Abstract
In today’s highly competitive, volatile and intense service environment, marketers
are seeking ways to connect and engage with their customers in order to build longstanding
relationships and achieve customer loyalty. However, achieving loyalty in
itself is not sufficient, as research has established that even loyal satisfied customers
can still defect to the competition. Thus, ascertaining the key determinants, which
make customers want to switch between service providers, is particularly important
to service providers. Having such knowledge will enable service providers to
prioritise on customer retention initiatives with business strategies that aim to
increase profitability, by mitigating the effects of these churn factors. This study
sought to identify key factors that determine customer churn in Zimbabwe’s mobile
telecommunications sector. Drawing from the push-pull mooring theory, this study
investigated the influence of customer dissatisfaction, low switching cost, lack of
customer support, lack of sufficient or adequate advertising, as well as increased
security/ethical concerns of customers.
A quantitative research method was adopted, with data collected from a sample of
413 Zimbabwean mobile subscribers, using structured questionnaires. Multiple
linear regression analysis was applied to analyse the causal effect of the factors
hypothesised as predicting customer churn. Factor analysis, validity and reliability
tests were performed to confirm the reliability and validity of scales. The results
reveal that key determinants of customer churn are customer dissatisfaction and
poor complaints management system in place. Accordingly, mobile service
providers are encouraged to prioritise initiatives that enhance customer satisfaction as well as investing in systems and methods that effectively and satisfactorily
resolve customer complaints, thereby ensuring customer retention.
Details
| Other ID | JA46CK66ZF |
|---|---|
| Journal Section | Articles |
| Authors | |
| Publication Date | June 1, 2017 |
| Submission Date | June 1, 2017 |
| Published in Issue | Year 2017 Volume: 9 Issue: 2 |