Abstract:
The Sri Lankan mobile telecommunication market has experienced a strong growth
over the last few years. The increasing competition and number of identical products
in the market pressure businesses to compete and stand out. Mor eover, the number
portability facility eventually allows users to switch among services with a minimal
switching cost, and it hugely impacts consumer purchase intention and retention.
Thus, companies must focus on their brand equity more than ever to retai n customers
and differentiate themselves from competitors to obtain a competitive edge. However,
they attempt to capture the market with massive advertising, but this, according to
the study, is not the best strategy to establish a positive reputation amon g the target
population. Therefore, this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by
investigating the impact of brand equity on consumer purchase intention in the
mobile telecommunication industry by analysing data from 199 respondents gathered
through a structured questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to
investigate the hypothesis between brand equity and consumer purchase intention.
Results showed that brand association, brand loyalty, and perceived quality
significantly impact consumer purchase intention of mobile connections, whereas
brand awareness is non significant in consumer purchase intention. The study
findings support the hypotheses, and some managerial implications for corporates
were also discussed.
