Title: Antecedents of customer loyalty in mobile phone service: a study from Sub-Saharan Africa

Authors: David K. Amponsah; W. Frank Thompson Jr.; Gordon G. Mosley; Akins T. Ogungbure; Emmanuel E. Yamoah

Addresses: Department of Management and Marketing, Troy University, 249 Bibb Graves, Troy, Alabama 36081, USA ' Department of Management and Marketing, Troy University, 238A Bibb Graves, Troy, Alabama 36081, USA ' Department of Management and Marketing, Troy University, 210 Bibb Graves, Troy, Alabama 36081, USA ' Department of Management and Marketing, Troy University, 2855 Old Milton Parkway, Suite 100, Alpharetta, Georgia 30009, USA ' School of Business, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

Abstract: Mobile phone service has become an efficient and accessible communication medium in Sub-Saharan Africa. As market growth attracts more competition, improving customer loyalty becomes an important strategic advantage. In general, previous research has focused on customer loyalty as a single variable. This study addresses this gap in the literature by examining customer loyalty as two separate variables: behavioural and attitudinal loyalty. This study examines four antecedents of mobile phone behavioural and attitudinal loyalty in an emerging economy: reliability, assurance, value, and satisfaction. Data from 309 survey respondents in the Sub-Saharan Africa country of Ghana were analysed using PLS-SEM. The study finds strong direct relationships between reliability and value, and satisfaction and behavioural loyalty. The study contributes to the literature by finding: 1) that behavioural and attitudinal loyalty are two measurable variables; 2) that customers' value and satisfaction perceptions mediate the relationship between service provider quality and loyalty. These findings can help mobile phone service providers in building customer loyalty.

Keywords: customer loyalty; mobile phone service; Sub-Saharan Africa; behavioural loyalty; attitudinal loyalty; reliability; assurance; value; satisfaction; Ghana; emerging markets.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEM.2019.102644

International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, 2019 Vol.11 No.3, pp.201 - 224

Received: 03 Apr 2019
Accepted: 01 May 2019
Published online: 30 Sep 2019 *

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