Quality and Customer Satisfaction Spillovers in the Mobile Phone Industry

This study investigates the possible spillover effects of customer satisfaction from product manufacturer to service provider, and vice versa. The survey results provide empirical evidence for the presence of spillover effects of quality and customer satisfactions in the mobile phone industry. This finding suggests that research on the ways in which quality affects customer satisfaction and loyalty should consider the influence of partnering firms and suppliers, rather than only examine the relationship within the same organization. This is particularly relevant in settings where the simultaneous presence of physical product and the service are needed. In the mobile phone industry, handset manufacturers and network operators need to consider whom they partner, depending whether they are the likely receiving or giving party of the spillover effects. Moreover, these effects are moderated by product image gap between the handset and network operator.

[Service Science, ISSN 2164-3962 (print), ISSN 2164-3970 (online), was published by Services Science Global (SSG) from 2009 to 2011 as issues under ISBN 978-1-4276-2090-3.]