FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT $1$

Study the information provided below and answer the following questions.

Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, and Schlesinger's $(1994)$ Service$-$Profit Chain $($SPC$)$ theory is a management framework

that integrates concepts from marketing, human resources, and organisational behaviour. The SPC theory posits a direct

link between a firm's internal service climate and its external service value, which ultimately drives firm profitability and

growth.

Customer satisfaction is of critical importance in investment and portfolio management. A recent study reported a $30\%$

decline in customer satisfaction among South African investment firms. As an organisational researcher, you have

hypothesised that improvement in a certain variable, employee engagement, is likely to yield significant enhancement in

another variable, customer satisfaction. You are proposing a quantitative study premised on the SPC theory to investigate

whether improvement in employee engagement enhances customer satisfaction at twenty selected South African

investment brokerage firms.

QUESTION $3$

$3\mathrm{.}1$ Critically discuss the ontological and epistemological considerations for the proposed study based on the

researcher's choice of a quantitative approach for the study.