ABSTRACT

 The study was aimed at determining the effect of brand equity on customer purchase intention of cell phone users in the University of Bamenda. The specific objectives of the study were; to examine the effect of brand loyalty on customer purchase intention of cell phone users, to determine the effect of brand awareness on customer purchase intention of cell phone users in the University of Bamenda, to find out the extent to which brand association affects customer purchase intention of cell phone users in the University of Bamenda and, to examine the effect of perceive quality on customer purchase intention of cell phone users in the university of Bamenda.

A descriptive survey design was adopted in this study, and a convenient sampling technique was used to select respondents from the population. Questionnaires were administered to 158 students of the university of Bamenda. Data collected for the study was analyzed using simple descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression analysis conducted to test for the significance of the variables. The study found that, brand loyalty, brand awareness, brand association and brand perceive quality all have a significant effect on customer purchase intention for a given cell phone brand. This result is in alignment with that of Kim et al. 2017, Dhruba (2018) and many others. The following recommendations were made: Customers of cell phone were recommended to buy cell phones with the highest equity level, this will guarantee their reliability and confidence on the phone unlike phones that are bought for trials without any knowledge about it. Customers of cell phone should take the responsibility to advertise their cell phone brand themselves. This enable new customers to buy with the real view and not convincing words from cell phones vendors. The government through her fiscal policy tool should manipulates the mass importation and the availability of cell phones with high positive brand equity. This will raise the peoples’ standard of living in the country. Thus taxes for the importation and marketing of high quality cell phone brand should be reduced, 

Key words: Brand equity, Cell phone, Purchase intention. 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study 

“In present developing and modern world, consumerism has become significant and has dominated every aspect of life. Everyone in the society follows a capitalist culture and human values have changed drastically. It’s been said. You are known by what you have, not by what you are.” (Nilson, 2008). This notion naturally fits everyone in the society because we all want to have a unique place here, by possessing things which will help us to stand out and speak volumes of our personality, by telling who we are or who we want to be? Keeping this view in mind, “In today’s materialistic world, brands play a pivotal role in our lives. They are not just mere symbols of the company or the product anymore; they now define a person’s personality, his lifestyle, his social and economic background and what does that person value the most? Because of these questions, consumers have a deeper connection with brands they buy and use.” (Hasan, 2008).  It’s not just functionality and usage anymore, it’s more than that; it’s a deep, everlasting and unbreakable bond and relationship, that is created between the brand and customer.  Brands like mentioned before helps define a customer, its social status and way of living. When a person is purchasing or making a decision which brand to buy and which not a lot of factors come into play. This can be seen when a consumer is purchasing a cell phone as well. When a consumer is buying a cell phone, he or she has many alternatives present. All offering almost same features and benefits but there are many underlying reasons present which makes the consumer, purchase one brand over the other and in many cases even pay a premium for it if necessary. (Terence Shimp, 2013). Human mind is very complex and “the purchase behavior is a process, where consumer tries to fulfill a desire by buying and choosing a brand,” (Reighley, 2010) which will help him or her quench and satisfy his or her need. 

Prior studies (Tan et al., 2018: 71-80; Pappu & Quester, 2016: 2-28) have found that product attributes both tangibles and intangibles have an effect on brand equity and also contribute to the value of a brand. Attributes also have a vital role in brand choice, and brand equity is one of the essential parts of marketing (Kim et al., 2017: 254-271). Many organizations perform social responsibility in order to have an impact on consumers and help in differentiating products (Annía, Villalobos, Romero, Ramírez & Ramos, 2018; Jermsittiparsert et al., 2019: 741-752). It is found that such initiatives do not fit with the perception of consumers and therefore have no position in changing their perception, behavior, and beliefs (Hussain et al., 2019). On the other hand, the initiatives that fit well with consumer’s perception play an essential role in shaping the behavior, attitudes, and beliefs of consumers (Sen et al., 2016:70-75; Khan & Ali 2017:9-15). Customers have a positive or negative perception about the brand, so when they react favorably towards a specific brand, it is said to be brand equity of that brand. Brand equity, which is based on customers, occurs when they have some positive, well-built, and exceptional brand image stored in their memory (Keller, 2016:1-16; Zandi et al., 2019; Villallobos & Ganga, 2016; Villalobos & Ganga, 2018; Villalobos, Guerrero & Romero, 2019). The value of a brand in the mind of the customer plays a vital role in making the purchase decisions (Son& Kijboonchoo, 2016: 76-83; Singh, 2018:14-20). Moreover, the decision making and learning process of consumers builds up the brand equity of a specific brand. Quality is what every customer always looks for in any product or service, especially in which added services would be offered. Service excellence, consumer satisfaction, and company productivity are related. Previous studies reveal a high connection between relative service quality and buying behaviour of consumers (Tan et al., 2018:71-80; Rincón, Sukier, Contreras y Ramírez: 2019). 

