A Comparative Consumer Study of Firms’ CRM Practices and Marketing Effectiveness in the Mobile Telecommunications Sectors of Nigeria and the UK

The purpose of this doctoral thesis is to carry out a comparative consumer study of firms’ CRM practices and Marketing Effectiveness (ME) in the Mobile Telecommunications (MT) sectors of Nigeria and the United Kingdom. The research contribution as explained by Corley and Gioa (2011) has guided this thesis as the underlying facets of theory are bound in a statement of concepts and interrelationships to explain how and why a phenomenon has occurred. The research contribution of the thesis is explained in detail in Chapter One, Section 1.0: Introduction and 1.1: Theoretical Background of the Study.
The adoption of Consumer Utility Theory and Institutional Theory culminating in CRMBT informs and guides the research work in analysing consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, how firms behave and what influences arising from businesses have impact on consumers. Examples of business pressures are in the form of cultural rules, beliefs, symbols, rituals and power structures with survival dependent on loyalty to other institutional pressures (Scott, 1987; DiMaggio and Powell, 1991b). Studies discussed in the literature have shown that firms’ CRM practices are affected by institutional pressures, thus demonstrating the emergence of CRMBT and how it would help to mediate internal institutional forces (DiMaggio and Powell, 1991b; Ernest and Young, 2001; Chen and Popovich, 2003; ElGohary et al. 2013; Keramati and Shapulli, 2015). Consumer Utility Theory as described by Fishburn (1987) is adopted in this study because it helps in understanding the rationale behind consumer satisfaction and retention decisions.
Ultimately, Consumer Utility Theory is linked with Institutional Theory as both internal and external institutional pressures shape consumer satisfaction and retention decisions positively or negatively. The thesis’s contribution uniquely linked all three to explain the phenomena under investigation. Within the last two decades the use of mobile phones and other mobile devices have risen dramatically as the phenomenally successful mobile phone has increased customers and profits for MT companies. The sample in the study included three face to face qualitative consumer focus groups in Port Harcourt Nigeria with 23 interviewees (8,7,8) and three face to face consumer focus groups in Huddersfield town UK of 22 interviewees (10,5,7). The justifications for comparing telecommunications service experiences of users in both towns are due to their shared similarities in terms of economic viability and adult population of telecommunications consumer. The data for the study were analysed using the thematic template technique and facilitated with Nvivo 10. From the Nigerian study it was found that mobile telecommunication firms’ CRM practices were weak for their consumers, which had negatively impacted on these firms’ marketing effectiveness over the years.
Secondly, the study found that the factors underpinning the negative practices by Nigerian mobile telecoms operators were mainly externally motivated. This led to the emergence of six themes to include: service price; consumer privacy; complaints management; service courtesy; service quality and service personalisation. From the UK study it was found that MT firms’ CRM practices were fair towards their consumer and these practices had positive impact on consumer satisfaction and retention behaviours. This led to the emergence of seven themes which include: service quality, service upgrade, service price, service personalisation, service evaluation, complaints management and understanding customer expectations. The key theoretical contributions of this doctoral research are in Institutional Theory, Consumer Utility Theory and CRMBT respectively. The transformational CRM behaviour model is depicted on Figure 6.1 for theoretical and practical explorations. Drawing upon existing CRM literature this is the first doctoral study that has compared the CRM practices of MT firms concerning consumers in Nigeria and the UK using the qualitative focus group approach, which leads to developing a transformational CRM behaviour model. The recommendations of this thesis pertaining to the MT operators and the telecommunications regulatory agencies in Nigeria and the UK are provided. Individual themes from each of the study contexts are analysed and displayed in the Nvivo data.