Measuring Relationship Quality Towards The Generation Y Market In The Mobile Telecommunications Industry – An Empirical Study | Dimple G. Mirpuri & Sangeeta A. Narwani

The young consumer today has a variety of choices when it comes to buying products and services. In services such as the provision of mobile telecommunications services, young consumers are becoming a big part of the market. However, the industry is becoming highly saturated and the fight for market share is gaining strength. Firms need to start finding ways to build customer loyalty with the young consumer. The purpose of this study is to look into whether the creation of relationship quality will lead to customer loyalty from young consumers. The study uses a quantitative method of analysis by surveying 257 young consumers aged 18-31. This group was surveyed randomly using a geographic cluster sampling technique and questionnaires were administered personally to individuals from this age group. The survey was conducted in Hong Kong, China where the proportion of the young is about 21.5% of the overall population. Sub-groups included those in the older generations aged 25 and above. Findings of the research done in measuring relationship quality reveal that mobile telecommunications firms must work hard to build a strategy around the key constructs of relationship marketing for a successful relationship marketing strategy with young consumers. There is a positive correlation between relationship quality and customer loyalty. Therefore if firms provide relationship quality to young consumers, they will remain loyal to them. At the same time, findings show that service quality does not directly lead to customer loyalty so without the key practice of relationship marketing, customer loyalty will be hard to achieve in this industry on the basis of providing good service quality alone. Limited research exists exploring the practice of relationship marketing towards the young consumer and although there is research on young consumers and their use of mobile phones and mobile telecommunications, this research will provide value to firms operating in the mobile telecommunications industry in deciding how much to invest in relationship marketing.