What affects purchase intention is customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is a particular type of attitude of the consumers. It is said to be a post-purchase phenomenon that reflects how much a brand or a service has been liked or disliked after experiencing it. Empirical studies have confirmed that the satisfaction of consumers is affected by service quality, and therefore, it determines consumers’ Repeat Purchase Intentions (Bansal & Taylor, 2015: 304-313; Kimengsi & Gwan 2017:53-60). Similarly, marketers struggle to establish Brand Equity in the markets. Brand equity has four primary dimensions Brand Loyalty, Perceived Quality, Brand Association, and Brand Awareness (Aaker, 1996). This study primarily aimed at examining the interrelationship between these four dimensions. Brand equity stands for the recognition that a brand has earned from its value or worth in a market; it is having its base on the concept that well-known brands can earn more from producing commodities under its brand name. e consumers always keep wellknown brands on their priority because of the quality and consistency provided by the same brand. Brand equity is also termed as brand value (Aaker & Joachimsthaler, 2009; Saravanaraj & Pillai 2017: 199-205). Brands that have a higher financial budget for the public through advertisements also have a high level of brand equity, increasing the purchase intention of a consumer. Brand equity determines the feasibility of introducing a new product into the market as it protects the product, which is launched under a reliable brand name. e risk of competitors is minimized when the product is launched with the endorsement of the reputable brand name (Leitão, 2013:15-23; Pappu & Quester, 2016:2-28). 

Brand Loyalty is ascertained by the degree, which shows repeated consumer buying patterns and how consistently consumers purchase the same brand. It is the worth of any brand (Aaker, 1996:103; Ramírez, Espindola, Ruíz y Hugueth: 2019; Ramírez, Lay, Avendaño y Herrera: 2018). 

Brand loyalty is the consumer’s willingness to buying the same product of a particular brand again and again rather than choosing another brand. Hence, it is often termed as the success of brand equity. customer’s   satisfaction with a product makes him buy that product more often, and he prefers it over other brands that offer the same products; this gives the brand a competitive edge and makes the brand more desired and famous. Brand equity and brand loyalty have an active link or association between them. Brand equity provides the chance for brand selection by the consumers, which leads to customer’s commitment to the brand (Ahn et al., 2018). Perceived value has been accepted as a customer’s view of any product’s strength and their expectations about a particular brand. Consumers’ knowledge about the product is essential for purchase decisions. 

Similarly, other studies also put the idea that consumers’ knowledge plays a vital role in purchase decisions. Moreover, perceived value also refers to consumers’ evaluation of the product. Perceived Value is also determined by the purchase intention of customers. Other factors about the product that affect consumers the most are the product packaging and celebrity endorsement. These factors are indirectly in a relationship with purchase intention and directly in a relationship with the perceived value of the product (Mirabi et al., 2015). It has shown its associations with brand usage, stock return, the elasticity of the price, and price premium. Brand awareness states the understandability of a brand by the consumer or how much a brand is identified and recognized by the customers. According to Aaker, Brand awareness is reflected in the impact that a Brand makes on consumers. It also provides marketers with a vast variety of advantages (Aaker, 

1996:103). Brand association is a concept that is deeply settled about a brand in consumers’ minds.

It provides a link between the consumer and a brand (Aaker, 1996:103). Brand association is related to brand equity as it builds a lot of awareness and understanding of the brand. Hence when brand association increases, brand equity also rises. Thus, organizations now emphasize on Brand positioning strategy to gain a competitive advantage and establish a core associated with the brand (Baalbaki & Guzmán, 2016: 229-251; Koumje, 2018:8-12; Orynbassarova et al., 2019). 

