Determinants of Customer Loyalty its Causes and Influences: A Study of Mobile Telecom Industry in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants customer loyalty in the
Telecom Industry in Peshawar, Pakistan and to analyze its causes and influences.
Telecommunication service providers have a great role in strengthening the economy,
encouraging the efficiency of telecom users in the country. Customer loyalty and
satisfaction are necessary for the success of every firm.In Pakistan there are five mobile
phone service providers operating in the market i.e. Ufone, Mobilink (Jazz), Telenor,
Warid and Zong. So this study is conducted in order to find out those major variables
that are causing customers' loyalty in telecom industry. eighteen major hypotheses are
identified by the study that have impact on the customers' loyalty. Target market of this
study is university students. 160 Questionnaires were distributed among students of City
University of Science and IT, Preston University, Edwards College Peshawar, Abasyin
University and University of Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. On the basis of
non probability convenient sampling, questionnaires were distributed for the collection
of primary data, using the non probability (convenient) technique. Regression analysis,
descriptive statistics and correlation are used for analyzing the statistical part of the
data. IBM, SPSS Statistics Version 20 is used for generating the results. The results are
then interpreted for each statistical process. The study revealed that customer
satisfaction, switching barriers, price, promotion, sales promotion, customer trust,
corporate/brand image, service quality, customer care service, value added services,
network coverage, signal strength, call Packages or rates, call quality/call rates, SMS
rates, SMS Quality, GPRS rates and GPRS quality are the important factors causing the
customers loyalty in telecom industry. Asignificant relationship exists between all these
independent and dependent variables.