Understanding the switching behaviors of smartphone users: a model comparison approach

Abstract

Understanding the factors that affect the user’s decision to switch from their existing products or services to alternative choices has become a key issue across academics and industries. However, only a limited amount of attention has been made to understanding those factors in the smartphone industry, which has seen rapid growth recently. The purpose of this research is to empirically investigate and analyze the effects of the factors that influence the user’s decision to switch or keep their smartphones. The present research proposes 13 antecedent factors of the user’s smartphone switching intention, on the basis of 3 research models: the PPM (push-pull-mooring) Model, the ECT-IS (expectation-confirmation theory - Information Systems) Switching Model, and the Unified Model. In order to compare and verify the 3 research models, we have analyzed the data collected from the responses of over 600 smartphone users using PLS (Partial Least Square). The results show that the Unified Model explains the user’s switching intention most effectively while highlighting the importance of the alternative attractiveness, attitude toward switching, and variety seeking factors.