A plan or an idea of a consumer for the purchase of a particular brand is called Purchase Intent. It is the likelihood that a consumer is going for a specific brand, with a reason to justify his needs. The idea for the purchase of the same brand can be based on the name of the brand or the image built-in the consumer’s mind (Steo et al., 2019). Wu et al. (2011) researched on private label brands to study the role of store reputation and quality of service on an individual’s likelihood to purchase the product. It was found that the right image of the store increases the purchases of private label products. Every organization’s reputation also contributes to developing its image. If the organization is reliable, it is a positive sign of the corporate image. It also helps in creating loyal customers as they assess its reliability through sincerity and expertise. Many organizations advertise their products or brand through which they show the reliability of their organization. There are two types of reliability, which are known as organization reliability and authenticity of the message in the advertisement. Both affect shaping the behaviors and decision making about the purchase (Pino et al., 2016: 2861-2869). 

An empirical study was conducted on car purchasers, which shows different purchasing behavior of people. Questions related to purchase intention were asked from people who own a car and from the first time buyers. Results reveal that current car owners have the intention to purchase the current brand again, which suggests that they have their attitude towards the brand constant. e buyers who purchased cars for the first time, their purchase behavior showed that they were in favor of those brands that have higher market shares (Kassim et al., 2017; Lupu, 2017:23-33). 

A brand can be usefully defined as a visible attribute, physical and lasting, applied to an object to distinguish it. Today it would be impossible to launch a new product without attributing a name to it, nor without endowing the product with a personality of its own. Nevertheless, the refinement of the methods of measuring the role of the brand is only a recent concern of marketing research (Marketing Science Institute, 1988). Among the different methods tested, those that relate to a customer-based definition of brand equity dominate 

Consumer satisfaction is essential to long-term business success, and one of the most frequently researched topics in marketing (e.g., Jones & Suh, 2000; Pappu & Quester, 2006). Because consumer satisfaction has been regarded a fundamental determinant of long-term business success, much of the research on consumer satisfaction investigates its impact on consumers’ post consumption evaluations such as behavioural and attitudinal loyalty (Cooil, Keiningham, Aksoy, & Hsu, 2007). It is widely accepted that satisfied consumers are less price sensitive, less influenced by competitors’ attack and loyal to the firm longer than dissatisfied customers (Dimitriades, 2006). Although previous research has examined the relationship between consumer satisfaction and consumer loyalty, there has been only limited investigation into the impact of consumer satisfaction on the relationship between brand equity and brand loyalty. Ekinci, Dawes, and Massey (2008) developed and tested a conceptual model of the antecedents and consequences of consumer satisfaction in the hospitality industry. They show that consumer satisfaction mediates the relationship between the two components of service evaluation, service quality, selfcongruence and intentions to return. Ekinci et al.’s (2008) study is notable because it shows that service quality and ideal self-congruence are antecedents of consumer satisfaction, which they suggest is a key determinant of intention to return. However, by focusing on self-concept only, their research examines a narrow aspect of symbolic consumption within hospitality services. This study introduces a parsimonious measure of consumer-based brand equity which expands symbolic consumption of brand evaluation by incorporating brand identification and lifestylecongruence into Ekinci et al.’s (2008) model of consumer satisfaction and Aaker’s (1991) model of brand equity. 

In an increasingly tough business competition situation, many companies are competing to increase their market share, thus spurring companies to always develop their business in order to progress, develop, and compete. The company needs loyal customers to the brand because they are reluctant to move to other brands, which enables the company to survive and grow in the competition. One of the strategies that a company can carry out is to create a brand because a brand is something essential. Helmig, Huber & Leeflang (2007) revealed that “brand is one of the main tools for marketers to alleviate consumers’ price sensitivity in the market competition”. ConsumerBased brand equity is a common strategy used to build strong brands. Strong consumer based brand equity will provide value, both to customers and the company. According to Kotler

