Determinants of loyalty and the effect of switching cost towards mobile telecommunication service providers in Malaysia

• Main Author: Aravindan Kalisri Logeswaran, Velachamy
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: HF5415.33 Consumer Behavior.
• Online Access: https://etd.uum.edu.my/5384/1/s90862.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/5384/2/s90862_abstract.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/5384/

Customer loyalty has been a highly sought after topic among academicians and industry practitioners to enable growth and competitiveness enhancement. This research investigated the challenges plaguing the mobile telecommunication industry, namely fluctuating revenue despite growth in the number of users, sliding average revenue per user (ARPU) and reduced repeat purchase, in addition to scarcity in analysing switching cost’s mediating effect. These impose serious concerns that link to dwindling customer loyalty. This research also compared the preferences of postpaid and prepaid users pertaining to satisfaction, trust, service quality and switching cost towards customer loyalty. This study utilized a quantitative approach where the stratified systematic random sampling was employed and data was collected in the Klang Valley over a time frame of 105 days. The instrument used was a self-administered questionnaire whereas structural equation modelling (SEM) was exercised for statistical analysis. The findings revealed that service quality and switching costs were the driving forces of loyalty while service quality, too, advocates switching cost. Moreover, service quality and loyalty were found to be the only constructs mediated by switching cost. Satisfaction and trust were however, found not to predict loyalty and switching cost. In fact, there were no mediating effects of switching cost on satisfaction and loyalty relationship, similar to trust and loyalty relationship. Meanwhile, service quality and loyalty relationship were found to be important among postpaid users, contrary to prepaid users. The overall findings affirmed service quality as the key component of customer loyalty and switching cost; likewise they clarified that loyalty does not need to transpire in a continuum manner. These outcomes are immensely valuable to practitioners for strategizing and executing tailormade plans while enhancing knowledge pertaining to switching cost and customer loyalty