Tiến Sĩ Factors affecting customer loyalty in mobile communication services in hanoi, vietnam

Luận án tiến sĩ năm 2013
Đề tài: FACTORS AFFECTING CUSTOMER LOYALTY IN MOBILE COMMUNICATION SERVICES IN HANOI, VIETNAM
Các yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến lòng trung thành của khách hàng trong dịch vụ thông tin di động ở khu vực Hà Nội, Việt Nam
Luận án được trình bày bằng tiếng Anh


CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENT . i
ABSTRACT . v
APPROVAL SHEET xi
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Background of the study 2
1.2 Statement of the problem . 3
1.3 Hypotheses . 4
1.4. Significance of the study . 5
1.5. Scope and limitation . 6
1.6 Definition of terms . 7
Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES AND STUDIES . 10
2.1. Mobile telecommunication services 10
2.2. Hanoi mobile communication services . 11
2. 3. Customer loyalty 16
2.4. Affecting factors to loyal customer . 18
2.5. Customer loyalty models 29
2.6. Several topics related to mobilecommunication services . 31
2.6.1. Some topics researched in Viet Nam 31
2.6.2 Some topics researched Overseas . 32
2.7. Conceptual framework 36
Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 39
3.1 Research design . 38
3.2 Determination of sample size . 40
3.3 Sampling design and techniques 41
3.4 Research instrument . 42
3.5 Data gathering procedure . 43
3. 6 Data processing method 43
iii
Chapter 4: PRESENTATION ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS INTERPRETATION
OF DATA 46
4.1 Respondents profile . 46
4.2 Scale values test . 48
4.2.1 Services quality . 48
4.2.2 Switching Barriers 50
4.3 Preliminary analysis of the component variables 52
4.3.1 Service quality 53
4.3.2 Switching barriers . 55
4.4 Hypothesis test . 55
4.5 Factors affecting customer loyalty . 60
4.5.1 Analyzing relationship between demographics factors with service providers 60
4.5.2 Relationship beween factors affecting loyalty versus demographic factors 67
4.5.3 Analyzing the Factors that Affect Customer Loyalty 75
Chapter 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 84
5.1 Summary of results . 84
5.2 Conclusions 84
5.3 Recommendations 86
5.3.1 Demographic factors 88
5.3.2 Service quality 87
5.3.2.1 Calling quality 87
5.3.2.2 Pricing structure . 87
5.3.2.3 Convenience in procedures 89
5.3.2.4 Value – add services 89
5.3.3 Switching barrier . 90
5.3.3.1 Customer relationship 90
5.3.3.2 Attractiveness of other suppliers 90
REFERENCES .95
iv
APPENDICES 99
Appendix 1: Questionnaire 97
Appendix 2: Descriptive statistics . 101
Appendix 3: Relationship beween factors affecting loyalty versus demographic
factors 104
Apendix 4: Results of Regression and correlation . 160