& Keller (2016: 324), consumer-based brand equity refers to an added value given to products and services. This value can be reflected in the way a customer thinks, feels, and acts on the brand, price, market share, and profitability of the company. According to Supranto & Limakrisna (2011),  the value  is determined  by customers in a brand above and beyond the functional characteristics/attributes of the product. He & Mukherjee (2007) noted that self-congruence is an essential determinant of customer satisfaction. Customers will be satisfied if their needs and expectations are met and products can improve their image. Therefore, self-congruence can lead to satisfaction. Jamal & Goode (2001) i said that customer satisfaction could be the result of selfcongruence. The positive fit between self-congruence and brand image can lead to high and positive satisfaction levels.  Ideal Self-congruence has a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction. Sarki et al. (2012) found that when customers buy, they follow emotions rather than a rational mindset. In fact, many different things affect purchases, including culture and lifestyle. Lifestyle marketing aims to develop customer satisfaction with brands by developing brands that are in accordance with identified customer lifestyles (Solomon, 2002 in Susanty & Kenny, 2015).  H5. Lifestyle-congruence has a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction. With respect to brand Identification, Shirazi & Mazidi (2013) stated that brand identity has a significant relationship with customer satisfaction. Brand identification provides a more practical framework for customers to react to the experience of brand functions compared to previous expectations. When a brand’s performance expectations are met, customers who are more identified with the brand feel more satisfied. As a result, customers increase their psychological dependence on brands, which in turn increases their self-esteem (He & Li, 2011). H4. Brand Identification has a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction. In relation to Customer Satisfaction and Brand Loyalty, Practical studies illustrated that satisfaction affects brand loyalty (Nam et al., 2011). Brand loyalty can be increased by satisfying customers, which leads to repeat purchases of the same product or service (LaBarbera & Mazursky, 1983 in Susanty & Kenny, 2015). Satisfaction and loyalty are not substitutes for each other (Bloemer & Kasper, 1995 in Susanty & Kenny, 2015). Satisfaction is a critical indicator in winning customer loyalty to specific brands in the long run (Mittal & Kamakura, 2001 in Susanty & Kenny, 2015), Customer Satisfaction has a positive effect on Brand Loyalty. 

During the last few decades, the use of electronic devices and equipment has increased significantly making people to accept the use of these devices as part of lifestyle requirement. Thus it was in the 20th century when mobile phones use increased considerably as people found these portable electronic devices to be convenient and easy to use (Orozco, Jacob and Tescher,2007). The increasing use of electronic devices has created room for various innovative money technology through which money can be stored, transferred and used for transaction in addition to other uncountable service featuring in these devices. In these decades, mobile phone has developed its market from nothing, towards ever increasing market share. A lot of cell phone companies are trying to get greater market share along with intense and longer lasting customer loyalty. 

(Thunman, 2012). 

Mobile phones have become very popular in recent years and their development has been amazing. There were 4.7 billion unique mobile subscribers on a global scale at the end of 2015. This means that almost 70% of the world’s population was communicating through a mobile phone in 2015. That number is expected to rise again to 5.645 billion by 2020. (Motorola, 2006) In just 5 years, almost three quarters of the entire world population according to the International Telecommunication Union will possess a mobile subscription, with almost 1 billion new subscribers added over this period.  The developing world will fuel most of that growth, accounting for 90% of the 1 billion incremental subscribers expected between 2015 and 2020. It will, however, grow at a lesser rate than the rate at which it has grown over the last five years: the annual growth rate of mobile subscriptions in the developing world will grow at an annual growth rate of 4.5% compared to 9.2% for the 2010-2015 periods. At the end of 2015, 46% of the population in Africa subscribed to mobile services, equivalent to more than half a billion people. 

According to a report published by GSMA on Africa’s mobile economy, over the next five years, an additional 168 million people will be connected by mobile services across Africa, reaching 725 million unique subscribers by 2020. Smartphone adoption is higher in the developed world at 65% in 2015 and projected to grow to 76% by 2020. However, the progression in the developing world is faster with an increase of 23 points from 40% in 2015 to 63% in 2020. By 2020, Sub-Saharan Africa should reach a total of 540 million smartphones from 380 million at the end of 2015. [4] 

A report published by the Cameroonian Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication (Minpostel) in  2017 showed a significant growth in the country’s mobile penetration rate, which rose from around 12% in 2005 to almost 83% in 2016. 

