3. Switching motives:
Switching motives are the incentives that make consumers switch brands which are divided to internal and external motives. Internal motives are the intrinsic motives in which the customer desire to switch to a new brand, while external motives are the motives caused by sales promotion which lead to switching. However, this switching behaviour never lasts for a long time as it occurs at the length of the sales promotion. Dotson has offered a self perception theory which explains the response to the incentives; it is about the consumer response to switch brands depending on the consumer’s evaluation of the product. The extrinsic incentives affect the switching behaviour; however incentive motives influence consumer behaviour through creating a desire to try a new brand. The consumer has an extensive experience of the consumption of the previous brand which may lead to boredom and dissatisfaction so the consumers would have an intention to switch (Mazursky D., La Barbera P. and Aiello A., 1987, 18-20).
Moreover, it is important to know that regardless the level of satisfaction with the previous brand which is influenced by price, coupon, inconvenience, core service failure, service encounter failure, attraction by competitors, employee’s response to service failure, poor service quality, and involuntarily switch, the customers may have higher or lower intentions to switch to a new brand than those who are encouraged intrinsically by dissatisfaction (Abou Aish E., Kortam W., and Hassan S. 2008, 3). Thisthout and Keely have offered a new theory called “The comparison level theory”. This theory is about predicting the level of satisfaction among individuals; this level of satisfaction is determined by the difference of outcomes and the criteria to which consumers compare their satisfaction. It has been showed that the association between satisfaction with the new brand and the purpose to repurchase it is higher if switching is encouraged by intrinsic factors than extrinsic factors. In addition, the self-perception theory support the idea that the acknowledgment of switching to intrinsic causes the consumers to be more willing to repeat the purchase (Mazursky D., La barbera P., and Aiello A., 1987, p. 19-20).
3.1 Extrinsic motives:
According to the extrinsic motives there are several reasons which encourage the consumer to switch from a brand to another; these reasons are:
3.1.1 Poor service quality
Poor service quality is based on either of two ways; technicality or functionality. The technicality is what is delivered to the consumer; however the functionality is how it is delivered to the consumer. Also Berry and Ztihmak suggested that the poor service quality consists of five dimensions: tangibles, consistency, awareness, assertion, and understanding. However, this scale was criticized as the service quality consisted of three dimensions which are: the outcome, the interaction and the physical environment. The outcome is what the consumer obtains when the service is delivered ,the interaction is when the consumer face and interact with the service provider, and finally the physical environment is about the circumstances and the environment from where the product and services are received and sold (Van Trip, Hoyer, and Inman. 1996, 288).
3.1.2 Prices
Prices include different subcategories which are high prices, price increase, and unfair prices. High prices are about that the prices are higher relative to the value of the product or the service. Price increase is when the consumer is used to buy a product with a certain price then this price increased relative to the previous price (Keaveny S. 1995, 73). Unfair price is when the consumer feels cheated by the service provider. There are two consumers’ perceptions about the price of the product; first whether the consumer thinks that high prices means high quality and low prices means low quality. On the other hand, a second perception suggested by Kinani and Roro (2000) is that the lower the price, the more it would be unfair as this is the function of good value of money (Van Trip, Hoyer, and Inman 1996, 284).
3.1.3 Inconvenience
Incidents that can face the customer when he receives his service are through three ways: the service provider, the location, and the number of hours which are taken to provide the service. These three ways can make the customer inconvenient with such a brand. First, whether the location of taking the service is near or far away. Second, whether the customer wait for a long time to get an appointment or to deliver a product (Keaveny S. 1995, 74).
3.1.4 Core service future
Core service future is about the technical problems and mistakes which is accompanied with the service and it consists of: service mistake, billing error, and service catastrophe. Service mistakes are the level of mistakes of not meeting the customer, and when the service provider is not able to deliver the service. Billing errors is registering the wrong price. Service catastrophes are when making problems to the customers like making the customers lose money and time. (Keaveny S. 1995, 75).
