Corporate branding and consumer loyalty in the telecommunication industry: A case study of MTN Ghana

Abstract

In a fiercely competitive business environment such as the mobile services industry, it is a marketplace reality that the ability of firms to attract and retain customers ultimately determines their growth and survival prospects. This study, therefore, investigates how corporate branding in the form of brand name, brand logo, brand color, customer satisfaction and the size of customer base of MTN determine customer loyalty in the telecommunication industry of Ghana. A total of 250 valid respondents completed a questionnaire survey in the ten regional capitals of Ghana during the Spring break. The questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS and Pearson correlation was used to establish the relationship between the dependent variable (customer loyalty) and independent variables (brand name, brand logo, brand color, customer satisfaction and size of customer base). The results of the empirical study reveal that brand name had the greatest impact on loyalty. Brand color and brand logo also have a positive correlation on customer loyalty, while size of customer base had lower correlation on customer loyalty. The results also show that customer satisfaction is a direct antecedent of customer loyalty. We suggest that managers of MTN should pay much attention on the color, logo and customer satisfaction as their marketing strategy weapons, whiles consolidating the market size to prevent customer switching to other competitors.

Keywords: Customer loyalty, corporate branding, telecommunication industry.