A study on the impact of pricing strategies implemented by software companies on the preferences of corporate customers

It is aimed to examine the effects of pricing strategies and brand perception implemented by software companies on corporate customers' purchasing behaviors in a multidimensional manner. The main purpose of the study is to analyze the effects of factors such as service quality, trust, prestige, price-quality balance, and functionality on customers' loyalty intentions and tendencies not to purchase. The research population consists of registered enterprises that receive software services across Turkey. According to data from TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute) and TOBB (Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey), the total number of SMEs and large-scale companies that use software services is estimated to be approximately 87,000. Accordingly, at a 95% confidence level, a sample size of at least 580 firms was considered sufficient for the study. The sample was created using the stratified sampling method. To represent Turkey's seven geographical regions, two cities were selected from each region; in doing so, the economic size of the provinces and the density of companies in the sector were taken into account to ensure regional representation. With the inclusion of Düzce as a pilot province, data were collected from a total of 15 cities (Istanbul, Bursa, Kocaeli, Ankara, Konya, İzmir, Düzce, Samsun, Trabzon, Antalya, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Van, and Elazığ). The number of companies reached in each city was determined in proportion to the number of enterprises receiving software services in the respective region. The firms included in the sample were randomly selected from the lists of registered enterprises obtained through local Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and the survey was administered only to voluntary and willing participants. As a result of this process, a total of 600 valid questionnaires were collected. Three different structural models were used to conduct mediation analyses, and it was found that some variables had indirect effects on the dependent variables. The findings reveal that software companies should manage their customer relations not only on the basis of service quality but also within the framework of a holistic brand experience.