IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v7y2017i3p2158244017731494.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Payment Behavior of Water Utility Customers in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana: An Empirical Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Mohammed Aminu Sualihu
  • M. Arifur Rahman
  • Zakiya Tofik-Abu

Abstract

Although water is an essential commodity with virtually no substitute, poor bill payment on the part of water utility customers is constraining the effort of water utility companies, especially those in developing countries to sustain and expand its provision. In this backdrop, this article investigates the interrelationship and impact of a set of attitudinal and institutional factors on the bill payment behavior of water utility customers of Ghana. A conceptual model of payment behavior is developed and tested using data from a cross-sectional survey of households in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana (GARG) and the billing records of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL). Among the constructs considered in the analysis, service quality, corporate image, and monitoring and control are found to be the major determinants of customer satisfaction toward the water utility, which in turn, together with the direct influence of monitoring and control measures and transaction time at bill payment points, explains a significant part of the total variation in water customers’ bill payment behavior. We provide in-depth discussion and policy implications of our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammed Aminu Sualihu & M. Arifur Rahman & Zakiya Tofik-Abu, 2017. "The Payment Behavior of Water Utility Customers in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana: An Empirical Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 7(3), pages 21582440177, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:7:y:2017:i:3:p:2158244017731494
    DOI: 10.1177/2158244017731494
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2158244017731494
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/2158244017731494?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mugabi, Josses & Kayaga, Sam & Njiru, Cyrus, 2007. "Strategic planning for water utilities in developing countries," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, March.
    2. Ajzen, Icek, 1991. "The theory of planned behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 179-211, December.
    3. Babakus, Emin & Boller, Gregory W., 1992. "An empirical assessment of the SERVQUAL scale," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 253-268, May.
    4. Bolton, Ruth N & Drew, James H, 1991. "A Multistage Model of Customers' Assessments of Service Quality and Value," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(4), pages 375-384, March.
    5. United Nations, 2016. "The Sustainable Development Goals 2016," Working Papers id:11456, eSocialSciences.
    6. Wunsch, Guillaume & Mouchart, Michel & Russo, Federica, 2010. "Do we necessarily need longitudinal data to infer causal relations?," LIDAM Reprints ISBA 2010016, Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences (ISBA).
    7. Lai, Wen-Tai & Chen, Ching-Fu, 2011. "Behavioral intentions of public transit passengers--The roles of service quality, perceived value, satisfaction and involvement," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 318-325, March.
    8. Marson, Marta & Savin, Ivan, 2015. "Ensuring Sustainable Access to Drinking Water in Sub Saharan Africa: Conflict Between Financial and Social Objectives," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 26-39.
    9. Kayaga, Sam & Calvert, John & Sansom, Kevin, 2003. "Paying for water services: effects of household characteristics," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 123-132, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Onoja Sunday, 2023. "Customers’ Satisfaction of Municipal Water Supply in Jos-Metropolis, Plateau State Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(2), pages 628-643, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sang-June Park & Youjae Yi, 2016. "Performance-only measures vs. performance-expectation measures of service quality," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(15-16), pages 741-756, December.
    2. Chandra Mahapatra, Subas & Bellamkonda, Raja Shekhar, 2023. "Higher expectations of passengers do really sense: Development and validation a multiple scale-FliQual for air transport service quality," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    3. William Jen & Kai-Chieh Hu, 2003. "Application of perceived value model to identify factors affecting passengers' repurchase intentions on city bus: A case of the Taipei metropolitan area," Transportation, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 307-327, August.
    4. Ajimon George & Jobin Sahadevan, 2019. "A Conceptual Framework of Antecedents of Service Loyalty in Health Care: Patients’ Perspective," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 8(1), pages 50-59, January.
    5. Muhammad Kashif & Umair Altaf & Hafiz M. Ayub & Umer Asif & John C. Walsh, 2014. "Customer Satisfaction at Public Hospitals in Pakistan: PAKSERV Application," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 15(4), pages 677-693, December.
    6. Nguyen-Phuoc, Duy Quy & Su, Diep Ngoc & Nguyen, Minh Hieu & Vo, Nguyen S. & Oviedo-Trespalacios, Oscar, 2022. "Factors influencing intention to use on-demand shared ride-hailing services in Vietnam: risk, cost or sustainability?," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    7. Kelley, Scott W. & Turley, L. W., 2001. "Consumer perceptions of service quality attributes at sporting events," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 161-166, November.
    8. de Wulf, K. & Odekerken-Schröder, G.J. & van Kenhove, P., 2002. "Investments In Consumer Relationships - A Critical Reassessment And Model Extension," Research Memorandum 077, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    9. Heydari, Ali & Laroche, Michel & Paulin, Michèle & Richard, Marie-Odile, 2021. "Hofstede's individual-level indulgence dimension: Scale development and validation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    10. Kunz, Werner H. & Hogreve, Jens, 2011. "Toward a deeper understanding of service marketing: The past, the present, and the future," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 231-247.
    11. Goodrich, Kendall & Ramsey, Rosemary, 2012. "Are consumers with disabilities receiving the services they need?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 88-97.
    12. De Vos, Jonas, 2018. "Do people travel with their preferred travel mode? Analysing the extent of travel mode dissonance and its effect on travel satisfaction," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 261-274.
    13. Qin, Hong & Prybutok, Victor R., 2013. "A quantitative model for patient behavioral decisions in the urgent care industry," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 50-64.
    14. Lorelei Schmitt & Graham Currie & Alexa Delbosc, 2015. "Lost in transit? Unfamiliar public transport travel explored using a journey planner web survey," Transportation, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 101-122, January.
    15. Dirk C. Moosmayer & Yanyan Chen & Susannah M. Davis, 2019. "Deeds Not Words: A Cosmopolitan Perspective on the Influences of Corporate Sustainability and NGO Engagement on the Adoption of Sustainable Products in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 135-154, August.
    16. Lapierre, Jozee & Filiatrault, Pierre & Chebat, Jean-Charles, 1999. "Value Strategy Rather Than Quality Strategy: A Case of Business-to-Business Professional Services," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 235-246, June.
    17. Jonas De Vos & Long Cheng & Frank Witlox, 2021. "Do changes in the residential location lead to changes in travel attitudes? A structural equation modeling approach," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 2011-2034, August.
    18. Chee, Pei Nen Esther & Susilo, Yusak O. & Wong, Yiik Diew, 2020. "Determinants of intention-to-use first-/last-mile automated bus service," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 350-375.
    19. Akkhaporn Kokkhangplu & Wanida Onlamai & Tananat Chokpreedapanich & Kraisak Phikul, 2023. "What Predicts Behavioral Intention in Eco-Friendly Hotels? The Roles of Tourist’s Perceived Value and Satisfaction: A Case Study of Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    20. Yasin Galip Gencer & Ulas Akkucuk, 2017. "Measuring Quality in Automobile Aftersales: AutoSERVQUAL Scale," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 19(44), pages 110-110, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:7:y:2017:i:3:p:2158244017731494. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.