Understanding Antecedents of Consumer Loyalty toward an Emerging Country’s Telecommunications Companies

Abstract

Fixed telecommunications services, such as internet, telephony, and TV, are still important in many emerging countries. In Colombian telecommunications companies are few and the services they offer are generally imitated by competitors. Therefore, they must implement relevant strategies to loyalize their customers. This study examines the way expectations, service quality, satisfaction, perceived value, trust, commitment, and switching costs influence consumer loyalty toward telecommunications companies. Empirical data were collected from self-administered online questionnaires responded by 324 users of telecommunications services in the most important cities in Colombia. Fifteen hypotheses were formulated and statistically tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that satisfaction and commitment have a direct and positive influence on loyalty.

Keywords:

• Loyalty
• SERVQUAL
• telecommunications services