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Juliet Namukasa
Makerere University Business School
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TQM
25,5
The influence of airline
service quality on passenger
satisfaction and loyalty
520 The case of Uganda airline industry
Juliet Namukasa
Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda
Abstract
Purpose – The general objective of this study was to examine the influence of airline service quality
on passenger satisfaction and loyalty. To achieve this, the research was guided by four specific
objectives to which data collection was effected mainly by interview method using fully structured
questionnaires.
Design/methodology/approach – The study used random sampling technique and it covered 303
respondents on international flights using Entebbe International Airport. Data were analyzed using
statistical package for social sciences 16, were w2 was used to test the hypothesis and regression
analysis was performed to examine the relationships between variables.
Findings – Findings indicated that the quality of pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight services had a
statistically significant effect on passenger satisfaction. In addition to that, passenger satisfaction as a
mediating variable also had a significant effect on passenger loyalty. It was noted that passenger
satisfaction differed from person to person as some were more interested in off board facilities, others
onboard, others in the quality of food while others wanted more extra luggage.
Originality/value – It was recommended that airline management should consider developing
various strategies for improving service quality based on demographic characteristics of the
customers such as occupation, age, gender and education level.
Keywords Customer loyalty, Customer satisfaction, Airline service quality, Competitiveness,
Airlines, Uganda
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Nowadays the airline industry is characterized by heavy regulations which limit
airlines’ room for maneuvering and accessing global markets compared to other
industries which have paved ways for companies to transform into global players. This
has prevented airlines from becoming truly global businesses by impeding cross-
border merger and acquisition activities (Hanlon, 2007). To overcome the restrictions
imposed by this nationality rule, airlines formed global alliances as a means to secure
some of the benefits of a larger size and scope offer. Three major alliances namely Star
Alliance, Oneworld and Sky Team now dominate the competitive landscape (Doganis,
2006). Airlines furthermore have to cope with marginal profitability (Hanlon, 2007).
Therefore the delivery of high-quality service becomes a marketing requirement
among air carriers as a result of competitive pressure (Ostrowski et al., 1993). Moreover
airline passengers can experience many service encounters with front-line employees
as well as in-flight attendants, this is called “moment of truth”. Passengers may judge
The TQM Journal
Vol. 25 No. 5, 2013
or evaluate airline service quality through a comparison between their experiences and
pp. 520-532 expectations over a number of quality attributes (Grönroos, 2000) hence there is need to
r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1754-2731
examine the influence of airline service quality on passenger satisfaction and loyalty
DOI 10.1108/TQM-11-2012-0092 because customer satisfaction holds a significant importance in corporate sector.
The airline industry in Uganda Airline service
Uganda is a landlocked country, air transport is therefore of strategic importance to the quality
nation as it guarantees an alternative gateway to the rest of the world. It provides the most
efficient and quickest transport means to Uganda and from the country to the rest of the
world. The development of a safe, efficient and reliable air transport industry is thus
among government’s priority programmes and Uganda’s geographical location in the
heart of Africa gives Entebbe International Airport greater advantage for hub and spoke 521
operations in especially the great lakes region (Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, 2012).
Uganda’s official national carrier Uganda Airlines was liquidated in May 2001 after 24
years of operations. Attempts were made by the Ugandan Government to privatize the
company, however, all interested parties which included British Airways and South
African Airways pulled out leading to the carrier’s demise (Centre for Aviation, 2012).
Problem statement
Excellent passenger satisfaction is one of the greatest assets for air businesses in
today’s competitive environment, the on board experience is still something special for
the customer, if the passenger is not satisfied with the quality of service, they will
reconsider the buying decision for further flights and will probably switch to another
airline (Archana and Subha, 2012). The research related to service quality and
customer satisfaction in the airline industry has been growing in interest because the
delivery of high service quality is essential for airlines’ survival and competitiveness
(Archana and Subha, 2012). A number of studies examining the effect of airline service
quality on passenger satisfaction have been carried out in other countries, for example,
Archana and Subha (2012) carried out such study in India, Huang (2009) in Taiwan,
Munusamy et al. (2011) Malaysia, Ahadmotlaghi and Pawar (2012) India and Mohsan
et al. (2011) in Pakistan and none of such study has been carried out in Uganda’s airline
industry which is a great motivation for this study.
