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

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.