TESTING THE MODERATING EFFECT OF CUSTOMER CHARACTERISTICS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BRAND MANAGEMENT ATTRIBUTES AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN KENYA

The general objective of this study was to establish the moderating effect ofcustomer characteristics on the relationship between brand management attributesand customer satisfaction among university students in Kenya. The study adopteddescriptive research design, the target population comprised students from all 70universities registered and accredited to operate in Kenya, with a population of443,783 students enrolled for various undergraduate degree programmes fromwhich a random sample of 384 students was drawn from 21 universities.Questionnaires were administered using intercept approach. Through systematicrandom sampling, the researcher selected every 5th student entering the main gateof the selected university. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis,correlation analysis and regression analysis. The study revealed that brandmanagement attributes had statistically significant influence on customersatisfaction among university students in Kenya (R2=0.238; p-value = 0.000). Thestudy also revealed that customer characteristics had a statistically significantmoderating influence on the relationship between brand management attributesand customer satisfaction (R2=0.085; p-value= 0.000). The study recommends that,when developing and designing different university programs, universities shouldconsider the students’ personal characteristics such as age, gender and incomelevels as well as their situational characteristics.