ABSTRACT

This study examines the influence of telecommunication advertisements on students’ perception and preference for GSM services in Kogi state tertiary institutions. The study emerged from the backdrop of increasing complaints about poor GSM services in Nigeria, and the assumption that advertising could help in shaping perceptions and choice of GSM networks among active users and subscribers. The study was aimed at making an empirical contribution to existing understanding of the level of influence advertising has on consumer behaviour in the telecommunication industry. The study was based on the presupposition of the source credibility and hierarchy of effect theories. The survey method as adopted for the study using a multi-stage sampling method in which institutions were randomly selected and research instruments purposively administered to the respondents. The survey received a 95 per cent response rate from a sample of 381 of 400 drawn from 4 out of the 13 tertiary institutions in Kogi state using a multi stage sampling method in which these institutions are divided into strata and each stratum was purposively selected. Data gathered were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results were analysed using percentage frequency, mean and standard deviation while the association between the level of advertising influence and preferences was tested using Pearson correlation analysis. Chi-square test was also carried out to test association between GSM service preference and demographic variables. Overall results show a strong positive association between the level of advertising influence and respondents’ preference for GSM service. Finding also shows that the message of the advertisement was considered the most appealing element in the advertisement that influences students GSM patronage. Furthermore, there is analysis showed a low user approval rate (perception) of GSM prepaid advertisements and also highlights other extra advertorial intervening factors apart from advertising that equally influence students’ GSM patronage. The study concludes that since there is a strong positive relationship between the level of advertising influences and sstudents’ preference for GSM services, such influences may affect their perceptions of the advertisements which in turn may determine GSM service they will eventually subscribe to. It therefore recommends that GSM advertisement messages should be factual, accurate and realistic since such messages affect perception and preference for GSM patronage.

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CHAPTER ONE