Nassar, HusseinMoshi, GoodielMitomo, Hitoshi2024-03-162024-03-162013Nassar, H., Moshi, G., & Mitomo, H. (2013). The impact of psychological barriers in influencing customers' decisions in the telecommunication sector . International Journal of Managing Public Sector Information and Communication Technologies, 4(4), 1.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5121/ijmpict.2013.4401https://repository.udom.ac.tz/handle/20.500.12661/4308Abstract. Full-text article available at http://dx.doi.org/10.5121/ijmpict.2013.4401Increased competition in broadband telecommunication market led to a surge in campaigns and packages for customers. Whereas traditional economic theory assumed that abundance of alternatives is to be welcomed by customers, recent theories however, have emphasized that multiple choices may have a negative role in adoption or switching behavior. The unorthodox conclusions of negative impact of wide assortment of choices were studied through the lens of behavioral economics. Most notably,“anticipated regret” was identified to be major cause of choice deferral of purchase. This paper investigates the role of selection difficulty and anticipated regret on the intention of broadband subscribers to upgrade to higher connection speed. The result shows that there is a significant positive relationship between anticipated regret and decision avoidance. Results also indicate that selection difficulty has positive relationship with switching cost thus indirectly reducing the perceived net benefit of upgraded internet connection. This study, therefore, confirmed the significant impact of psychological barriers together with economic factors in influencing customers’ decisions in the telecommunication sector. This paper thus recommends managers of telecom firms and regulators to seek reducing anticipated regret and selection difficulty when promoting upgraded services even when such services are promising higher economic benefit.enBroadband telecommunication marketBroadbandBroadband telecommunicationTelecommunication marketPsychological barriersArticle