General objective
The general objective was to examine the influence of airline service quality on
passenger satisfaction and loyalty.
Specific objectives
(1) to analyze the effect of pre-flight service quality on passenger satisfaction;
(2) to examine the effect of in-flight service quality on passenger satisfaction;
(3) to analyze the effect of post-flight service quality on passenger satisfaction; and
(4) to assess whether passenger satisfaction has a significant effect on passenger
loyalty.
H3. Post-flight service quality has a positive significant effect on passenger satisfaction.
Conceptual framework
It gives a more detailed insight on the variables that influence passenger satisfaction
and loyalty in the airline industry based on pre-flight service quality, in-flight
service quality and post-flight service quality. The variables were developed from the
extensive review of literature related to the study (Figure 1).
TQM Pre-flight Service
25,5 • Reliability
• Responsiveness H1
• Discounts
Research methodology
Research paradigm
Positivist paradigm was adopted because it relies mainly on statistical and
quantitative estimations to arrive at a conclusion.
Sample size
Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table was used in determining the sample size of a randomly
chosen sample from a given finite population of 13,558 based on Uganda’s
international seat capacity per week, by carrier for the selected airlines between 28 –
November 2011 and 4 –December 2011 (Centre for Aviation, 2012). Krejcie and Morgan
(1970) table indicates that if the study population size is 13,558, a statistically
representative sample size should be 378 respondents. However, out of the 378
questionnaires that were distributed, a total of 303 questionnaires were complete and
had valid responses, 75 questionnaires were incomplete hence they were removed. The
number of passengers sampled per airline was based on how busy the airline was at
the airport during the period 19 July to 15 August 2012.
The actual sample size of 303 respondents was valid for this study, because studies
which had dealt with passengers as a unit of inquiry had relatively dealt with sample
sizes ranging from 270 to 602, for example, Archana and Subha (2012) sampled 270
respondents; Munusamy et al. (2011) sampled 300 and Huang (2009) sampled 602
respondents. Also (Roscoe, 1975 in Sekaran, 2003) proposed some rules of thumb in
determining sample size of which one of it stated that, “sample sizes larger than 30 and
o500 are appropriate for most researchers”. It has also argued that in order to use w2, the
overall number of items should be at least 50 (Kothari, 2004) hence the actual sample was
fairly enough and suitable for models which were to be used in data analysis (Table I).
interviews of passengers waiting for their flights were conducted at Entebbe airport.
A total of 303 sets of usable questionnaires were successfully collected yielding a
response rate of 80 per cent. To reduce the refusals to participate or to answer specific
questions, the researcher contacted passengers politely by explaining the purpose and
contribution of the research.
Data analysis
Data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 16. w2-test
was used as a way of testing the hypothesis and regression analysis was performed to
examine the relationships between variables. This is in line with what was used in similar
empirical studies, for example, Munusamy et al. (2011) used Pearson correlation and
multiple regression analysis while Mohsan et al. (2011) used Microsoft excel and SPSS 16
to analyze data. Descriptive statistics was used to provide an overview on the profile of
international passengers using Entebbe International Airport.
In the study, respondents were asked to express their opinions on different items that
measured pre-flight service quality on a five-point Likert scale that ranged from 1 527
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Results showed that seven out of eight
measurable indicators of pre-flight service quality had a significant effect on passenger
satisfaction since they scored w2-values that were above the table value of 26.296 and
also registered significant values less than the critical value of 0.05. It can therefore be
concluded that pre-flight service quality has a positive significant effect on passenger
satisfaction. This is in line with findings by (Munusamy et al., 2011) whose results
showed that pre-flight service quality had a positive impact on customer satisfaction.
