Naslov
Analyzing the potentials of airline service elements to impact passenger loyalty - A hierarchical approach

Autori
Mikulić, Josip ; Prebežac, Darko

Izvornik
Akademija MM (1408-1652) 9 (2009), 14; 13-21

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
Airline services; improvement priorities; asymmetric effects; loyalty; satisfaction

Sažetak
Airlines act in an increasingly deregulated environment, with new carriers constantly entering the markets of established ones. Achieving high levels of customer loyalty (CL) thus becomes a major strategic goal for the airline management. The aim of this study, on the one hand, is to analyze the potentials of airline service elements to impact intentional passenger loyalty. On the other hand, this study further aims to introduce a framework for prioritizing the service elements for improvement, under consideration of competitor airlines and asymmetric effects in passenger satisfaction and PL. For this study, data were collected for two full-service carriers operating at a major Croatian international airport with similar flight schedules regarding destinations and flight frequencies. The first airline is the focal airline of this study (FAL), whereas the second one is regarded its main competitor (CAL). In total, 718 airline passengers formed the sample for this study (FAL=383 ; CAL=335). Since the analytic framework used in this study is primarily based on multiple regression analysis, a two-level approach to airline passenger services was used to facilitate a detailed analysis and to minimize the risk of multicollinearity. On the first level the analysis focuses on the main components of airline services, and on the second level on the main service attributes forming the components. To analyze the key- drivers of PL at the component-level, as well as the key-drivers of component-satisfaction at the attribute-level, relevance-determinance analysis (RDA) and determinance-asymmetry analysis (DAA) were used. The results provide an interesting insight into the influence of the main airline service components on intentional passenger loyalty. A relevance- determinance analysis revealed that the offer of flights/destinations is the most influential service-component in explaining passenger retention. The relationship-experience and the flight-experience emerged as service-components which also have a strong influence on IL, though they are perceived relatively less important by the passengers. Conversely, the airport experience and the ticket purchase- experience appeared as the least influential components in explaining IL, though the passengers stated them to be very important. The study further revealed several significant asymmetric effects in the formation of passenger satisfaction with the particular service components. The advantages of the proposed approach are that it uses the two most commonly used measures of attribute-importance, as well as it considers the existence of competitors in the market. Further advantages of the proposed approach are that it accounts for asymmetric effects in passenger satisfaction and loyalty, and the potential problem of multicollinearity in customer satisfaction data. The fact that a lack of awareness about these issues might result in misleading recommendations regarding service component/attribute prioritization, underpins the high managerial value of the framework. This is the first study to compare the relevance and determinance of airline service elements, and to analyze asymmetric effects in passenger satisfaction and loyalty.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija

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