Author(s): Simon Gyasi Nimako and Dr. Benjamin A. Ntim

Consumer switching behaviour (CSB) is where a consumer replaces a service provider totally or partially for a given time period (Nimako, 2012).
• Many studies have attempted to study the factors that affect switching intentions and behaviour (Bansal & Taylor 1999; Bansal, Taylor, & James, 2005; Gerrard & Cunningham, 2004; Keaveney, 1995).
• In the literature much of the effort that has been made by scholars and practitioners have focused on developing and measuring switching intentions of customers (Bansal & Taylor 1999; Bansal, Taylor, & James, 2005; Gerrard & Cunningham, 2004; Keaveney, 1995).
• However, using switching intentions only to understand consumer switching propensity might not be adequate.

• This is because consumer switching intentions itself is determined by a number of switching factors and antecedents, which have been identified in the extant marketing literature (Bansal et al., 2005; Gerrard & Cunningham, 2004; Keaveney, 1995; Sathish, Kumar, & Jeevanantham, 2011; Lam & Hsu, 2006; Lopez, Redondo & Olivan, 2006; Manrai & Manrai, 2006).
• It, therefore, becomes critically important for managers and scholars to understand that other relevant variables have to be taken into account in order to fully capture consumers’ switching propensity.
• Understanding consumer switching propensity offers managers strategic directions in meeting customer needs and requirements

• Thus, there is void in the marketing literature regarding the development of a switching index for mobile telecom industry. This study hopes to contribute to filling this gap and provide managers with a simple and handy tool for measuring consumer propensity to switch to new service providers in the telecom industry.

Purpose of the Research

•The main purpose of this paper is to develop and apply a theoretically grounded and handy switching index to enable managers measure mobile subscribers’ propensity to switch service providers in mobile telecom context.