Investigating Switching Cost Roles in Determining Loyalty in the Mobile Telecommunications Market

Abstract

The paper evaluates various roles (direct antecedent, mediator or moderator) of perceived switching costs in determining customer loyalty in the mobile telecommunications market. Data were collected through a field survey of mobile phone users in Pakistan. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate hypothesized relationships. Perceived switching costs were found to play all three roles. Findings suggest that perceived switching costs directly influence customer loyalty, mediate the impacts of perceived service quality, value, and trust on customer loyalty and negatively moderate the relationships of satisfaction and perceived service quality with customer loyalty. Implications of these findings are discussed.