DIGITAL MARKETING, SERVICE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF SMES IN MACHAKOS COUNTY, KENYA

The objective of this research is to analyze the interrelationships between digital marketing and service quality, digital marketing and sales performance, service quality and sales performance, as well as the mediating role of service quality in linking digital marketing to sales performance. This investigation adopted a quantitative research approach, structured around the research design, participants, data collection procedures, and analytical techniques. The study focused on 100small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) located inmachakos town, kenya. Respondents were MSME managers selected through simple random sampling to ensure fairness and representativeness. Data was collected using an online questionnaire. The instrument was designed with a five-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree (1)to strongly agree (5), allowing respondents to express levels of agreement or disagreement with the given statements. The responses were processed using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method. The results indicate that: Digital marketing positively influences service quality, Digital marketing significantly enhances sales performance, Service quality has a positive impact on sales performance and Digital marketing indirectly strengthens sales performance through the mediating role of service quality in the digital environment.