The study reports the impact of relationship marketing on customer loyalty in the luxury and first-class hotel industry. A questionnaire derived from the literature review was completed by 300 customers of luxury and first-class hotels in Ghana. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple regression were used to test the impact of six key relationship marketing practices, namely competence, commitment, conflict handling, trust, communication, and relational bonds on customer loyalty. The findings suggest that all six relationship-marketing practices have a significant and positive effect on customer loyalty in the hotel industry in Ghana. Apart from extending knowledge on relationship marketing practices into a domain without much empirical work, the study also provides hotel managers with practical ways of implementing relationship-marketing strategies for achieving customer loyalty in Ghana.

PurposeThe paper aims to investigate the determinants of automobile brand choice in Ghana. Specifically, the paper seeks to hypothesize that consumers of automobiles make their purchases based on a multiplicity of factors.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative approach using questionnaires was adopted to survey 1,020 respondents drawn from various workplaces, churches and homes. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis.FindingsThe study established that the attributes of a car, emotional connection, external influences, awareness and accessibility make a strong and significant contribution to automobile brand choice in Ghana.Originality/valueThe study is one of the few of its nature in sub‐Saharan Africa. The new theoretical and empirical insights into factors influencing consumers' purchase decision of automobiles from the study will be significant to automobile manufacturers and dealers operating in developing countries such as Ghana.

Purpose Even though scholars have proposed multiple dimensions to measure corporate reputation, the relationship between these dimensions and service provider selection has received a dearth of research. Moreover, the moderating role of brand image on this relationship has hardly been considered. The purpose of this paper is to fill these gaps in the literature. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a quantitative approach, collecting data from 540 retail bank customers using surveys. Results were analyzed using structural equation modelling in AMOS. Findings The study found out that emotional engagement, corporate performance, customer centricism and service quality directly predicted customer selection of retail banks in Ghana. The results further indicated that brand image moderates the relationship between social and ethical engagement, which was not directly significant and bank selection. Practical implications The findings of the study indicate that some of the dimensions of corporate reputation have a direct impact on bank selection by customers, and that brand image could also be used to improve social and ethical dimension of corporate reputation to ensure bank selection by retail customers. The study thus provides practical guidelines for managing corporate reputation to achieve retail bank selection in Ghana. Originality/value The paper provides support to some of the prior studies on corporate reputation in the retail banking sector. Thus, the study provides useful insights into how corporate reputation can be managed to ensure service provider selection by retail bank customers.

No abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the various communications strategies designed to promote insecticide-treated nets (ITN) use among pregnant women and children. This study is an exploratory study into the communications activities by institutions involved in malaria prevention in Ghana. In-depth interviews were conducted and the data were analyzed. We found that most of the interventions are aimed at encouraging the target markets to acquire ITNs, although most messages on malaria prevention are not integrated. Several challenges were noted, including financial constraints, lack of human resources, cultural barriers, negative publicity, and negative perceptions on malaria.