Understanding switching and exiting behaviour in consumers of addictive smartphone apps

Abstract

There are more than six billion smartphone users in the world. [1] China, India, and the US are the leading countries with 911.92 million, 439.42 million, and 270 million smartphone users respectively, as of May 2021. Smartphone penetration has also been used as an economic indicator with most advanced countries having more than 70% penetration. Smartphones act as a platform where several third-party developers can sell different applications (or ‘apps’) based on user requirement. Apps can deliver a wide range of requirements today, like chatting with friends and family (WhatsApp), sharing photos (Instagram), managing health, planning workouts, setting up alarms, managing sleep cycles, learning online, and so on. There exists ample literature on the causes of smartphone addiction, however, unlike other addictions like smoking, gambling etc., not much work on exiting or switching from app addiction exists. In the given work we aim to analyse what leads to customers to withdraw from the harmful apps or switch to other alternative applications. The study can be useful understand how businesses in the app market can capture the attention of already captivated consumer. Further, this research will also help us know the sustainability prospects of operating a business in this market.