Service quality, the intention to recommend and to stay : a study of Go (mobile) customers

Abstract

Service quality and customer loyalty are considered important by companies as they lead to customer retention and company growth. The purpose of this study is to measure perceived service quality of GO (mobile) customers as well as their likelihood of recommending GO's services and of staying with the company. A quantitative research method (N = 209) was used to measure perceived service quality and the two intentions - to recommend and to stay. The results show that customers perceive high levels of quality in GO's services. The tangibles and assurance/empathy dimensions of service quality are regarded as the major determinants of quality in the eyes of consumers. A strong positive relationship was found between perceived service quality and the intention to recommend 00' s services. A positive relationship was also found between perceived service quality and the intention to stay with the company. The negative Net Promoter Score obtained (-27%) demonstrates that despite the perceived high levels of service quality, and although a fair number of respondents (46.6%) perceive quality in the services offered, an overall insufficient number of customers feel able to recommend the company's services to others. This suggests that other factors, for example low levels of customer satisfaction, may be having a stronger effect on intention to recommend than service quality.