| dc.description.abstract | Customer satisfaction and service quality have been cited to be critical issues in most service industries, are ones important for airline service providers that offer generally undifferentiated products. However, there is limited knowledge on how employee behavior could influence customer satisfaction. This study's broad objective was to assess influence of employee behavior on customer satisfaction specifically, influence of employee courtesy on customer satisfaction, how employee presentation influences customer satisfaction, how employee responsiveness influences customer satisfaction and determine the overall relationship between employee behavior and customer. The study targeted Kenya Airways customers in Kisumu airport. This is the largest airline carrier in the East African region. The study focused on KQ employee behavioral aspects, how they offered their services, and the complex interrelationship and dependability that exists with customer satisfaction. The study used a cross sectional study and simple random sampling employed to arrive at the sample size of 186 out of a target population of 1,646. Structured questionnaires and document analysis was used in this study to collect data , satisfaction analyzed in the five likert scale was used to determine if there was a difference in mean ratings between the three variables tested and employee behavioral attributes. It was found out that, there was no statistical significant difference between the overall satisfaction mean rating on employee courtesy on customer satisfaction as the Mean were J.23 ,3.3 3 and 4.03 respectively. A p value of 0.012 was obtained. Also, there was no statistical significant difference between the overall satisfaction mean rating on how employee presentation influences customer satisfaction as the Mean ratings were 3.14, 3.50 and 4.32 respectively. The p value was 0.009. Regression analysis was used to test for associations and all the employee behavioral attributes were found to influence customer satisfaction. From the findings it was concluded that that employees ' behaviors have great effect on overall customer satisfaction regardless of customers ' gender, type of travel, purpose of visit and number of visits. The study recommends that customer satisfaction to be enhanced in the company since it in turn helps to enhance customer commitment to the airline. The company needs to focus on training its front line employees to be friendlier to customers during the entire time the customer is engaged with the airline. These influences the customers' willingness to continue looking for services offered by KQ employees' thus increasing the organizations market share. Customer satisfaction is important in realizing repeated purchase behavior of customers A follow up study in the same study area using a larger sample to determine if similar views still prevail and what their implications are to Kenya Airways is welcomed. A research in this context could bring about changes in findings. This is because of many variables that might not be put into standard because of varies in the service industry ranging from seasonality, personality of employees on duty, passenger perceptions and expectations, and many more variables, as there exist little knowledge on how employee behavior affects customer satisfaction in the Kenya airline industry. Hence, in order to remain competitive Kenya Airways must focus on employee behavioral attributes whether this involves investing heavily on employees by retraining them and giving them incentives or by simply acknowledging their efforts. | en_US |