GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

                                                                                           ABSTRACT

The study assessed trust and commitment as correlates of customer retention in small-scale enterprises among business education graduates in Rivers State. In carrying out the study, correlation research design was adopted. The study was carried out in Rivers State and the targeted population for the study comprised 2,574 managers of registered small-scale business in Port Harcourt Metropolis. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a total of 335 managers of registered SMBs among small scale business owners in Port Harcourt Metropolis. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled "Customers Retention of Small Scale Business Owners Questionnaire (CRSSBOQ)". An expert in test, measurement, and evaluation carried out face and content validation of the instrument in order to ensure that the instrument was potent enough to collect accurate and adequate data for the study under consideration. The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.84, and this was substantially high enough to justify the use of the instrument. The researcher subjected the data generated for this study to appropriate statistical technique, Pearson Product Correlation Analysis. The study revealed that there is a significant relationship between trust and customer retention of business education graduates and that there is a significant relationship between commitment and customer retention of small-scale business. On this basis, it was concluded that trust, and commitment, if adopted and enhanced in the small-scale business, will boost customer’s retention. One of the recommendations made was that managers of small-scale businesses should be trustworthy so that they can maintain a cordial relationship.

KEYWORDS: Trust, Commitment, Customer Retention, Small Scale Enterprise, Business Education, Graduates and Rivers State.