National customer satisfaction indices: an implementation in the Turkish mobile telephone market

Purpose - To build a National Consumer Satisfaction Index for Turkey, drawing on models already in existence in Sweden, the USA, Norway and the European Union. In so doing, to remedy observed practical shortcomings of those indices. Design/methodology/approach - Structural equation modelling was applied to the general model, in the specific context of the mobile telephone market in Turkey, based on data collected by questionnaire from more than 1,500 subscribers. Findings - The purpose-designed new customer satisfaction index exhibits good fit and strong explanatory power. It is the most comprehensive so far developed, by virtue of adding two new factors to the model. Research limitations/implications - The new Turkish index was tested for validity and reliability only in the context of mobile telephony; it should ideally now be further tested in different sectors, periodically, to validate comparisons with other national variants. More latent variables and economic data should be incorporated to analyse the links among the index itself, loyalty and economic consequences. It is suggested that the partial least squares method could have been more appropriate than the maximum likelihood iteration procedure actually employed. Practical implications - Apart from its obvious role in assessing customer satisfaction in a domestic market, a customer satisfaction index can be extended to the level of comparing whole economies. This is of considerable significance for Turkey's ambitions to join the European Union. Originality/value - This article enhances and extends an established but relatively little known quantitative method for evaluating customer satisfaction, and thereby offers an important diagnostic tool to marketing planners