A Study on Consumer Switching Behaviour in Cellular Service Provider: A Study with reference to Chennai

M.Sathish

PSG Institute of Management (PSG College of Technology), Coimbatore E-mail: mahendran.sathish@gmail.com

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K.Santhosh Kumar

Priyadarshini Engineering College, Vaniyambadi-Vellore E-mail: santhoshkumark2002@gmail.com

K.J.Naveen, V.Jeevanantham

PSG Institute of Management (PSG College of Technology), Coimbatore E-mail: kjnaveenmba@gmail.com, jeeva1187@gmail.com

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ABSTRACT

Indian mobile market is one of the fastest growing markets and is forecasted to reach 868.47 million users by 2013. India has seen rapid increase in the number of players which caused the tariff rates to hit an all time low. This allowed the players to target the low

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INTRODUCTION
Switching

behaviour is a consumer behavior where the behaviour of the consumers differs based on the satisfactory level of the consumers with the providers or companies. Switching behaviour can be enunciated as the process of being loyal to one service and switching to another service, due to dissatisfaction or any other problems. Even if a consumer is loyal to a particular brand, if the brand does not satisfy his/her needs, the consumers switch to a competitor brand. There are different factors and determinants which affect the consumers in switching their service from one service to another

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LITERATURE REVEIW

Richard Lee, Jamie Murphy, University of Western Australia (2005), their study investigates

determinants that cause mobile phone Customers to transit from being loyal to switching

Mohammed Sohel Islam (2008), in his study

examined the relationship between switching cost, corporate image, trust and Customer loyalty

Conor Twomey (2008), Department of Statistics,

University College Cork, Ireland, they try to identify hysteresis in the switching patterns of Customers in the Irish mobile phone industry.

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Problem identification

Consumers have every chance of switching the mobile service provider due to industry expansion. industry is growing technically and becoming economical due to competitors innovative and attractive services. of players in this sector is increasing, so each one of them wants to overplay others to attract the consumers. industry has become economic with the end result that consumers have less

Mobile

Number

Mobile

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Objectives

To

identify the factors that affects the consumers into switching the service provider. find the most preferred service provider in Chennai. find the major influences that goes into the decision of purchasing a SIM card. find the likeliness of switching the service provider.

To

To

To

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Research methodology

Research Design

The research design used in this study is Descriptive research design

Data Collection

In this survey, the primary data was obtained by administering structured questionnaires. The secondary data was collected through various literature reviews and articles.

Sampling

For this study, Chennai is geographically divided into four broad regions: North Chennai, Central Chennai, South Chennai and West Chennai. The respondents are randomly drawn from each region.

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Hypothesis

H0: There is no relation between the switching of service providers by consumers and the factors* that affect it. H1: There is a relation between the switching of service providers by consumers and the factors* that affect it H0: There is no association between switching behavior and independent variables H1: There is an association between switching behavior and independent variables

(*Factors Improper Consumer Service, Unknowledgeable Employees, Long Wait Times for Consumer Service, Error in Billing, Poor Network Coverage, Frequent Network Problems, No new Schemes, Unsuitable plans for different age groups, Costly Value Added Services, High Call Rates, Hidden Charges, High

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REGRESSION

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REGRESSION Model

Y=A + Bx1 + Cx2 + Dx3 + Ex4

Switching preference = -1.267 + .372(Customer service) + . 390(service problems) + .460(usage cost) + .066(others)

Most preferred service provider in Chennai

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Likeliness of switching the service provider

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Major influences that swing the decision to purchase a SIM card

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CONCLUSION

The study reveals that call rates play the most important role in switching the service provider followed by network coverage, value added service, Consumer care and advertisement which plays the least important role. It is found that there is a relation between switching the service provider and the factors (Customer service, service problem, usage cost, etc.). After analyzing the findings of the study, we suggest that cellular service providers concentrate more on increasing network stability and setting tariff rates competitively. The findings also suggest that managers of these mobile operators should shift focus on building corporate image and analyze more carefully the reason for consumers to switch brands in this industry in order to increase loyalty among these consumers.

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