This study investigated the impact of service innovation on customer retention of telecommunication firms in Nigeria. The study adopted a quantitative research method with cross sectional survey research design. The explanatory or hypotheses testing research design was specifically employed with a causal investigation. The population of the study was the four mobile telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria; Globacom Nigeria Ltd, MTN Nigeria Plc, Airtel Nigeria Ltd and 9mobile Nigeria Ltd. This population was fully studied as a census study. However, twenty eight executive directors in the industry were employed for the study. Twenty eight copies of the questionnaire were distributed to the directors, from the returned questionnaire of twenty seven, only twenty five copies were validly used for the study after data editing and cleansing. The instrument was pilot tested for validity and reliability. The Chronbach’s Alpha Reliability Coefficient and the Confirmatory factor Analysis (CFA) were used for the reliability, consistency and validity of the instrument respectively. Data were analysed with the help of univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistics. The regression analysis was employed with the aid of the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), version 25.0. The findings of the study is that, service innovation and its dimensions; new customer interaction process, new technological service delivery system and new organizational service delivery system significantly and positively impact customer retention and its measures; customer loyalty, perceived service quality and customer commitment. Again, organizational culture positively and significantly mediates the impact of service innovation on customer retention in the context of telecommunication firms in Nigeria. The study concluded that service innovation significantly improves customer retention through the mediating influence of organizational culture. We therefore recommend that telecommunication companies in Nigeria should adopt service innovation culture throughout their value chains. This will bring about customer retention for customers’ live time values for the companies in the telecom market in Nigeria.
Keywords: Service innovation, customer retention, mobile, telecommunication firms, Nigeria
