Customer's Loyalty of Indonesia Cellular Operators in The Pandemic of COVID-1

Abstract

Abstract. The cellular operators business in Indonesia has significantly increased during pandemic of COVID-19 since the issuance of the government regulation regarding work from home and study from home. The increasing number of subscribers is getting higher along with the increasing high churn rate. The intention of the study was to determine the potential predictors of customer's loyalty to cellular operators. The findings show, First, user experience directly influences loyalty. Second, corporate image is revealed to strengthen the effect of user experience on switching barriers and subsequent impact on loyalty, which indicates that a good corporate image can increase customer loyalty. Third, satisfaction and switching barriers mediate the relationship between user experience and loyalty. This implies that if users perceive a good experience with their operators, they will satisfied and loyal to the current operator. In line with this situation, if there are too many barriers to switch to other operators and they believe getting value for money, they will remain loyal. The conceptual research framework proposed can be differentiated between users who perceived corporate image is high and those who perceived corporate image is low; they can be differentiated between pre-paid and post-paid cellular users. The contribution of this study lies in the fact that the path between the five dimensions of user experience to loyalty of cellular operator, the combination with the mediator of satisfaction and switching barrier to loyalty, the moderating role of corporate image which affects the direction and strengthen the relationship between user experience and switching barriers. Keywords: Cellular operators, corporate image, COVID-19, loyalty, user experience