3.1.5 Service encounter failing
Service encounter failing is about the relation between the customer and the service provider. The service provider behaviour is measured by his attitude and behaviour which is uncaring, rudeness, unresponsiveness, and the unawareness of the service. There is another suggestion that customers measure the value and the service quality according to the resources and skills accompanied with the service, so high quality encourage the consumer to strengthen the relation with the company, however, low quality of the service would weakness the relationship with the company (Keaveny S. 1995, 74).
3.1.6 Low organization commitment to the customer
In order for customers to have a strong commitment for the organization, the organization should develop and maintain a long-term exchange relationship with the customer. Thus, every organization should know the needs and wants of its customers should meet these needs and wants to develop a strong relationship and trouble-free communication, also the organization should know full information about the customers. Moreover, when the commitment towards the firm is low, it reflects a lack of interest to the consumers (Van Trip, Hoyer, and Inman 1996, 285).
3.1.7 Attraction by competitors
Attraction by competitors occurs when there are new competitors entering the market and are encouraging customers by providing them with a better service than the previous service provider. Thus, many customers seek to switch the brand for a better service with a higher price rather than suffering with the low service with a low price (Keaveney S., 1995, p.75).
3.1.8 Employee response to service failure
Employee response to service failure consists of three subcategories: reluctant response, failure to respond, and patently negative responses. Reluctant response is when the employee tries to respond to the problem and he knows its correction, but he is unwilling to respond unless taking a long procedure. Second subcategory is failure to respond which is when the employee or the service provider ignores customers complains. Patently negative process is when the service provider points the blame for the service failure on the customer and not the service itself (Keaveny S. 1995, 76).
3.1.9 Ethical problems
Ethical problems are problems caused as a result of deterioration in the service provider’s behaviour. Ethical problems include subcategories which are: dishonest behaviour, intimidating, unsafe or unhealthy practices, and conflicts of interests. (Van Trip, Hoyer, and Inman.1996, 280).
3.1.10. Involuntary switch
They are caused due to the incidents happened either for the reason of customers or the service provider it happens whether the service provider close or the customer move. (Van Trip, Hoyer, and Inman.1996, 282).
3.2. Intrinsic Motives:
However the intrinsic motive which is the desire to switch brand it is due to the need of variety seeking as the consumers who have low need in variety so he will not have the variety seeking behavior so people who have high need variety have higher tendency to switch than those who are extrinsically motivated. (Van Trip, Hoyer, and Inman.1996, 283).
3.2.1. Advertising:
Advertising plays an important role on brand switching as it can build customer awareness about a band or alter trust towards it. Advertising also has a direct effect on repurchase intention of a brand which is negatively related to switching. To illustrate, repurchase intention is determined by the integration of advertising and the actual experience of using such a brand, which if positive will lead to lower switching (Milovanic G. 1999, 75).
There are two concepts of advertising. First, Brand extension which
includes promotion that encourages the consumers to buy the same product or switch the brand in case its aim is to decreases trust towards such product. Second, Usage Dominance Purchase makes use of customers’ past experience of using a certain brand that is more superior over the influence of the advertising primary role which is to increase awareness and trust of a brand. If those efforts are successful, the consumer will probably buy the brand. Intensive advertisements increase loyalty towards a product, on the other hand when the consumers are not loyal towards a certain brand; they are more likely to switch to another brand. So the intensity of advertisements could have an effect of motivating switching. (Milovanic G., 1999, p.74).
Furthermore, after the purchase and consumption phase, advertising has an effect on what is left in the memory whether positive or negative for a long time. Advertising messages can cause different reactions to the recipients, however, the main influence of advertising is increasing the number of individuals who will agree to take and purchase the product of a certain brand. Nevertheless, it is really important that the influence of the experience is not to be shown in a great extent so that it could influence a greater number of customers who would try and purchase the product; consumers exposed to different levels of advertising, they display different attitudes towards the brand of the advertised products and so it will influence a little the probability of purchasing again (Milovanic G., 1999, p.75).