MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY: ASSESSING

AND ANALYZING FACTORS BEHIND

INTENTION TO SWITCH
ABSTRACT
Purpose
This research has been conducted to assess and analyze the factor behind intention to switch in
telecommunication market of Pakistan. Study will analyze the effect of independent variables
(service quality, price, switching cost, customer lock in, brand communication) on dependent
variable (intention to switch) while having a mediating effect of mediating variables (customer
satisfaction, perceived switching barriers, brand trust).
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey has been conducted to collect responses from 200 cellular service users in
Rawalpindi/Islamabad. All of the respondents are users of one of the following cellular service
provider Ufone, Telenor, Warid, Zong and Mobilink. The ve-point Likert scale was used (where
1 equals strongly disagree and 5 equals strongly agree).
Finding
Limitations
Major limitation of the research is that it is done from consumer perspective rather than service
provider perspective.
Practical implications
This study will spotlight the critical factors behind intention to switch through which telecom
companies can reduce mobile number portability rate.
Originality/value
In this context of mobile number portability no research has taken place in telecommunication
market of Pakistan. Study is first of its kind to assess and analyze the basic factor behind
intention to switch in context of mobile number portability.
Keywords
Asia pacific, mobile number portability, brand switching, telecom sector
Paper type

Research paper

INTRODUCTION
Pakistan has five major cellular service providing companies prevailing in very intense
competition, in this scenario every company is trying to retain its current customer as well as
attracting new potential customers. This study is basically conducted to examine Mobile Number
portability in context of Pakistan and how this network service affects the telecommunication
industry of Pakistan. This study aims to identify factors that why customers switch their cellular
service from one network to another, also influence of each factor on customer trust, perceived
switching barriers and customer satisfaction which ultimately leads towards intention to switch.
MNP occurs when a customer switches its current cellular service provider with another service
provider while keeping the mobile number same. By availing the mobile number portability
service your mobile number and code is shifted to another operator and you start enjoying
services. Basically it is circuit switch service provided by network operators to customers to
change their operator, location, service type while keeping the existing mobile phone number.
Every companys success depends upon customer satisfaction and loyalty to their brand and
company can only achieve if they retain their customer with a satisfaction level.(Ahmed et al,
2010). Pakistan is the first country in South Asia to launch mobile number portability service in
March 2007.
Telecommunication

industry

of

Pakistan

operates

under

supervision

of

Pakistan

telecommunication Authority (PTA. Telecommunication sectors is fastest growing sector of

Pakistan and in 2013 it has reached its maturity and earned 445.7 Billion revenue which clearly
indicates the tremendous growth and boom of this industry in Pakistan (PTA, 2013). Industry
contributed 124 Billion to national exchequer. Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA)
revealed that there are 125 million active SIM cards and 70% people use mobile service on daily
basis. Teledensity has reached to 75.21% (135 million subscribers).
Pakistan has five big players of cellular service provider (Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Warid, and
Zong). In last 12 months Mobilink added 100,000 customers to its customer base, Zong up to
300,000 subscribers while Warid lost 70,000 subscribers per month. Mobilink has highest
customers base of 36.7 million customers and Ufone has 23.8 million customers. Companies in

