exploratory sequential design mixed methods

Over the last five years, Zimbabwe has experienced a tremendous increase in Internet Access Providers (IAP) and Internet Service Providers (ISP) with active internet subscribers increasing by 48.97%. As such, switching barriers can be used as a retention strategy to survive short-term fluctuations in service quality that might otherwise result in defection. For instance, when consumers switch between service providers, they incur various costs ranging from time spent gathering information about potential alternatives to foregone benefits that require continued patronage of an existing provider. Switching barriers make customer defection difficult or costly. In other words, switching costs can be described as barriers that maintain customers in service relationships. (2009) defined switching costs as “the perceived economic and psychological costs associated with changing from one alternative to another” (p. The switching barriers include among other things: costs, contractual obligations, risks, interruptions of service, and inconveniences. Switching barriers are obstacles that customers face when they switch from one product or service to another (Barusman & Virgawenda, 2019). High switching costs, interpersonal relationships, and attractiveness of alternatives have in recent years been counted among the most effective retention strategies. In the last decade, the role of switching barriers in influencing consumer behaviour has generated considerable theoretical and practical interest (Han, Kim, & Hyun, 2011 Qian, Peiji, & Quanfu, 2011 Nagengast, Evanschitzky, Blut, & Rudolph, 2014 Li, 2015 Chuah, et al., 2017 Liang, Choi, & Joppe, 2018). This study sought to investigate the impact of switching barriers on a customer’s decision to remain with a service provider.

Exploratory sequential design mixed methods