USER-GENERATED CONTENT AND DELIVERY FLEXIBILITY OF NON-ALCOHOLIC FOOD AND BEVERAGE FIRMS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between user-generated content and delivery flexibility of non-alcoholic food and beverage firms in Rivers State. The specific objectives were to determine the relationship between relevance and delivery flexibility and to ascertain the relationship between indicative content and delivery flexibility. The study was anchored on the Resource-Based View (RBV) Theory, which posits that valuable organizational resources contribute to superior performance. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population comprised customers of eight selected non-alcoholic food and beverage firms in Rivers State, while a sample size of 384 respondents was determined using the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample size determination table. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation Coefficient with the aid of SPSS version 27. The findings revealed a strong positive and significant relationship between relevance and delivery flexibility (ρ = 0.795, p < 0.05). The study also found a very strong positive and significant relationship between indicative content and delivery flexibility (ρ = 0.872, p < 0.05). The study concluded that user-generated content significantly enhances delivery flexibility by providing firms with valuable customer insights and market signals that improve responsiveness to changing customer requirements. The study recommends that managers of non-alcoholic food and beverage firms should actively monitor and utilize relevant customer-generated content to improve delivery decisions and service responsiveness. Furthermore, firms should integrate indicative customer feedback into their logistics planning processes to enhance delivery flexibility and overall operational performance