A STUDY ON CUSTOMER INTENTION TO REPURCHASE SMARTPHONES

Abstract

This dissertation analyzed customers’ intention to repurchase a smartphone based on an analysis of previous research. In particular, this study examined whether social influence directly affects the intention to repurchase, whether positive and negative social influence have differential effects on intention to repurchase, and the effects of habit on intention to repurchase and their role as a mediator. The study focused on two customer groups, customers who bought a smartphone of the same brand as their current smartphones, and customers who bought a different brand of smartphone. Previous studies have suggested that customer satisfaction leads to brand loyalty, which, in turn, leads to repurchase. However, this paper looks at customers’ intentions to repurchase by considering social influence, customer satisfaction, emotion loyalty, and the moderating effects of customer habit. In addition, statistical analysis was conducted to investigate customers' intention to repurchase and their causal relationships. Customer satisfaction and emotional loyalty were studied as mediators. The results showed that for both customer groups, positive social influence affects customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction affects 'intention to repurchase'. This paper also found that customer habit moderates the relationships among customer satisfaction, emotional loyalty, and intention to repurchase (the latter in the customer group who repurchased the same brand smartphone). The customer group who repurchased the same brand smartphone showed that positive social influence affected customer satisfaction and emotional loyalty. Additionally, both customer satisfaction and emotional loyalty had positive effects on intention to repurchase. In addition, customer habit had a positive effect on intention to repurchase, and habit moderated the relationship between customer satisfaction and emotional loyalty and intent to repurchase (the customer group who repurchased the same brand smartphone). These results suggest that companies should strengthen their customer loyalty programs and subscription business strategically to induce customers to repurchase. If customer satisfaction and emotional loyalty have mediating effects, then companies should establish differentiated marketing strategies considering customer satisfaction and emotional loyalty. Customers' habits should be strategically utilized to induce them to continuously use the same brand of products. Customer repurchases are based on a satisfactory experience of customers' consumption behavior. However, the results of this study show that customer habits also play a role in moderating customer satisfaction in a negative direction. In other words, habit can be an important factor in inducing customers to repurchase smartphones unconsciously, rather than making reasonable decisions.