FACTORS EFFECTING TO THE SWITCHING BEHAVIOR OF MOBILE SERVICE PROVIDERS BY THE MOBILE PHONE CONSUMERS IN SRI LANKA

Abstract

The mobile telecommunication industry is highly competitive and it is crucial for companies to build long-term relationships with their customers to retain market share. Therefore, understanding the reasons behind consumer switching behavior is important for marketers. This study aimed to explore the factors that influence the switching behavior of mobile phone consumers in Colombo district, Sri Lanka. A well-structured questionnaire was employed to collect primary data from 300 respondents in the Colombo district. A conceptual framework was developed to investigate the impact of independent variables on switching behavior. Before the study, interviews were conducted with customers to determine what drives them to switch mobile service providers. The collected data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses and determine the degree of switching behavior and the influence of independent variables on it. The independent variables included core service failure, service encounter failure, employee responsiveness to a service failure, attraction by competitors, and technology change. Convenience sampling was used to collect the data, which is a non-probability sampling method. SPSS 21 software was used to analyze the data. The research findings concluded that there is a high level of switching behavior to the mobile service providers and factors such as price, technology change, responsiveness to service failure is influencing to the switching behavior of mobile service providers of the mobile phone consumers in Colombo district in Sri Lanka. Among price, technology change, service encounter failure, responsiveness to service failure, core service failure, inconvenience, attraction by competitors, switching cost, technology change is the salient factor which influences the switching behavior. The results of the study can help key market players in the mobile telecommunication industry to identify and evaluate the factors that influence switching behavior to gain and retain market share.