Title: The mobile phone industry in the Kurdistan region of Iraq: from quality to loyalty

Authors: Ahmet Demir; Najih Samin Ahmed

Addresses: Business and Management Department, Tishk International University, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq ' University of Sulaimani, Kirkuk Road, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq; Business and Management Department, Tishk International University, Sulaimaniyah, Iraq

Abstract: After the COVID period, customer expectations and company strategies have changed in many markets and products. It is very important to keep up with this change in academic studies and publications, to re-identify the differences as well as the similarities, and as a result, to offer new strategic change opportunities to the market actors. In this sense, the research aimed to present a regional and comprehensive study of the mobile phone market, which is the most developing and expanding market in recent years. The study obtained data as a result of the questionnaire applied to 1,189 people who are currently using mobile smartphones in the Kurdistan region, and after passing these data through validity-reliability analysis. Through a rigorous process of validity and reliability analysis, the gathered data underwent causality analysis utilising structural equations modelling. When the results were examined, it has been determined that the product users in the market shape their purchasing and loyalty according to the brand perception of the product, rather than their own product usage experience. In this context, strategic maps were presented to market actors.

Keywords: mobile phone product quality; dealer’s service quality; switching cost; mobile phone industry; Iraq.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2025.149654

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2025 Vol.23 No.4, pp.447 - 474

Received: 08 Jan 2023
Accepted: 16 Jun 2023
Published online: 10 Nov 2025 *

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