’s ability to achieve CS is dependent on how telecommunication operators harness and deploy their service innovation activities. In addition, the study showed that CVC mediates the relationship between service innovation and CS. Thus, service innovation must create value for customers in order to enhance CS. Practical implications - By relating the study findings to firms’ innovation strategies, managers can improve the strength of their service offerings to achieve CS by spending more on consumer research, market research and increased customer interactions. Originality/value - Considering the uniqueness of this study in a Ghanaian context, the research draws on two influential theories, which are signaling theory and expectation disconfirmation theory to examine the differential role played by service innovation in enabling telecommunication operators in Ghana, to create customer value in order to achieve CS amidst the constraints in the business environment.