Smartphones are one of the technologies broadly used worldwide and allow users not only to make phone calls, but also to execute several tasks (Kim et al., 2016; Liu & Yu, 2017). These mobile devices are becoming increasingly popular and have become one of the segments in the telecommunication industry with the highest world growth (Kim et al., 2015), even crossing the milestone of 1 billion devices sold (Rahim et al., 2016; Liu & Yu, 2017). Due to smartphones’ popularity and constant need for enhancement, previous studies have investigated issues related to smartphone users’ satisfaction in the past years (e.g. Kim et al., 2015; Shin, 2015; Lee et al., 2015; Liu & Yu, 2017; Wang, Ou, & Chen, 2019). These studies have shown not only the relevance of users’ satisfaction for the success of smartphones, but also the relevance of research on this theme, whose results can be crucial for the decision-making process of developers of such technology (Shin, 2015). Studies developed by Kim et al. (2015), Shin (2015), Lee et al. (2015), and Wang, Ou, and Chen (2019), for example, have shown that smartphone users’ satisfaction may even affect the continuity of use of these devices and customer loyalty. Bayraktar (2012, p. 99) highlights that “higher customer satisfaction and loyalty can lead to stronger competitive position resulting in larger market share and profitability.” 

According to Rahmati et al. (2012), smartphone users consist in a very diverse group, and the differences among users may affect how mobile technologies are designed. The authors pointed out those demographic, social, and economic characteristics may affect the adoption and use of smartphones. For example, Song et al. (2015) identified that the perception of smartphone users changes according to different regions of China. Thus, based on these studies, we can notice the relevance of considering regional aspects in research on the perception of technology users. Brazil has 229 million cell phones and ranks 5th worldwide in cell phone usage (Anatel, 2019; CIA, 2019). Its density is 109.8 devices for each 100 inhabitants, which results in an average of more than one device per inhabitant (Anatel, 2019). Brazil has different regions, cultures, and levels of economic and social development, which reflects on the distribution of technological industries, bank branches and companies in the country and affects the innovation capabilities of each region (Hofstede et al, 2010; Malaquias & Hwang, 2016). However, despite the large amount of smartphone users and the regional diversity of Brazil, there is a lack of studies related to the satisfaction of Brazilian users regarding this technology. 

Findings has shown that both smartphone features and sellers’ characteristics may significantly affect users’ satisfaction. Among those features, we can mention price, ease of setting, proper functioning, durability, design, cost-benefit relationship, delivery service, customer service, display quality, battery duration, fulfillment of expectations, and system security. These factors may significantly affect users’ satisfaction, which indicate that smartphone users’ perception can be related to both hardware and software (operating system and applications), being difficult to dissociate these two dimensions of Information Systems. It is also observed that customers who purchased their smartphones through e-commerce platforms, the delivery and customer services provided by the retailer are important factors that affect users’ satisfaction. The effect of the socioeconomic factor represented by the GDP per capita of the cities of users was also significant, which is in line with studies about customer behavior. It may indicate that users in more economically developed cities may have more expectations regarding smartphones. 

Several studies have pointed that regional factors may affect users’ satisfaction regarding services like hotels and restaurants, but these factors have not been tested in previous studies on smartphone users’ satisfaction. In Brazil, this study has contributed to the literature by analyzing regional aspects that can affect smartphone users’ satisfaction in a country with a lot of regional and socioeconomic diversity like Brazil. It is important to emphasize that although Brazil ranks 5th worldwide in cell phone usage, to the best of our knowledge this is the first study conducted to evaluate factors related to the satisfaction of Brazilian smartphone users. 

Added to it, social influence is a relevant construct in the research field of Information System, which turns online reviews into important information sources for customers who wish to purchase a product online and check the opinion of other people before making their decision to buy it. The factors pointed out by a user may be taken into account by other buyers, because reviews are public. Thus, vendors and product developers also should take online reviews into consideration. Today, the mobile industry is growing rapidly and increasing more smart gadgets is popping up. Renewed vendors enliven so competitive smartphone industry has become very competitive. It started when Google created Android so many vendors saw this opportunity and diversify their products to smartphone. For this reason, one of the main goals of the cell phone companies these days is to create an unbreakable, indestructible and strong favored bond with their consumers, which result into many fruitful outcomes such as less vulnerability to competitions, larger margins and most importantly opportunity to extend them as well. To outwit these problems and pressures from their competitors and ever changing dynamics of the environment, marketer these days are extensively focusing on the impact of brand equity. Kevin Lane Keller’s stated that no matter what kind of the brand it is at any point of time it can become susceptible and vulnerable to poor brand management. (Keller, Strategic Brand Management, 2009). Gone are the days, when cell phones were bought only to make a call, nowadays, cell phones have taken a very important and unique place in the hearts of the consumers; especially observed in this day’s generation. The type of cell phone used represents the idea and believes of its end users. It gives others the style statement of the person using it. As Professor Rob Mackenzie also claims; “Smartphone has revolutionized the way we do thing, the role Smartphone play in today’s society is phenomenal. 

