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The impact of users’ characteristics on customer lifetime value raising: evidence from mobile data service in China

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Abstract

Most prior studies on customer lifetime value (CLV) dominated on the effect of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty on customer profitability. However, how users’ characteristics (i.e., self-construal, age and gender) affect CLV is rarely probed. In order to fill this research gap, in this study, we build a conceptual model integrating customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, CLV and customer characteristics variables to investigate the effect of users’ self-construal characteristics and demographic features in the relationship between customer loyalty and CLV. In order to test the hypotheses suggested by our conceptual framework, focusing on the usage of mobile data services, we collected survey data from 875 customers provided by a major tele-communication service provider in China. We show that users' age, gender and self-construal have differing effects on CLV at different levels of customer loyalty. These results suggest that firms can manage customers with different age groups, gender and self-construal characteristics with different strategies to maximize benefits at different levels of customer loyalty to improve CLV.

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  1. www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/.

  2. http://www.hkex.com.hk.

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Acknowledgments

This paper was supported by the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2012CB315805), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No.:71171023, 71231002), the National Science Foundation (Project No. CMMI-0645075), Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Program No.: 20120005110015), and Co-Research Fund of the ministry of education of P.R. China & China Mobile (ProgramNo. MCM20123021), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (Program No.: NCET-10-0241), and BUPT Excellent Ph.D. Students Foundation (No. CX201335).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Economics and Management, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, No.10 Xi Tu Cheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing, 100876, China

    Jia-Yin Qi & Qi-Xing Qu

  2. Michael G. Foster School of Business, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195–3200, United States

    Yong-Pin Zhou

  3. School of Computer and Information, Hefei University of Technology, 193 Tunxi Road, Hefei, 230009, Anhui, China

    Lei Li

Authors
  1. Jia-Yin Qi
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  2. Qi-Xing Qu
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  3. Yong-Pin Zhou
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  4. Lei Li
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qi-Xing Qu.

Appendices

Appendix 1

1.1 Section I

SAT1. Overall, I am satisfied with the mobile data services I am using

SAT2. Using mobile data services has met with my expectations

SAT3. I am pleased with the experience of using mobile data services

SAT4. My decision to use mobile data services was a wise one

LOY1. My preference for using mobile data services would not change

LOY2. It would be difficult to change my beliefs about mobile data services

LOY3. I will continue using mobile data services in the future

LOY4. Even if friends recommended that I give up using mobile data services, my preference for mobile data services would not change

WOM1. I encourage friends and relatives to use the mobile data services which they are not using

WOM2. I recommend the mobile data services which I am using whenever any one seeks my advice

WOM3. When the topic of mobile data services comes up in conversation, I go out of my way to recommend what I am using

WOM4. I have actually recommended the mobile data services which I am using to my friends

1.2 Section II

B1. I will sacrifice my self-interest for the benefit of the group I am in

B2. I often have the feeling that my relationships with others are more important than my own accomplishments

B3. I will stay in a group if they need me, even when I am not happy with the group

B4. If my brother or sister fails, I feel responsible

B5. Being able to take care of myself is a primary concern for me

B6. I prefer to be direct and forthright when dealing with people I’ve just met

B7. I enjoy being unique and different from others in many respects

Appendix 2

See Tables 4, 5, 6.

Table 4 The parameter estimation form of the loyalty–revenue relationship
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Table 5 The parameter estimation form of the loyalty-WOM relationship
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Table 6 The parameter estimation of the loyalty-duration relationship
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Appendix 3: Reliability and validity of the measurements

See Tables 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.

Table 7 Reliability analysis of the measurements for CLV drivers
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Table 8 KMO and Bartlett-test for the variables related to relationship quality
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Table 9 Factor loading analysis for the variables related to relationship quality
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Table 10 Factor analysis for the variables related to self-construal
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Table 11 Validity analysis of the measurements for CLV drivers
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Qi, JY., Qu, QX., Zhou, YP. et al. The impact of users’ characteristics on customer lifetime value raising: evidence from mobile data service in China. Inf Technol Manag 16, 273–290 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10799-014-0200-6

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