last two years lost a number of customers due to mobile number portability or deactivation of
SIM. Statistics of December 2012 issued by Pakistan telecommunication Authority (PTA) shows
that Ufone lost 500000 subscribers, Mobilink lost 450000 subscribers, Telenor 205000, Zong lost
229000 and Warid lost 211000 customers in last year.
Mobilink is the largest player of telecom industry found losing its market share over the years.
Mobilink had monopoly having more than 50% market share in 2004 has declined to only
28.9%. While Telenor is considered as second big player has maintained its momentum and
increased its market share to 26.1% from 24.9% in last year. Ufone having 18.6% market share
showed slight decline while Zong increased its market share by 2.4%. Warid despite of being
very old in industry is gradually losing its market share from last 5 years and now it has least
market share of 9.9%.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Companies are making aggressive marketing efforts to increase their market share while on the
other hand MNP service has made a mutual ground for companies to compete fairly. This
theoretical framework will assess and analyze the factors which actually develops the intention
to switch and through mediating and moderating effect of some factors.
Mobile number portability add definition
Sutherland conducted a depth study on mobile number portability to assess that how it works and
what are the basic parameters which drive this service. Mobile number portability allows
customers to keep their mobile number same while changing their network from one carrier to
another. Mobile number portability is promoted mainly by lowering switching cost by cellular
service providing companies and other parameters which actually drive this service was main
outcome of this study (Sutherland, 2007). But question raised that what type of costs customer
bears when port the number and in 2007, Garcia and Murrilo conducted a study to assess and
analyze that whenever a customer wants to port his/her number from one network to another
what kind of related costs need to be occur to avail the service. Whenever user want to exercise
mobile number portability carriers has to face two types of cost: cost to upgrade the network and
cost to port the number. These costs are occurred upon the request of customer which carrier or
customer has to pay. Either customer needs to pay for availing the service for upgrading or

porting number or carrier pays at their own just to promote the company by giving these offers at
no cost to customers (Garcia and Murrilo, 2007). Many questions were unanswered yet that what
is the influence of demographic factors on MNP and in this regard another study was presented
by Srinuin and bohlinin in 2011. In their undertaken research found that switching from one
brand to another is strongly influenced by some demographic factors which are as per industry
dynamics and strongly backed by the switching cost. Prior studies showed that demographics are
important factors in explaining switching behavior and switching behavior also backed by
switching cost of MNP (Srinuin and Bohlin, 2011).
Service Quality
In services marketing service quality is perceived to be most important factor which develops
customer loyalty. In this concern Shin, Kim and Lee came up with their significant result of their
research that in case of mobile number portability service quality plays a very vital role in
driving consumer preferences from one brand to another. They also found that price factor is
perceived to be the most critical factor in mobile number portability case and it is positively
related to MNP that if price is high MNP will also be high and vice versa. Value added services
are just secondary factors which drive consumer mind in the same direction but not actually
influence the core decision of mobile number portability (Shin, Kim and Lee, 2011). Another
study examined the impact of service quality and customer switching behavior in Chinese
telecom market and analysis shows that 7 critical service quality factors determine the switching
behavior in service market. This study contributed a lot to Chinese telecommunication
companyies that they had a clear idea that these two factors actually drive this industry and they
can more focus on improving service quality to change customer switching behavior in the
market and can increase their market share as well (Liang, Ma and Qi, 2012). A very recent study
which was undertaken by Nortey and other authors that what are the key factors in brand
switching in telecommunication market. Study shows that service quality, customer satisfaction,
trust, price and switching cost are very important variables in brand switching. Study revealed
that all these variables have good reliability greater than 0.60. Price, service quality, trust,
satisfaction, and switching cost are most important variables having a probability (p=0.000) and
(@ = 0.05). (Nortey, Amponsah, Madjitey, Ansah-Narh, 2013). But one question remained
unanswered that what are key factors which develop post purchase intention and another study

was found conducted by Kuo, Ming and Deng in 2009 to evaluate the basic factors which
develop post purchase intention. Service quality and perceived value are positively related to
customer satisfaction and customer satisfaction mediates the relationship and leads towards post
purchase intention. Service quality and perceived value also positively influences the post
purchase

intention

(Kuo,

Ming,

Deng,

2009).

