Consumer Repurchase Behaviors of Smartphones

To analyze the research model, this study collected data on intention to repurchase through surveys for consumers living in South Korea. According to the Pew Research Center, a global market research organization, the country with the highest smartphone penetration rate is South Korea, with 94% of the population using smartphones. Therefore, South Korea is a good market in which to analyze the characteristics of consumers who repurchase smartphones.

Although questionnaires were distributed to 1200 customers, only 390 responses were received and analyzed in order to test the hypotheses, as now mentioned in Section 5.1. Three hundred ninety consumers (n = 390) who repurchased smartphones within two years were included in this investigation. The study tested the research hypotheses and attempted to answer the research questions by developing a questionnaire as its research instrument. The items of each construct were adopted from previous literature. All of the items were measured on a five-point Likert scale, where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree. This study calculated the appropriate sample size for the analysis within the level statistical significance; in consideration of the current total population of South Korea, the smartphone penetration rate, the confidence level (95%), and the margin of error (5%), the appropriate sample size could be calculated as 385 people. Therefore, the sample (n = 390) in this study is an appropriate size for data analysis.

This study analyzed the behavior of consumers; for this, the research used verified measurement items found in an analysis of previous research. And the results were summarized in Table 2.

Table 2. Measurement items.

Construct	Measurement Items
Social Influence	Search for information about various mobile phone brands and models from the Professional Association or an independent group of experts Collect mobile phone information from friends, neighbors, relatives, or coworkers (e.g., how the performance of brand A cell phone is compared to brand B) My choice of cell phone is influenced by other consumers' word of mouth or some evaluation reports from an independent testing agency (e.g., online cell phone reviews) My friends' assessments and preferences affect my choices My family members' preferences affect my cell phone choices My decision to buy a cell phone is influenced by my classmates' and colleagues' preferences, to meet their expectations Using a cell phone of a particular brand or model helps show others who I am or who I want to be (successful businessman, female expert, etc.)
Consumer Satisfaction	Satisfaction with the current smartphone The current smartphone meets all reasonable requirements High satisfaction with the quality of my smartphone Smartphone meets my expectations The function and design of my smartphone is appropriate for requirements The function and the design of my smartphone fit my needs/wants Feeling better with smartphone use My decision to use my smartphone was a wise one
Emotional Loyalty	Brand love has a positive impact on willingness to pay a price premium Love this brand Passionate about this brand Very attached to this brand Willing to pay a premium price to buy this brand of smartphone
Habit	Tend to like routine Rely on what is tried and tested rather than explore something new I prefer to work happily in my comfort zone rather than challenging myself Tend to do things in the same order every morning (e.g., get up, go to the bathroom, have a coffee, etc.) Always sit in the same seat in places such as on the bus, in the cinema, or in church Sometimes there is a temptation to go to special events, but I generally buy a reliable home brand If I could, I would probably always pick the same outfit to wear every day I always like to park my car or bike in the same place I tend to stick with the familiar version of the software package as long as possible Always tend to visit the same websites when browsing the internet In a restaurant, I tend to order dishes that I am familiar with
Intention to Repurchase	I intend to continue purchasing the same smartphone in the future I will continue with the same smartphone in the future I will regularly use the same smartphone in the future

In this study, 33 items were developed for the questionnaire to address the characteristics of the consumers. The final questionnaire had 17 questions, developed through a pilot test of 78 consumers.

The descriptive statistics of the survey were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 to determine the means and standard deviations of the responses. A factor analysis and a reliability analysis (Cronbach's α test) were conducted to analyze the validity and the reliability of the research variables. To analyze the causal relationship between the variables, the regression analysis model was enhanced by artificial neural network algorithms.