MATERIAL RECOVERY AND OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY OF POLYMER FIRMS IN RIVERS STATE
Abstract
The focus of this study was to investigate the relationship between material recovery and operational efficiency in polymer firms in Rivers State, Nigeria. Material recovery was used as the independent variable, treated as a uni-dimensional construct, while operational efficiency was used as the dependent variable measured by customer satisfaction and quality control.
Two null hypotheses were formulated for the study and a survey research design was adopted. The population comprised eight polymer manufacturing firms in Port Harcourt as listed by the Nigeria Business Directory (2023). The entire population was studied, and three copies of the research instrument were sent to each of the eight firms. Thus, the total number of respondents was 24, but only 20 instruments were returned and found usable. The hypotheses were tested using the Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient.
The findings revealed that material recovery had a significant and positive relationship with customer satisfaction, which is an antecedent of operational efficiency. The results also showed that material recovery had a significant and positive relationship with quality control, another antecedent of operational efficiency. The study therefore concludes that material recovery has a strong and positive relationship with operational efficiency.
Based on these findings, it was recommended that the management of polymer firms should devote more effort to material recovery strategies, as this was found to ensure customer satisfaction and aid in maintaining the quality of products.
Keywords: Material Recovery, Operational Efficiency, Customer Satisfaction, Quality Control
Owuso, Stephen Monima
Department of Logistics and Supply Chain Management
Rivers State University
stephen.owuso1@ust.edu.ng