Particularly

talking

about

Chinese

telecommunication market a study was undertaken by Liand, Zhenzhong and Qi to examine the
perceived importance of service quality and customer switching behavior in Chinese mobile
sector. Factors analysis of seven critical factors showed that service failure is more in males and
womens are more tolerated towards service encounters. It clearly indicates the importance of
service quality in Chinese telecom market. Study also revealed that service failure, high price,
ethical problems is main 3 factors which influence mobile number portability behavior (Liang,
Zhenzhong, Qi, 2012). Another study was conducted also in Chinese telecommunication market
by Lai, griffin and Babin in 2008 to examine the relationship among service quality, value,
corporate image, satisfaction and loyalty in Chinese telecommunication industry. Results showed
that service quality directly influence satisfaction, perceived value and image, corporate image
and value and both affects satisfaction as well as loyalty and positively influence while
satisfaction itself directly and positively develops loyalty. Service quality directly develops
loyalty which clearly indicates that whether or not there is influence of other factors service
quality develops loyalty by itself (Lai, Griffin, Babin, 2008).
H1: There is a positive relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction.
Perceived Price
A study conducted in Bangladesh to assess the basic driving forces of customer satisfaction in
restaurant service industry. Service fairness and price fairness elements were found having a
great impact on customer satisfaction. Price fairness was considerably high driving force of
customer satisfaction in the industry with a significance level of 0.05 LSF. Findings suggested
that price of food items are not linked with cost of food therefore restaurant managers should
restructure their pricing strategies in order to grab market share (Rahman, Kalam, Rahman and
Abdullah 2012). Yet gap was also there related to price perception after purchase and their post
purchase behavior about price of the product. To fill this gap another study was presented by
Jiand and Rosenbloom to asses price fairness in post purchase behavior of online marketing.

Study found that after getting online order delivery there develops price perception about the
brand that whether they are giving value for money or not and develops customer repurchase and
satisfaction. Study results showed a positive effect between perceived price on overall customer
satisfaction and repurchase intention. So it is better for e.tailer to focus more on their pricing
strategies in order to develop a profitable relationship with customer (Jiang and Rosenbloom
2004).
H2: There is positive relationship between switching cost and perceived switching barrier.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction has become one of key concern for companies to successfully compete in
the market. This study also based on the factors which influence customer satisfaction and take
customer away from the brand. Effect of anger, discontent, dislike, embarrassment, sadness and
worry are key emotions in undertaken study. Outcome was negative word of mouth and
switching complaints (Romani, Grappi and Dalli, 2011). While another study was conducted in
2013 that how negative word of mouth develops against a brand and they found that brand
commitment is moderator variable in this perspective. Yale model and Attribution theory
implemented and try to examine that whether receiver is influenced by negative word of mouth
and change its perception and cause dissatisfaction. External attributes have positive relationship
with source credibility but no relationship exists with information credibility while source
credibility has positive influence on receiver information credibility but no relationship exists
with negative e Word of mouth (Chang and Wu, 2013).
H3: There is negative relationship between customer satisfaction and intention to switch.
Switching Cost
Since MNP service has launched in the market telecommunication companies has leveraged their
packages and made switching cost very lower to gain a larger market share and switching cost
has become a key drive to use MNP service. Maicas, Polo and Sese in 2009 conducted a study to
investigates the effect of MNP on switching cost and it revealed that MNP has no effect in
lowering switching cost in adoption of cellular carriers in market for people who do not want to
keep their mobile number same. It only benefits those customers who use MNP service while

switching carrier. It clearly indicates that lowering of switching cost is useful for those customer
segments that have intention to switch the carrier in future not regular customer who wants to
continue with the same service provider (Maicas, Polo and Sese, 2009). Another study revealed
that switching cost influence has reduced since MNP came into market. However switching cost
has still influence in MNP. When this service came in to the market telecom companies lower the
switching cost to get maximum number of subscribers from other networks which ultimately
lowers its impact. But however switching cost is considered as major factor in MNP where
switching cost is higher (Lee, Kim, Lee and Park, 2006). Yen, Wang and Horng in 2010
conducted a research to investigate switching cost antecedents. Study revealed that perceived
trust has significant positive influence on perceived switching cost and customization has
negative influence while effective communication has also positive and significant influence on
perceived switching cost. It means that brand communication if effective can make MNP rate
very lower and brand trust can also make it lower (Yen,Wang and Horng, 2010). Barroso and
Picon in 2011 in their research identified the six basic dimensions which construct switching cost
and makes consumer perception which develops switching intention. Benefit loss cost,
relationship lost cost, economic risk cost, and evaluation cost, setup cost and monetary lost cost
are six basic antecedents. All these cost are based on some antecedents i.e. length, breadth,
involvement and propensity for switching when they influence on switching cost affective
loyalty, cognitive loyalty and behavioral loyalty are some outcomes (Barroso and Picon, 2011).
H4: There is positive relationship between switching cost and perceived switching barrier.
Customer Lock-in
As branding has become a driving force for a brand, companies now come up with a solid
customer lock in strategies that how to retain customer with company and a research was
conducted to examine switching cost and lock-in factor in Japanese telecom market. Marketing
strategies used to lock-in customer are quite useful and SIM unblock is highly compatible for
standard mobile phones while standardizations needs time and cost (Nakamura, 2010).
Andreasen in his book Higher profits through customer lock-ins examines different types of
switching cost that are either inherent or related to market enhancement. He stated 5 inherent
switching cost i.e. transaction, learning, acquisition, complementary products and network
effects (Andreasen, 2004).

