Search

One of the biggest drivers of Tanzania’s economy, inclusion in the digital financial system, and reaching the unbanked population nationwide is mobile payment services. Due to the development of mobile banks and the dynamics of digital technology advances, which make it challenging to comprehend consumer behaviours, the sector, which is served by telecom firms, suffers intense competition. Unfortunately, the topic hasn’t received much attention from marketing professionals, thus this study will focus on examining the connection between service quality and word-of-mouth mediated by customer experience. The second is to investigate how customer experience, through service quality, influences repurchases behaviour. With a sample of 379 Dar Es Salaam residents who utilize mobile payments, the study took a positivist stance. Moreover, the study employed convenient sampling techniques, and the data were analysed with Smart PLS 4. The analysis involved a reflective-formative measure of constructs in lower- and higher-order models and a bootstrapping method for the mediating analysis. The hypotheses were tested and revealed a significant positive relationship between the specific indirect effects of service quality and positive word of mouth and repurchasing intention. The study contributes to the digital financial service marketing sector and recommends that policymakers and managers substantiate customer experience for better communication and marketing strategies.

Abstract The changes in market dynamics, customer-to-customer interactions, and the use of artificial intelligence have created a great concern among marketers in understanding customer behaviours such as customer loyalty. Policymakers account for the provision of quality service in terms of subscription numbers. However, little explains the impacts of these dynamics. Drawing up the service quality model, theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and customer loyalty model, the study examined the influence of service quality, technical quality (TQ), functional quality (FQ), and reputational quality (RQ) on customer loyalty (CL). Specifically, the study focuses on moderating gender differences to enhance robustness. Data were collected from 379 respondents and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) with smart PLS (partial least square). The results suggested that customer assessment of reputational quality was vital in m-payment services for both males and females. Female customers depicted a more significant positive relationship than male customers, meaning the former are more loyal than the latter. Technical quality negatively influences attitudinal customer loyalty, while functional quality affects behavioural loyalty. The study contributes towards understanding the role of the dimensions of service quality (dSQ), customer loyalty and gender differences. Theoretically, the foundation of this research adds up to the consideration of the moderation effect of gender and their differential assessment of technical and functional quality as predictors of customer loyalty. Implication to managers is improving marketing strategies, and policymakers provide a more enabling environment for m-payment service.