BRAND CHOICE INFLUENCING FACTORS AND CUSTOMER PREFERENCE LEVEL OF MOBILE NETWORK SERVICE PROVIDERS

As customers switch from one network to another, researchers argue over the propelling factors behind their switching behaviour. Most people in other zones of the country believe that an average Igbo man does not joke with money, to the extent that other factors are considered inconsequential. With this in view, one begins to wonder if tarrif is the major factor that an average subscriber in the south east zone considers to switch brands. This work, therefore, examined brand choice influencing factors and customer preference level of mobile network service providers, and adopted descriptive research design. Three hundred and ninety-one copies of questionnaire were administered on GSM users spread over the Southeastern parts of Nigeria to make possible the testing of three hypotheses formulated. Using SPSS, multiple regression was run to ascertain the effect of each of the independent variables: network quality, tariff level and complaint management on the dependent variable, customer brand preference level. Findings revealed that the three variables had significant relationships with customer brand preference. However, network quality made the highest contribution to Customer Preference Level, followed by tariff level and finally, complaint management, which made the least contribution. Since Network Quality made the greatest contribution to customer preference level, the researchers recommended that GSM service providers in Nigeria should creatively and innovatively apply the model developed by this work to enhance the quality of their service delivery.