H5: There is positive relationship of customer lock in on perceived switching barriers.

Switching Barriers
Switching barriers are considered to be a prime activity to retain your existing customer in your
customer base because in todays business world customer has so many option and need only a
touch point to move on therefore companies try to imply switching barriers to stop them. In this
regard a study was conducted to find out that what the effects of switching barriers on customer
satisfaction are, repurchase intention and attitudinal loyalty. Research found that there are two
types of switching barriers i.e. positive switching barriers and negative switching barriers.
Positive switching barriers positively influence customer satisfaction while negative switching
barriers impinge negatively on customer satisfaction. So if proper planned switching barriers are
applied customer can be retained (Julander and Soderland 2003). To better explain switching
barrier another study came up with model illustrating the effect of switching barriers of the
relationship of customer satisfaction and customer retention. Model showed that switching
barriers are a combination of switching cost, interpersonal relationship, attractiveness of
alternative and service recovery. All these variables have positive effect on customer retention
and moderate positively the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer retention
except attractive of alternatives have negative effect on the relationship. Proper identification of
switching barriers which positively support customer satisfaction and customer retention can
lead towards a greater customer base (Kim, Park and Park 2007).
H6: There is negative relationship between perceived switching barriers and intention to switch;
Perceived switching barriers mediated the relationship of switching cost and customer lock in on
intention to switch.
H7: Perceived switching barriers moderate the relationship between customer satisfaction and
intention to switch.
Brand Communication
A study was presented by Zehir, Ahina, kitap and Mehtapin 2011 found brand communication
has and direct positive effect on brand trust and loyalty and build trust based relationship
between organization and customer. Service quality also has direct and positive influence on

brand trust and brand loyalty. Results showed that brand trust has mediating effect between brand
communication and brand loyalty (Zehir, ahina, Kitap, Mehtap, 2011). Another study was
presented by Vankaand study found the relationship between corporate branding and cellular
connection purchase having influence of some other factors. 20% of total sample selected service
quality as most important variable. 49% respondents said that they are somewhat loyal to the
brand, 58% selected price as most important factor. Finally switching was found as a result of
lower price offered by other brand or change in preference of brand (Vanka). Azize and Hakan
conducted a study to examine the effect of brand communication on brand trust and effect of a
mediating variable customer satisfaction on brand trust. Study through factor analysis revealed
that there is a positive and significant relationship between brand communication and customer
satisfaction, also revealed that mediating variable customer satisfaction also has positive and
significant relationship on brand trust. Brand communication was divided into two types of
communication i.e. one way communication, two way communication. Both of these
communication approaches have positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction (Azize,
Hakan, 2008).
H8: There is a positive relationship between brand communication and brand trust.
Brand Trust
In 2012 a study was undertaken by Karjluoto, Jayawardhena, Aniemi and Pihlstr to find the
impact of value and trust on loyalty and it revealed that value positively influence on loyalty and
trust as mediating variable also has positive effect on loyalty. Value was comprised of four types
i.e. functional, monetary, emotional, and social and trust was based on relationship age and usage
level loyalty was measure in terms of attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. These dimensions of
value and trust presents a depth understanding of each factor on loyalty and companies can focus
more on these critical success factors (Karjaluoto, Jayawardhena ,Aniemi and Pihlstr, 2012).
H9: There is negative relationship between brand trust and intention to switch, Brand trust
mediates the relationship between brand communication and intention to switch.
H10: there is a moderating effect of brand trust on relationship between customer satisfaction
and intention to switch.

