A Research Agenda for Evaluating Strength of Internal Preferences and External Influences in Consumer Smartphone Switching

Abstract

This article proposes a research agenda to study what causes consumers to switch smartphone manufacturer and operating system brands. International consumer survey is planned for data collection and structural equation modeling method will be used to extrapolate whether internal preferences play a larger role than external influences in consumers’ switching behavior. The effects are expected to be moderated by behavioral control, subjective uncertainty and prior switching experience and controlled with a set of constraint variables. As a theoretical contribution, we propose a new theory to evaluate switching primarily through the latent construct of magnitude of switch. Potential practical implications offer new insights into consumer switching decision-making. These insights could be useful in customer acquisition and lock-in strategy revision for smartphone market players but also in other ecosystems with similar technological characteristics.