THE ROLE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGEMENT IN ENHANCING SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF SMALL-SCALE COFFEE PROCESSING INDUSTRIES IN MOSHI, TANZANIA

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the role of customer service management in enhancing the 
sustainable growth of small-scale coffee processing industries in Moshi Municipality, 
Tanzania. Specifically, it examined the influence of managing after-sales services, 
responsiveness, resilience, and reliability on the sustainable growth of these industries. A 
cross-sectional research design was employed, using a census sampling technique that 
involved 67 registered small-scale coffee processing industries. Primary data collected 
through questionnaires and interviews, while descriptive statistics and multiple linear 
regression models applied to analyse the quantitative data. The findings revealed that 59.4% 
of respondents strongly agreed that effectively managing responsiveness to customer orders 
significantly influenced the sustainable growth of small-scale coffee processing industries. In 
addition, improvements in after-sales services found to have a statistically significant 
contribution (p < 0.05) to sustainable growth. The study concludes that both reliability and 
customer service management exert a strong and significant influence on the sustainable 
development of small-scale coffee processing industries. The study recommends that 
enterprises prioritise the effective management of reliability and customer service functions 
to enhance sustainable growth. A key limitation of this research is that data collected solely 
from Moshi Municipality, which may limit the generalisability of the findings to other regions. 
Nonetheless, the study contributes theoretically to a deeper understanding of the role 
customer service management plays in fostering sustainable growth among small-scale 
coffee processing industries in Tanzania.