Intention to switch
This undertaken study aims to assess and identify the variables behind intention to switch but
how does intention to switch develops? In this concern a study was presented by Weng-hua and
jing-vi in 2010 to check mobile number portability in Chinese telecommunication market and
identified that customer satisfaction, switching cost and attractive of alternatives are basic factors
behind mobile number portability. Customer satisfaction and switching cost negatively influence
switching intention while attractiveness of alternatives has no significant influence (Wen-hua and
Jing-yi, 2010). Shin and Kim in conduct a study on MNP in Korean cellular market and
identified subscription, perception and behavior as important factors behind MNP. Study
revealed that switching barrier has significant influence on MNP and make MNP lower.
Switching barriers can be in terms of perceived value, switching cost and other lock in strategies
to make MNP rate lower (Shin and Kim, 2008). Another study by Shin found that customer
satisfaction, switching barriers and demographics are key factors which have significant effect on
customer intention to switch. Customer satisfaction and switching barriers have negative
influence on intention to switch and companies can make switching cost higher to make MNP
rate lower (Shin and Kim, 2008). Another study by Gerpott, Rams and Schindler investigate that
customer satisfaction has a positive and significant influence in developing customer loyalty
which ultimately influence customer intention to breach on continue relationship with current
carrier (Gerpott, Rams and Schindler).

METHODOLOGY
To examine Factors behind intention to switch in telecommunication industry this research will
measure the influence of independent variables Price and Service Quality on mediating variable
customer satisfaction which leads towards intention to switch. Two other independent variables
switching cost and customer lock in which influence the dependent variable intention to switch
while this relationship is mediated by perceived switching barrier and mediating variable also
moderate the relationship between customer satisfaction and intention to switch. Another
independent variable brand communication develops brand trust and which leads towards

intention to switch and also moderates the relationship of customer satisfaction and intention to
switch.
Theoretical Framework

H1

H2

Customer
Satisfaction

H3

H7
H10

H4

H6

H5
H9

H8

Intention to
switch

Service Quality

For this purpose data through questionnaire is collected from 200 respondents between ages of
18 toPrice
35 in Islamabad/Rawalpindi region. All responses collected through questionnaires and
analyzed by SPSS 20. For all variables present in hypothesis are assessed with 5 point likert
scale where 1=strongly disagree and 5=strongly agree. 3 questions for each variable are used to

Switching Cost

Perceived
switching
barriers
Scale Reference
(Shin and Kim 2007)

develop questionnaire which is taken from literature.

Factors
Service
Quality
Customer
Lock in
Price
Customer Satisfaction

Brand Trust

Brand Customer Lock in

Communication
Switching Cost
Perceived Switching Barriers
Intention to Switch
Brand Communication

(Azize, Cemeal and Hakan 2012)

Brand Trust

Many statistical methods will be used to analyze the effect of each variable on other variable.
Some statistical Methods which are used to analyze the relationship of these variables which are
descriptive Statistics, regression analysis, correlation analysis. Table 1.1 shows that 200
questionnaires were filled from respondents and number of male respondents is 147 and female
respondents are 53. Similarly Table 1.2 explains that 73% of the respondents were between the
age group of 18-24 and 23% responses were come from people in 25-30 age groups. Only 4%
people in above 30 age group filled the questionnaires. Now if we look at Table 1.3 it shows the
current level of respondent and it shows that 38.5% respondents are studying in their
undergraduate education while maximum respondents lie in the graduate and above category
with 42.5%. 19% of respondents are working people and employed at somewhere or running
their own business. Table 1.4 describes what is the percentage of each cellular network users in
this study. Ufone stands at number one with maximum users of 42.5% of total while Warid grabs
18% share and after that Telenor stands with a share of 17% and on fourth Mobilink has 15%
respondents and Zong stands at last position with only 9.5% respondents. Pie charts also explains
the same scenerio.

