Insights for Sustainability of Smartphone Business: Understanding Customer Switching Behavior in Smartphone Services

Abstract

Competition in smartphone market has been fierce, and customers’ switching has become a primary concern for the success of smartphone businesses. Nonetheless, research on customer switching behavior regarding smartphones is still under investigation. The purpose of this study is to examine how social factors affect users’ smartphone switching intention and how customer rational and emotional factors moderate the customers’ switching behavioral intention. In an attempt to understand the switching behavior of smartphone users, this study develops and tests a model drawn from social factors (e.g., media and peer influence), customer rational factors (e.g., switching experience and confidence in decision making), and customer emotional factors (e.g., anticipated regret and alternative attractiveness). The model is tested with data collected from 302 smartphone users. The results of structural equation modeling analysis demonstrate that, when customers make switching decision, both media influence and peer influence affect behavioral switching intention. Further, this study also revealed that customer rational and emotional factors moderate the effects of media influence and peer influence toward customers’ switching intention. Overall, this study enhances the omnidirectional understanding of the switching behavior of smartphone users and can help smartphone companies in fierce competition to lead to sustainable growth.