Today’s Smartphone is taking the role of computer, making it possible to do a lot with this small hand-held device. It has a broad use such as sharing information, paying for products, browsing, and shopping. Virtually every activity today has a Smartphone application for it”. (Mackenzie, 2008). Nowadays consumers have become very digital, their house is virtual and they are very much prone to changes taking place in technology and their surroundings. “Digitization and internet have made consumers very smart and tech savvy. They just don’t buy products, they buy brands, which highlights not only the need of presence of high quality and other advanced functional attributes in products like cell phones but also the hedonic needs are met, derived from the famous concept of hedonism that preaches consumers who dwell and search for pleasure.” (Shenga, 2012). As mentioned in the above paragraphs, cell phones are now also a symbol of social status. Consumers buy such brands that will deflect their social class, their income class in which they belong, their personal lifestyles, interests and hobbies etc. Interesting to know, all these hidden messages reflected by a hand held pocket device. The fast and rapid emergence and acceptance of cell phones and inventions like tablets have drastically changed the way people live their lives and how they choose and select among different brands to make a purchase decision.  (L.E.K, 2012). Fairwinds Partners states in its edition Mobile Web that mobiles have far more functional features that once pioneered it, with the increasing demand from the consumers, mobile phone brands are now working hard to make new way and methods that can fulfill and satisfy their customers and present them something that lets them connected and speak volumes about themselves and their lives by now just speaking explicitly but through other implicit means too (Garcia, 2013) 

Meaning, a mobile does almost everything for them, from waking up in the morning, to reminding the consumer of some meeting or anniversary, to buying food, shopping for gifts from mobile phones to paying bills from it, from capturing memory to staying connected on social forums, so much so it acts as a diary for them as well, where consumers write their deepest desires and secrets. Everything is just a few clicks away in this simple pocket size invention. Without mobile phones they simply cannot function and not any mobile phone, here comes the phenomenon of brand equity, which explains the deep- rooted relationship. Some consumers buy out of necessity or maybe it’s the only brand that is present in the product category, some buy specifically out of love, loyalty, active engagement, social approval, perceived quality and what not. 

Which is why this research is done, to study what are the underlying reasons that hidden, are implicit and not explicitly stated that results in such a strong influence and impact on the consumers that they willfully buy a certain brand over others, even where there is a little differentiation in the functional attributes. 

According to a French media study published in March 2017, smartphone usage had experienced a marked increase in Cameroon and other African countries in 2016. Quoting from the study, Médiamétrie notes: “in Cameroon, the number of homes with smartphones has increased by 43% to 72.2% just in the second half of 2016”. This gives Cameroon one of the highest rates of smartphone use in Africa. Médiamétrie, also measured the performance of social networks in Cameroon for the first time in 2016. The results show that 68.2% of individuals aged 15 and over are registered on a social network, including 75.3% among those aged 15-24. Facebook is the most popular network followed by Google, Instagram and Twitter. Though the survey was limited to the four main cities and may not reflect rural usage. Another study suggests that in 2016 Cameroon reached internet penetration rate of 21%, a rise in one year from 11%. 

Although the penetration rate of fixed wireless telephony has been constantly increasing since 2005, mainly due to the high propensity to CDMA subscription, Minpostel reported a very low penetration of wireline network which remains in decline over the period (100,331 wireline telephone subscribers in 2005 against 67,678 in 2016). These results are intriguing but leave open the question as to how the daily life of Cameroonians has been impacted by smartphones and even social media. For example, how do smartphones and social media reframe social interactions among families and groups? Another important question concerns differences in the age-related usage of smartphone and social media in this country of a predominantly young population (45% of people are less than 15 years old). To fill that gap and to lay a foundation for a larger research agenda about the relationship between mobile technology and education in Cameroon,