Table 1.1
What is your gender?
Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Male
Valid

Female
Total

147

73.5

73.5

73.5

53

26.5

26.5

100.0

200

100.0

100.0

Table 1.2
Your age group in years?
Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

18-24

146

73.0

73.0

73.0

25-30

46

23.0

23.0

96.0

4.0

4.0

100.0

200

100.0

100.0

Valid
30 years above
Total

Table 1.3
What is your current level?
Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Valid

Undergraduate

77

38.5

38.5

38.5

Graduate and above

85

42.5

42.5

81.0

Employed

38

19.0

19.0

100.0

Total

200

100.0

100.0

Table 1.4
Which cellular network do you use?
Frequency

Percent

Valid Percent

Cumulative
Percent

Mobilink

30

15.0

15.0

15.0

Telenor

34

17.0

17.0

32.0

Ufone

81

40.5

40.5

72.5

Zong

19

9.5

9.5

82.0

Warid

36

18.0

18.0

100.0

Total

200

100.0

100.0

Valid

Descriptive statistics and comparison of mean is used to analyze the response of the sample.
Value of Cronbach Alpha represents the reliability of data and a correlation model explains the

relationship between dependent and independent variables. All the relationships among variables
are assessed through positive and negative values of correlation. For hypothesis testing
regression analysis is used.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS
Mean:
Table 2.1
Descriptive Statistics
Mean

Std. Deviation

Intention_to_Switch

2.7250

.95191

200

Service_Quality

3.6383

.93495

200

Percieved_Price

3.1667

.89854

200

Customer_Satisfaction

3.6067

.88587

200

Customer_Lockin

2.9233

.78206

200

Switching_Cost

3.1683

.94281

200

Switching_Barriers

3.1750

.99521

200

Brand_Communication

3.5867

.85670

200

Brand_Trust

3.5283

.91166

200

Table 2.1 explains mean of each variable and customer satisfaction has the highest mean of
(3.6067) which shows that customer satisfaction is prime factor which develops intention to
switch. While customer lockin has lowest mean (2.9233) which shows that it has least effect in
developing switching intention.
Comparison of Mean
Table 3.1

Intention_to_Switch * What is your gender?

Intention_to_Switch
What is your gender?

Mean

Std. Deviation

Male

2.7642

147

.96373

Female

2.6164

53

.91846

Total

2.7250

200

.95191

Table 3.1 shows that male respondents have higher mean (2.6742) as compared to female
respondents (2.6164). So we can say that male respondents are more intend towards switching
than females.
Table 3.2
Intention_to_Switch * Your age group in years?
Intention_to_Switch
Your age group in years?

Mean

Std. Deviation

18-24

2.6667

146

.95010

25-30

2.9565

46

.90978

30 years above

2.4583

1.11181

Total

2.7250

200

.95191

Table 3.2 explains that respondents in 25-30 age group ave highest mean of (2.9565) while age
group 18-24 have (2.6667) and 30 years above age group have lowest mean of (2.4583). Which
explains that people between ages 25-30.
Intention_to_Switch * What is your current level?
Intention_to_Switch
What is your current level?

Mean

Std. Deviation

Undergraduate

2.6667

77

1.01307

Graduate and above

2.7961

85

.86388

Employed

2.6842

38

1.02505

Total

2.7250

200

.95191

Table 3.3
Table 3.3 shows that graduate and above level respondents have highest mean (2.7961) and
undergraduate level respondents have lowest mean (2.667) which means respondents with
highest mean tend to switch more as compared to others.
Table 3.4

Intention_to_Switch * Which cellular network do you use?

Intention_to_Switch
Which cellular network do

Mean

Std. Deviation

you use?
Mobilink

2.4889

30

.98934

Telenor

2.9314

34

.87532

Ufone

2.8477

81

.85643

Zong

2.5439

19

1.19262

Warid

2.5463

36

1.01779

Total

2.7250

200

.95191

This table illustrates that Telenor respondents have highest mean (2.9314) which mean they have
high intention to switch while Ufone (2.8477), Warid (2.5463), Zong (2.5439) and Mobilink
(2.4889). So Mobilink respondents are said to least intention to switch.
INFRENTIAL STATISTICS
Cronbach's Alpha
Table 4.1
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's

N of Items

Alpha
.825

27

Result of Table 4.1 clearly shows the value of Cronbachs Alpha value (.825) which means that
collection of data of 31 questions is highly reliable.

