SUBSCRIBERS ATTITUDE TOWARD UNSOLICITED TEXT MESSAGES (UTM) AMONG NIGERIAN TELECOMMUNICATION FIRMS

Oluwaseun J. Akanji, Bamidele S. Adeleke

Abstract


As more and more telecom firms turn to unsolicited text messages (UTM) to increase profits and capture new customers, the emphasis on UTM means more opportunities for telecom firms to disseminate info at the most reduced cost and to targets consumers on one-to-one basis. This paper investigates the consumers’ attitude towards unsolicited text messages (SMS spamming). The research is based on a wide and broad literature review of the latest trends in the Nigeria telecom industry. The study evaluates the effect of three components of attitude (cognitive, affective and conative) on the consumers’ preferences and loyalty to telephone services. To achieve the spelt objectives, the study utilizes survey design; and data was collected though a self-administered questionnaire from a number of 302 respondents who were subscribers of four major telecom operators (MTN, GLO, AIRTEL and ETISALAT) in Ogbomoso Metropolis, Oyo State Nigeria. Statistical technique software SPSS was employed to aid the data analysis. Having analyzed the data, the study found out that unsolicited text messages (UTM) impact on subscribers’ cognitive attitude for telecom services among telecom firms in Nigeria. It was also discovered that UTM have affective action (negative effect) on consumers’ preference for telephone services. The work among other things, recommends that mobile firms should be cautious about the information content of their advertising message. This is aimed at producing advertising message that contains sufficient, pleasant and valuable information needed to positively engage the cognition of the consumer. The work in addition to that also advised that telecom firms should reexamine the usefulness of UTM as a standalone mode because of the observed inherent limitations with regards to emotional appeal and shortage in information capacity, and they should possibly switch to a more effective mobile application.

 

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unsolicited text messages (UTM), customers’ preferences, cognitive attitude, buying loyalty

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References


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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejmms.v0i0.431

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