The Influence of Laptop Features on Customer Satisfaction: A Study Based on Undergraduates at The University of Peradeniya

Abstract

Today, the demand for electronic devices, notably Laptops and smartphones, has increased in COVID 19 as a part of digital communication and service mode. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this study is “To examine the influence of Laptop features on customer satisfaction”. Sub objectives determine the status of Computer Literacy and usage of laptop computers among undergraduate students at the University of Peradeniya. Sub objectives are to identify whether laptop design, software, functions, usability, and price influence on customer satisfaction and the status of computer literacy in Sri Lanka. This study adopts qualitative and quantitative research approaches and collects primary data using a mixed-method approach such as an online questionnaire (google form) survey and zoom interviews with several laptop users. Secondary data was collected from several resources. The convenient sampling method was used to select the 200 laptop users at the University of Peradeniya, and the data were analyzed through SPSS version 25. The number of households owning computers in Sri Lanka increased from 3.8% in 2004 to 22.2% in 2020. The results show that female is 57.2% and male is 42.8% of the laptop users, and the most popular laptop computer brands are HP (37.5%), DELL (21.5%), ACER (12.5%), ASUS (10%) and LENOVO (9.5 %) and other brands (9%). For this study, five hypotheses were tested using correlation (significant at 0.01 level) and path coefficient analysis (significant at >0.20 level). The Laptop features such as functions (0.7234 and 0.241) and Laptop Software (Applications and System) (0.7131 and 0.240) are influenced while prices (0.7163 and 0.352) are strongly influenced by customer satisfaction. Also, the usability (0.6781 and 0.093) and design (0.6139 and 0.157) of the Laptop features are partially influenced by customer satisfaction. Overall, this study shows customer satisfaction has a stronger influence on laptop features. The Laptop companies should focus on improving customer satisfaction through innovative laptop features at a reasonable price. Effective Customer policy and quality measures are vitally important to protect Consumer rights and move towards the sustainable development of technologies in Sri Lanka.