Table 5

Correlations

Intention to

Pearson

Switch

Correlation

Intention to

Service

Switch

Quality

Service

Pearson

Quality

Correlation

Price

-.248**

-.184**

.000

.009

200

200

-.248**

Sig. (2-tailed)
N

Customer
Satisfaction

Customer Switching
Lockin

Switching

Brand

Brand

Barriers

communic

Trust

Cost

ation

.079**

.029**

-.048**

-.267**

.000

.267

.685

.483

.503

.000

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

.357**

.656**

.019

-.001**

.176**

.303

.430**

.000

.000

.788

.990

.012

.000

.000

Sig. (2-tailed)

.000

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

-.184**

.357**

.527**

.079**

.030

.179**

.234**

.443

Sig. (2-tailed)

.009

.000

.000

.268

.673

.011

.001

.000

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

-.339**

.656**

.527**

1**

.067**

-.025**

.170**

.429**

.562**

Sig. (2-tailed)

.000

.000

.000

.342

.729

.016

.000

.000

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

Customer

Pearson

.079

.019

.079

.067

.473

.414

.092

.047

Lock in

Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)

.267

.788

.268

.342

.000

.000

.193

.509

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

Switching

Pearson

.029

-.001

.030

-.025

.473

.521

.080

.032

Cost

Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed)

.685

.990

.673

.729

.000

.000

.258

.649

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

200

Pearson

.050

.176*

.179*

.170

.414*

.521*

.342*

.210*

Price

Pearson
Correlation

Customer

Pearson

Satisfaction

Correlation

Switching

H1: There is a positive relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction.
The results in the Table 5 shows that there is a positive correlation (R: 0.656) between Service
Quality and Customer Satisfaction which is also significant at 0.000 level. Therefore we accept
H1.
H2: There is a negative relationship between perceived price and customer satisfaction.
The results in the Table 5 shows that there is a positive correlation (R: 0.527) between perceive
Price and customer satisfaction which is also significant at 0.000 level. Therefore we accept H2.
H3: There is negative relationship between customer satisfaction between customer
satisfaction and intention to switch.
The results in the Table 5 shows that there is a positive correlation (R: -0.339) between
Customer Satisfaction and Intention to Switch Loyalty which is also significant at 0.000 level.
Therefore we accept H3.

H4: There is positive relationship between switching cost and perceived switching barrier.
The results in the Table 5 shows that there is a positive correlation (R: 0.521) between Switching
Cost and Switching Barriers which is also significant at 0.000 level. Therefore we accept H4.

H5: There is positive relationship of customer lock in on perceived switching barriers.

The results in the Table 5 shows that there is a positive correlation (R: 0.414) between Customer
Lockin and Switching Barriers which is also significant at 0.000 level. Therefore we accept H5.
H6: There is negative relationship between perceived switching barriers and intention to
switch; Perceived switching barriers mediated the relationship of switching cost and
customer lock in on intention to switch.

The results in the Table 5 shows that there is a positive correlation (R: 0.050) between Switching
Barriers and Intention to Switch which is also significant at 0.483 level. Therefore we reject H6.

H7: Perceived switching barriers moderate the relationship between customer satisfaction
and intention to switch.
H8: There is a positive relationship between brand communication and brand trust.
The results in the Table 5 shows that there is a positive correlation (R: 0.608) between Brand
communication and Brand Trust which is also significant at 0.000 level. Therefore we accept H8.

H9: There is negative relationship between brand trust and intention to switch; Brand trust
mediates the relationship between brand communication and intention to switch.
The results in the Table 5 shows that there is a positive correlation (R: -0.267) between Brand
Trust and Intention to switch which is also significant at 0.000 level. Therefore we accept H9.

H10: there is a moderating effect of brand trust on relationship between customer

satisfaction and intention to switch.