Introduction
Arthritis NSW is an organization that dates back over 40 years ago. It was established to help people suffering from arthritis and other musculoskeletal health related issues. In the course of helping, the firm provides knowledge, support and services to different people suffering from the above issues in the society. Over its life, the company has been able to grow immensely by establishing more subsidiaries in different regions.
Thus, the organization is involved in different activities that include provision of necessary support, increase community awareness, provision of professional health services to manage arthritis and conducting of seminars and workshops for community health professionals. Due to the nature of the company business, the firm has established many contacts with many people and organizations.
Some people are served and never return back while other come back bringing with them more support for the organization. Following the mixed reactions of the stakeholders of the organization, this study seeks to establish the level of satisfaction of clients with the services and activities of the organization.
The survey was conducted across different regions in while the firm operates and the clients were served with questionnaires while a few were interviewed. 200 people were surveyed hence forming the sample of the study. The research method used in the study was quantitative in nature. Data was analyzed using SPSS with the output being discussed in the subsequent sections.
Reliability Analysis
No regrets being involved with Arthritis NSW Corporation
The reliability of this variable is measured using Cronbach’s alpha. Reliability is indicated by the alpha to be 0.674. After standardization, Cronbach’s alpha becomes 0.676. The numbers of items measured are three. Given that the reliability is not above 0.7 accepted reliability, the outcome for this survey concerning this variable is not very reliable.
The inter-item correlation between the variables is not low enough to have a negative impact on the overall reliability. This is because, the inter-item correlation ranges from 0.315 to 0.48, values that are high enough to affect reliability positively. The inter item covariance matrix indicates that the covariance between the variables are high and there is low covariance.
This signifies that there are no omitted variables (values) hence the suitability of the reliability. There are no items to be deleted since there is no perfect correlation between the variables being measured. No item should be deleted in the reliability analysis since the deletion of the items reduces the value of Cronbach’s alpha.
The squared multiple correlations provide the reliability of items indicating their associated latent construct. The squared multiple correlations in the above analysis indicate that eh latent constructs for the items range from 0.204 to 0.319. It is therefore evident that the survey outcome is reliable at the value of 0.674.
Location of branch meeting
Cronbach’s alpha for the analyzed items is 0.904. This is a high value for reliability for the examined items in the survey. The high reliability is supported by a high inter item correlation that ranges from 0.749 to 0.781. The covariance matrix for the items indicates high covariance higher than 1 hence supporting the high level of reliability realized in the analysis of given set of item.
The rule of thumb provides that any item that increases Cronbach’s alpha should be deleted. However, all the items reduce the overall value of alpha whenever deleted hence there is no need to delete them. The mean of the items are as high as 7.02, 6.82 and 7.38 respectively. The latent construct of the observed items are very reliable since the squared multiple correlations are high ranging from 0.671, 0.671 and 0.630 respectively.
The mean high is as high as between 6.82 and 7.38 indicating high reliability. Scale variance in case of deletion of the items is high because the scale could vary by a margin of 7.414, 8.088 and 7.592 respectively in case the items are deleted in the same order.
Satisfaction
Cronbach’s alpha that measures reliability is 0.861 for three variables. The high reliability is supported by a high inter item correlation between variables that is 0.618, 0.702 and 0.719. The correlation indicates that the items are highly correlated although there are no perfect correlations among the items.
In addition, their covariances range between 0.638 and 0.739. The lack of covariance that ate close to zero coupled with the inability to find perfect correlations indicates that the reliability of the items is genuine and should not be doubted by any secondary user of the study findings. Any deletion of a given item in the survey could result in the reduction of the Cronbach’s alpha rather than its increase.
Therefore, no item should be deleted from the list. These reliable outcome indicates that all clients of the Arthritis NSW are satisfied with the magazines provided by the company, the magazines provided by the firm are enough for its clients and that the magazine content is right for the intended clients. These outcome is supported by a low scale variance of between 3.093 and 3.557 and a squared multiple correlation of between 0.519 and 0.625.
Benefits from company resources (Magazines)
The output of this variable indicates a Cronbach’s alpha value of 0.875. The high value of reliability is supported by inter item correlation matrix values that range from 0.608 to 0.784. There are no perfect inter item correlations. In addition, the inter item covariance is high with most of the items having it higher than one.
No item covariance is close to zero hence adding to the reliability of the study findings. The analysis point to the fact that only the first item should be deleted from the analysis since its deletion increases the Cronbach’s alpha from 0.875 to 0.879. Although the margin at which the alpha is increased is negligible, it remains to be a positive margin.
However, other two items should not be deleted since their deletion would lead to the reduction of the Cronbach’s alpha hence reliability. The possibility of deleting the first item is also supported by a high scale variance in case of its deletion compared to other variables.
