Training and Development Investment and Customer Experience Outcomes in Electricity Distribution: Employee Performance Competence as the Intervening Mechanism Evidence from Cameroon

Training and development (T&D) represent a critical human resource management function
that enables utility organizations to strengthen employee competence and improve service
delive ry. Despite growing interest in training and development, little empirical evidence
explains how these investments translate into improved customer experience in the electricity
distribution sector of Sub Saharan Africa. In particular, the mediating role of employee
performance competence across different occupational categories remains underexplored.
This study develops and tests dual pathway mediation model in which technical training and
customer service training influence customer experience quality t hrough the performance
competence of technical and frontline employees at Eneo Cameroon S.A. The study adopted a
quantitative, cross sectional, explanatory design using data collected from both employees and customers. Data were collected using Structured questionnaires. The instruments were
validated through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), bilingual back translation, and expert
panel review before data collection administered to 186 frontline and technical employees and
167 customers of Eneo Cameroon S.A. in the Littoral and Centre regions. Employee performance was assessed through supervisor ratings. Mediation analysis was conducted using Hayes’s (2022) PROCESS macro Model 4, with 5,000 bootstrapped samples and bias corrected confidence intervals. Occ upational category (technical vs. non technical) was examined as a moderating boundary condition using moderated mediation (PROCESS Model 8). T&D composite was a significant positive predictor of employee performance (β = .48, p < .001) and customer experi ence (β = .31, p < .001). Employee performance fully mediated the T&D CX
relationship (indirect effect = .174, 95% BC CI [.108, .251]; PM = 56.6%). Technical training’s
strongest indirect effects were on supply reliability (β = .158) and complaint resoluti on (β =
.142), while customer service training’s strongest indirect effects were on interpersonal CX (β
= .181) and complaint responsiveness (β = .162). Occupational category significantly
moderated all mediation pathways (all moderated mediation indices C I excluding zero).
Findings showed that the effect of human capital theory and the Service Profit Chain (T&Ds on
customer experience) operated entirely through employee performance competence,
struct ured by occupational role. The study proposes and validates a framework that links
technical training and customer experience through employee performance competence.
The study highlights practical Implications for Eneo management, ARSEL electricity regulatory
policy, and the broader African electricity d istribution sector.