Relationship between Service Brand Communications and Consumer Brand Preference for Mobile Phone Services in Kenya

Abstract

In the contemporary competitive environment in which mobile phone service providers have a slim window of opportunity to get a competitive edge, studying the relationship between serviced brand communications and consumer brand preference is very crucial since a clear understanding of the factors affecting brand preference is critical in ensuring that branding efforts of a company are synchronized with the needs of the consumers. Equally vital is the investigation of how customer demographics moderate these relationships as this enables marketers to effectively target the market segments with relevant messages. This study thus sought to establish the significance of the relationship between the three service brand communication elements (advertising, sales promotion and word-of-mouth) and consumer brand preference for the mobile phone services in Kenya, as well as determine the extent to which customer demographic factors moderate these relationships. The research adopted a positivist research philosophy in which existing theory is used to develop hypotheses. A cross sectional survey design was used in the study, with data collected using a multi-stage stratified random sampling from respondents domiciled in Nairobi County. Triangulation strategy was used to collect data. The study used questionnaires as the main instrument for data collection. Data was analysed using statistical tests with the aid of SPSS version 20. To measure construct reliability Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used with results showing the varaibles’ coeffiecients of 0.7 and above. Correlation analysis was used to determine the strength and direction of the relationship between the variables. To test the study’s hypotheses, appropriate statistical tests were used such as F and T-tests. The analyses were done using simple regression, moderated hierarchical multiple regression and hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The study found that advertising had a significant and positive relationship with consumer brand preference for mobile phone services. This therefore confirmed that advertising is among the significant factors which boost a consumer’s brand preference for a mobile phone service. The study revealed that there was a significant and positive relationship between word of mouth and consumer brand preference. This implies that companies need to take a keen interest on what consumer discuss among themselves as it has a potential to influence consumers’ preference for the discussed brand. The results confirmed that there was a significant and positive relationship between sales promotion and consumer brand preference. This demonstrated that brands with regular promotions increased consumers’ brand preference for the mobile phone services. The study found mixed results on the moderating effect of customer demographics on the relationship between service brand communications and consumer brand preference, with only gender moderating the relationship between advertising and consumer brand preference. The results thus confirmed findings from past studies which had shown that there are contradictory results on the moderating role of customer demographics. The study further revealed that the joint effect of service brand communication elements has a significant and positive effect on consumer brand preference for mobile phone services. This implies that when the three factors are jointly used, preference for one service over another increased considerably as compared to the effect of individual elements. The study therefore recommended that marketers in the mobile telephone services industry need to put advertising, word of mouth and sales promotion into good use with the aim of creating awareness, influencing consumers to form positive attitudes towards their brands and consequently increasing the preference for their brands. The study further recommended to the mobile phone service marketers the use of promotion mix strategies in which the three selected service brand communications elements are used concurrently to pass information to the subscribers with the aim of enhancing consumer brand preference for the mobile phone services.