The reliability of the items as an indicator of their latent constructs are indicated by the squared multiple correlations that are 0.518, 0.706 and 0.619 for the three items respectively. It is therefore evident that the outcome of the analyzed data is reliable and that the clients of the organization have benefited from the magazines of provided by the company.
In addition, the topics of the magazines were related and helpful to the condition of the customers. In spite of the outcome, the findings would be more reliable if the first item (benefits from the first three issues of the magazine) could be deleted.
Understanding Content
The reliability of the study findings is average provided the high value of Cronbach’s alpha of 0.582. Three items were analyzed to provide the outcome of low inter item correlation that range from 0.274 to 0.489. There are no perfect correlations since the correlation values are not close and equal to unity. In addition, the covariance realized in the analysis indicates high values that are not close to zero, hence strengthening the reliability of the study.
The deletion of any item form the analysis reduces the Cronbach’s alpha hence the reliability of the analyzed data. Therefore, no item should be deleted from the study. The latent construct reliability associated with the items is low as indicated by the squared multiple correlation that range from 0.112 to 0.2.
Therefore, the customers of Arthritis NSW are able to understand the items that are included in the magazines of the company independently. However, the articles in the magazines provided little insight to the topics that the customers were interested in and that they would often require other people to explain the contents of the article to enhance their understanding.
Value for money
The outcome of the survey concerning this variable is reliable given the value of Cronbach’s alpha of 0.884. The high reliability is supported by high inter item correlation values that range from 0.687 to 0.756. The values do not provide any instances of perfect correlations since there are no correlations between items of one. In addition, the covariance between items is between 0.642 and 0.772.
With no covariance, the findings indicate high levels of reliability. The deletion of items from the analysis reduces the Cronbach’s alpha rather than increasing it. Therefore, no item should be deleted from the survey because any deletion would reduce reliability. The squared multiple correlations are at an average of between 0.561 and 0.644. The values indicate high reliability of items related to the latent construct.
From the analysis, it is evident that the clients of the Arthritis NSW feel that they have received value for their money where by their expectations were fully satisfied by the firm. Moreover, the quality of services they received in membership is equivalent to the price they paid as members in the organization. Therefore, the company should keep up its treatment of its members to avoid any dissatisfaction while maintaining growth in future.
Service satisfaction
The Cronbach’s alpha is a negative value of 0.424. The value is negative due to the negative average covariance among some variables used in the survey hence violating the required guidelines of reliability. Therefore, from the start, the findings indicated in this variable are not valid. Although there are no perfect inter item correlations, the inter item correlations are very low with some values being negative.
The outcome is replicated in the inter item covariance that is indicated by some values being negative hence zero or near zero. Following this outcome, the findings of the survey are not reliable and it casts doubt on the source of the data for the survey. Either the researcher was biased or the respondents did not provide true information regarding some of the items.
Deleting the first two items in the analysis of this variable improves the reliability of the outcome since it increases the value of Cronbach’s alpha. For instance, the deletion of the first item increases Chronbach’s alpha from -0.424 to -0.347 while the deletion of the second item increases Cronbach’s alpha from -0.424 to -0.134.
Moreover, the last item should be done away with completely since its deletion increases the value of reliability by the largest margin form -0.424 to 0.001. Therefore, the members of Arthritis NSW are not comfortable with the services offered by the firm regarding the membership price and the membership price should b reduced for it to be affordable to many members. Given that many members are not comfortable with the current membership price, it should not be increased in future with the addition of services.
Future use of service (Loyalty)
The Cronbach’s reliability alpha for this variable was 0.86 with only 2 items being analyzed. The high reliability is supported by a high inter item correlation values between the items with no perfect correlations. In addition, the items have high values of covariance and there is no covariance value close to zero. In spite of the analysis results, the effect of any deletion of items on the reliability is not indicated. Therefore, the variable survey results are reliable. Due to this, it is evident that most members would like to rejoin arthritis NSW in future given the services provided by the company.
Overall satisfaction
The reliability of the items analyzed as provided by Cronbach’s alpha is 0.888. It is supported by a high level of inter item correlation that range from 0.713 to 0.755, hence no perfect inter item correlations. There is no near zero covariance between the items hence further support of the reliability.
No item should be deleted from the analysis because the deletion of any item could result in reduction of the reliability. The square multiple correlation of the survey is 0.581, 0.634 and 0.632 respectively for three surveyed items. The outcome of the survey support the study since all members of Arthritis NSW made good decision in joining the organization. Therefore, they do not regret joining the firm (Zikmund & Babin, 2010).
