Abstract:
Switching the customers from one service provider to another is a common problem faced by any organization operates in the telecommunication sector in Sri Lanka. As the Sri Lankan mobile telecommunication industry has number of service providers who are providing quite similar facilities to the customers, it is worth for them to identify the factors affecting on selection of such mobile telecommunication service provider. Such knowledge is highly required them to attract new customers and to retain their existing profitable customers. Hence this study was conducted with the objective of identifying the factors influencing on the selection of mobile telecommunication service provider in Sri Lanka. This study empirically evaluated three factors; customer loyalty, purchasing intention, and switching intention on selection of mobile telecommunication service provider in Sri Lanka. The sample consisted of hundred and fifty (150) mobile telecommunication facility users in Southern Province, Sri Lanka. This study used primary data collected through an adopted, five point Likert scale type questionnaire filled by the respondents. Descriptive statistics, correlation coefficient and regression analysis techniques were used for the statistical analysis. The results of the statistical analysis revealed that all three factors studied showed positive association with the selection of mobile telecommunication service provider in Sri Lanka while customer loyalty showed a highest positive association. Hence this study recommends the service providers to implement strategies to improve the customer loyalty while paying considerable attention on the existing customers when launching new service features to the market for attracting new customers. The benefits of the novelty features should not offer only to the new customers ignoring the existing customers.
