The influence of social media peer communication on consumer attitudes and intentions to switch mobile service providers in South Africa .

Abstract

The South African telecommunications ecosystem has transformed into a highly competitive environment. More significantly, consumers are becoming increasingly rigorous regarding their expectations of their service providers. The consumer-generated content on social media offers consumers a reference point for product information, consumer reviews and service assistance. Importantly, the platform offers the consumer the ability to engage with their peers, thereby influencing their attitudes towards a product or a brand. This research study seeks to assess the effect of social media peer communication (socialising) on consumer attitudes towards mobile service providers in South Africa, with particular reference to the relationship between peer communication consumer attitudes and the direction of the relationship. The research was further extended to establish an understanding whether these socially-developed attitudes influence consumers’ intention to switch mobile service providers. This entailed understanding whether there is a relationship between consumers’ attitude towards switching and switching intentions. The study was quantitative in nature leveraging Chi-Squared tests and SEM analysis as a basis for solving five hypotheses. A total of 134 respondents were utilised in the research for statistical analysis. The study demonstrated that peer communications have a strong positive relationship with consumer switching intentions, where attitudes towards switching have a positive relationship to switching intentions when mediated by peer communication and consumer attitudes. The study provides insights of telecommunications organisations towards consumer behaviour on social media and the implications for them managing subscriber churn and satisfaction. The study suggests the need for mobile service providers to have an allencompassing service strategy that propagates the use of social media to promptly rationalise negative consumer interactions on social media. The study finally recommends that mobile operators as a part of their digital evolution strategies invest in integrating their consumer social media interactions with their CRM system in order to adequately profile their customers and closely manage their customer satisfaction.