Influence of Human Capital Management on Customer Satisfaction in Game Lodges and Safari Camps in National Parks in Uganda

Abstract

Human capital management (HCM) involves a paradigm in which employee staffing perceives people as assets (human capital) whose current value can be measured and whose future value can be enhanced through investment. A satisfied customer gives the profit to the business. However, Hotel industry in Uganda has faced a challenge of low occupancy for some time now. More importantly is that most Owners and Managers of Game Lodges and Camps located in National Parks in Uganda have not taken time to evaluate service quality and guest loyalty for purposes of coming up with the attributes that have the most impact on guest satisfaction. Therefore there was need to assess role human capital management on customer satisfaction in game lodges and safari camps in national parks in Uganda. The purpose of the study was therefore to establish the role human capital management on customer satisfaction in game lodges and safari camps in national parks in Uganda. It explicitly sought to understand the human capital management practices that are used by the game lodges and safari camps in national parks and their influence on customer satisfaction. The study profiled the existing human capital management practices, determine the influence of human capital management on customer satisfaction and investigate the challenges facing human capital management in game lodges and safari camps in national parks in Uganda. Cross sectional research design was employed and the study population constituted 380 employees of the game lodges and safari camps in national parks in Uganda.  The managers and employees of the lodges and camps were the unit of observation. Stratified random sampling technique was used to determine the sample size. Stratified random sampling technique was preferred because the population to be sampled was divided into homogenous groups based on characteristics considered important to the indicators being measured. Nine managers for lodges and camps were conveniently selected for the study. Yamane simplified formula was used to calculate the sample size for the employees to be 195. Questionnaires and interview guide were used to collect the data. The collected quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS. Both descriptive and inferential statistics will be used in the analysis. The specific descriptive statistics included mean, standard deviation, percentage and frequency, while particular inferential statistics were correlation and regression analyses. The qualitative data collected using the interview schedules was analyzed using content analysis and results interpreted. The findings revealed that all the three human capital management practices used in this study had positive and significant relationship with customer satisfaction in game lodges and safari camps in national parks in Uganda. The findings revealed that there was a positive and significant relationship between capacity building and customer satisfaction (? =.350, p=0.000); there existed a positive and significant relationship between reward and customer satisfaction (? =.477, p=0.000) and finally the findings revealed a positive and significant relationship between work environment and customer satisfaction (? =0.185, p=0.000). In addition the study tested the mediating effect of challenges on the relationship between human capital management practices and customer satisfaction in game lodges and safari camps in national parks in Uganda. The findings revealed a partial intervening effect of challenges on the relationship between human capital management practices and customer satisfaction. Based on the findings, the study concluded that it is important for the human capital managements of game lodges and safari camps in national parks in Uganda to focus on training their employees, rewarding their employees and providing conducive working environment for the employees. It was concluded that the organizations should organize regular hospitality courses since such courses have been found to improve the knowledge and skills of employees in the industry, and that of existing and potential managers. The study hence recommended that managers should adopt new and latest methods of training their employees on modern day’s ways of handling customers. Some managers in the hospitality industry in Uganda have appealed to government to continuously help train their staff in customer service and other technical disciplines in the hospitality industry.

Keywords: HCM, Capacity Building, Reward, Work Environment, Challenges, Customer Satisfaction.