The Effect of Service Quality and Switching Barrier on Customer Loyalty: A Study of Saudi Mobile Telecommunication Services

Abstract

The Saudi mobile telecommunication services industry is currently facing lots of complaints, criticism and dissatisfaction from their customers regarding the quality of services, and customer loyalty may be in question. The industry is reportedly shifting its strategic focus away from attracting new customers towards keeping existing customers. The present study examined the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, as well as between switching barriers and customer loyalty among a sample of 271 users of telecommunication services from Jeddah. A survey consisting of the Customer Loyalty Scale, the Service Quality Scale, and the Switching Barriers Scale, and some demographic related questions was used to collect the data. The results showed that there is a relationship between service quality and customer loyalty, however, no significant relationship was found between switching barriers and customer loyalty. The results are discussed in the light of current literature of customer loyalty and quality of services.