ABSTRACT
Customer turns to be an important concern for management due to the
increasing competition particularly in mobile telecommunication services. Customer
loyalty plays a very crucial role for achieving the competitive advantage for
enterprises. According to service providers, service quality - calling quality, pricing
structure, value – added service, customer support services, etc, and switching barriers
-loss cost, adapting cost, attractiveness of other service providers, etc, are
motivational factors to maintain customer loyalty as well as an essential element for
business and increasing market share. Currently, Hanoi is one of the cities in Vietnam
that has a great number of mobile subscribers and suppliers. According to the
Ministry of Information and Communication, in 2012, there were 9.1 million mobile
subscribers in Hanoi. In which, ,market share of the service provider as follows:
Vinaphone was 31.25%, Viettel was 43.03%, Mobifone was 18.5%, Vietnammobile
was 2.57% , Gtel was 4.63% and SPT was 0.02%.
The main tool is a questionnaire to gather information on customer loyalty for
mobile service providers in Hanoi. Because the author can not have list customers of
service providers. Therefore, the sampling method will be conducted random sample
but based on several factors: the market share of vendors, demographic (gender, age
group and occupation) factors, types of services (post paid and pre- paid). Customer
were selected to intervied for this research to be 400. In addition to information about
the customer, the questionnaire was designed to include 42 attributes of mobile
communication services that customers usually look for the Likert scale was used to
rate these attributes. In which, 5 is for strongly agree and 1 is for strongly disagree.
The Subscribers , as the respondent were interviewed irrespective if they are prepaid
and postpaid customers.
vi
The study used correlation coefficients and chi-squared test to test the
hypothesis and assess the relationship between factors with customer loyalty. The
multiple regression model was used to evaluate the factors affecting customer loyalty
in the mobile communications market in Hanoi.
Results of analyzing demographic factors (occupation, per everage income,
subject payment, service providrers and using time) showed that there are relationship
between these factors with customer loyalty.
Result of analyzing multiple regresstion model showed that there were 7
factors affecting customer loyalty. In which, the “service quality” had four component
factors: calling quality, Pricing structure, value – add services and convenience in
procedures. The “switching barrier” had three component factors: loss cost,
attractiveness of other suppliers and customer relationship. According to Nguyen Duc
Ky and Bui Nguyen Hung, the “calling quality” was the strongest influential
customer loyalty. However, this factor was only thirth factor affecting customer
loyalty after the “customer relationship” and the “loss cost” in this research. The
“customer loyalty” was the strongest influential custome loyalty and the “value – add
services” was the lowest influential customer loyalty.


Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Customers are invaluable assets of the business. Customer loyalty is significant
to the future development of a general company or the particular mobile service
providers. It contributes to maintain stable profits when the subscriber reaches the
saturation point, mature market and fierce competition.
According to the Nguyen Duc Ky and Bui Nguyen Hung (2007), the
developmental history of the mobile communication services market in Europe
countries, the United States and some countries in the region such as China, Korea,
Taiwan, India, and even in Vietnam showed that the general market has some
notable features: When the market is new and its rapid growth is through
technological innovation, the technological cycle is more and more shorter. Initially,
the mobile services was a the monopolist market (monopoly technology,
monopoly of scale ) and it only provided services for postpaid so customers was
tied by service contract of the provider. After the market was opened, technology
becomes popular, investment costs decline, new providers enter the market,
competitive pricing becomes a practice, value- adding to improve service quality is
included as a strategy and customers have many opportunities to select providers.
Thus, in recent years the it was realized that researches have to be done on the
different models about satisfaction and customer loyalty in the mobile communication
services. These researches were built on the ground of the traditional relationship
between service quality and satisfaction-loyalty and analyzing factors affecting to
customer behavior. In addition, researches in Korea, China, Taiwan have showed that
the mobile communication markets in these countries have many similarities with the
market in Vietnam.
2
In Vietnam, the mobile communication market has been transforming from a
monopolistic market to competitive market with participation more and more service
providers. Therefore, customers have many opportunities to choose services less
bound to the service provider. The change of service providers by customers becomes
phenomenal and increasing.
To develop positively and sustainably for Vietnam‟s mobile market, service
providers need to find ways to maintain valuable and loyal customer.
1.1 Background of the study
According to the suppliers of telecommunications services, service quality,
with wide network coverage, network capacity and customer care are the key driving
force to maintain customer loyalty. However, survey results of the Strategy Analytics
with 215 suppliers who have been representing 75% of mobile subscriber worldwide
poses a challenge in developing strategies to retain customers. Whereby in 2011, there
are 44% of global mobile subscribers to change service providers, the highest ever,
with an average churn time is 27/1. Compared with a decade ago, the time for loyal
subscribers with the service provider has halved (www.vnpt.com.vn/new)
So, research on factors affecting customer loyalty in mobile
telecommunication services in Viet Nam is significant to discover new scale and a
new theoretical model for managers. In practice, they "retain" customers, as
customers become more loyal then it brings the urgency especially to the three big
service providers: Vinaphone, Mobiphone, and Viettel and three small and new
suppliers: Gtel, Hanoi telecom and SPT as the mobile communication market in Viet
Nam is on its saturation phase. Likewise, research result will provide information for
management to formulate effective strategy for the use of telecommunications


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