Theoretical Framework of Customer Loyalty Towards Mobile Phone Services

Abstract

ver the last few years, the number of mobile phones has increased at an exponential rate globally. This increase is more pronounced in the developed countries. The reasons for this are numerous, low acquisition price and availability of the equipment contributes in no small measure to its widespread usage. Furthermore, the number of mobile phones in the world has already passed the number of fixed land lines and the revenue from mobiles phones will soon exceed that of fixed land lines. In the era of improved mobile communication technology, vast amount of changes are generated in facilitating communication and the transfer of information from business to business, business to customers, employers to employees among others. Consequently, the utilization of mobile phones in communication and information transfer leads to providing more and more added value services (Steenderen, 2002). Despite the various information services provided through mobile phone services nowadays, detail assessments need to be made in order to understand the needs and requirements of the mobile phone users. Service quality and customer satisfaction are inarguably the two core concepts that are at the crux of the marketing theory and practice (Spreng & Mackoy, 1996). n today’s world of intense competition, it is generally believed that the key to sustainable competitive advantage lies in delivering high quality service that will in turn result in satisfied customers. The prominence of these two concepts is further manifested by the root of theoretical and empirical studies on the topic that have emanated over the past few years. Therefore, there is no doubt about the importance of service quality and customer satisfaction as the ultimate goals of service providers. To this end therefore, the study seeks to understand the nature of mobile phone use among respondents at a higher learning institution and investigate their perceptions on the mobile phone applications in the context of services quality.