Abstract

This study addresses factors affecting consumers’ intention to stay with a brand: in particular their cell phone brand. It aims to discover the extent to which consumers are influenced by age, satisfaction, brand commitment, the length of the consumer decision process, social groups, user experience and brand perception. The study subsequently seeks to determine the relationship between these factors and the intention of individuals to keep or change their cell phone brands. Research questions were answered by 137 respondents living in the Netherlands. Results indicate that, compared with other variables, brand commitment explains a remarkable part of the variance. Satisfaction proved to be a mediator not only of the relationship between brand commitment and the intention to stay but also between age and the intention to stay. This suggests that satisfaction has a major impact on individuals’ intention to stay. Differences were found concerning the intention to stay with the brand when age, education and income were divided into groups. The older respondents and those with the highest income regarded satisfaction as an important factor, while the lower-educated respondents only took the type of brand into consideration. It can be concluded that age, education and income-specific behavior should be considered in marketing actions. Further research is needed to elaborate the relationship between the intention to stay with the cell phone brand and other factors. Additionally, a confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis should be executed to elucidate the relations between the different variables. Finally, a longitudinal study should be conducted.

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