Renewal Process
The above regression results indicate that overall satisfaction of the members of Arthritis NSW depends on the renewal process provided by the organization. The level of members who are satisfied without considering the overall renewal process of the company stands at 4.068 (constant).
However, any single improvement of the renewal process of the company improves member satisfaction by 0.216.. The standard error involved is 0.073. In spite of the relationship, the R squared value of the regression is at 0.47 (low) implying that the overall level of satisfaction of members of Arthritis NSW is explained by only 4.7% of the renewal process.teh standard error of the overall estimate is at 0.79595.
Branch Location
This regression results indicate the existing relationship between the levels of satisfaction of the members of Arthritis NSW with the location of the branch (subsidiary) of the firm. The dependent variable is the level of satisfaction. It is clearly indicated that in the results that level of satisfaction depends on the branch location.
However, the autonomous level of satisfaction stands at 4.442 while every single improvement in the location of a given branch of the company improves the level of satisfaction by 0.212. The error involved is 0.79674. Only 4.5% of the level of satisfaction in the company is explained by the location of the branch since the R squared value is 0.045
Class timetable / location
This section sought to determine the level of member satisfaction basing on the location of the class, the timetable and the frequency of classes. From the above results, it is evident that the three variables determine the level of satisfaction at different rates.
Any slight improvement in class location, frequency and class timetable improves satisfaction by 0.166, 0.176 and 0.195 respectively. However, autonomous level of satisfaction that does not depend on these variables is 3.406. The level of satisfaction explained by the three variables as indicated by the R squared is 11.7%.
Depth of Magazine articles
The level of satisfaction in this section depends on the quality of the magazine articles that are evaluated in terms of content, relevance and depth. Any improvement in the three variables improves the level of member satisfaction by 0.16, 0.98 and 0.13 respectively. Autonomous satisfaction that does not depend on the content, depth and relevance is 3.197. However, the level of member satisfaction explained by these three variables as indicated by the R squared is 9%.
Membership Quality
The level of satisfaction in this section depends on the quality of the magazine articles that are evaluated in terms of content, relevance and depth. Any improvement in the three variables improves the level of member satisfaction by 0.16, 0.98 and 0.13 respectively. Autonomous satisfaction that does not depend on the content, depth and relevance is 3.197. However, the level of member satisfaction explained by these three variables as indicated by the R squared is 9%.
Membership price
The level of satisfaction in this section depends on the quality of the magazine articles that are evaluated in terms of content, relevance and depth. Any increase in the price of membership reduces satisfaction by 0.03. Autonomous satisfaction that does not depend on the membership price is 5.067. However, the level of member satisfaction explained by these three variables as indicated by the R squared is 0.1%.
Conclusion
Arthritis NSW corporation provides various services and products to its clients including necessary support to people suffering from arthritis and other muscoskeltal issues. The organization was established about 40 years ago and has undergone tremendous changes over time that has enabled it to grow.
In the course of its growth, the company has been able to establish other subsidiaries in different regions and countries. In spite of its success in growth and expansion, there are many issues facing the firm some of which are directly related to the customers served. The company customers are the reason for its existence and some have gone a step further to supporting the organization in terms of donations and financial support.
The issues affecting the firm including the changing business environment that necessitates increase of memberships fee has not gone down well with the members and as indicated in this survey, the members are not contended with these issues. This survey established that most of the members of the organization are satisfied with the services offered by the company including treatment and support of Arthritis patients.
They are happy with the content published in company magazines because the articles are relevant to their situation. However, some members need help of other people in order to comprehend the articles. In addition, the members obtain value for their money and membership fee. However, they do not recommend an increase of membership fee.
Following these outcomes, it is important that the company adhere to a few recommendations as indicated below:
- The company is doing well in providing the necessary magazines for the clients it serves. However, some clients find difficulties in comprehending the articles. It is important that the company provide articles that can be easily comprehended by its members for easy readability and understanding.
- Some members indicated that although the articles were relevant to their situation, they were not their favorites. It is true that the firm may not be able to satisfy all customer needs. However, the firm should segment the market and conduct survey on customer needs regarding articles published in the company magazine. This would solve these issues since most customers would be provided with a variety of magazines containing articles they like.
- Much of the activities and services provided by Arthritis NSW are related to community work. The services and products are supported by membership charges from company members, donations and support from well-wishers among others. As operating conditions in the business environment change, the firm finds it difficult to operate. However, an increase of the membership fee is an option since the firm would lose most of its members who would deny it an important source of revenue and financial support. Therefore, the company should maintain the current membership fee.
Reference
Zikmund, W. & Babin, B. (2010) Exploring Marketing Research. 10 Edn. Boston, MA: South-Western.