These results imply that if airline companies are to achieve a high level of customer
satisfaction, they should deliver a high level of service quality, as it is normally
considered an antecedent of customer satisfaction.
In addition to the w2-test, correlations of indicators of pre-flight service quality were
regressed against passenger satisfaction to confirm the results got from the w2-tests.
Regression results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between
pre-flight service quality and passenger satisfaction. Findings also indicated that from
among the measurable indicators of pre-flight service quality prompt response to
emergencies (r ¼ 0.434) and reliability of airlines’ web site (r ¼ 0.429) were among the
strongest contributors to passenger satisfaction compared to price charged (r ¼ 0.337) and
baggage allowance (r ¼ 0.122). Results therefore implied that improvement in the quality
of pre-flight services offered by airline companies would result into passenger satisfaction:
From the respondents’ opinions, all the measurable indicators of in-flight service
quality had a positive significant effect on passenger satisfaction since they all
registered significant values of 0.000 that were less than the critical value of 0.05. This
concurs with the findings by Ng et al. (2011) who confirmed that in-flight services
offered by flight attendants affected customer satisfaction. The findings imply that in-
flight services are one of the key drivers of ensuring passenger satisfaction (Table III).
Additional analysis was performed were in-flight variables were cross-tabbed and
regressed against passenger satisfaction in order to confirm the results got from w2-tests.
Results from table below at 95 per cent confidence interval revealed that indeed in-flight
service quality had a significant effect on passenger satisfaction because all significant
values were 0.000 which was below the critical value 0.05 that is to say ( po0.05).
This therefore confirmed that there was a significant positive relationship between
in-flight service quality and passenger satisfaction. Amongst the in-flight variables,
comfort and cleanliness (r ¼ 0.460), safety (r ¼ 0.400) and quality of food (r ¼ 0.397) had
more impact on passenger satisfaction compared to employee appearance and crew
uniforms (r ¼ 0.268) This therefore implies that airlines should improve on their in-
flight services, for example, quality of food, safety measures and comfort of seats since
they have higher impact on passenger satisfaction (Table IV):
H3. Post-flight service quality has a positive significant effect on passenger satisfaction.
TQM In-flight service quality variables w2 Df Sign Status
25,5
1 I feel safe when I fly with this airline 85.831* 16 0.000 Significant
2 The aircraft has clean and comfortable
interiors and seats. 1.500E2* 16 0.000 Significant
3 Employees of this airline appear neat
528 and tidy 1.192E2* 16 0.000 Significant
4 The airline provides quality food 99.534* 16 0.000 Significant
5 The cabin crew of this airline is
friendly and has good language skills. 1.296E2* 16 0.000 Significant
6 The airline provides good in-flight
services consistently 79.790* 16 0.000 Significant
7 My in-flight experiences with this
airline has exceeded my expectations 89.575* 16 0.000 Significant
Table III.
8 The in-flight services that this airline
w2-test for in-flight service
offers are worth what I pay for 69.843* 16 0.000 Significant
quality and passenger
satisfaction Note: *Critical value at 0.05 significance ¼ 26.296
From Table V, all the three post-flight indicators registered w2-values above
the table values of 26.296 and indicated significant values less than the critical
value (0.000o0.05). These results indicate that the quality of post-flight services
has a significant effect on passenger satisfaction. Oliver (1997) demonstrated that
extremely satisfied customers were much more likely to remain loyal to firm than
those who were merely satisfied. Therefore this implies that a company has
to create customer relationships that deliver value beyond those provided by the core
product (Table V).
Further analysis was performed to identify the causal relationship amongst these
variables were by indicators of post-flight service quality were regressed on passenger
satisfaction. Results indicated that there was a significant positive relationship
between the quality of post-flight services and passenger satisfaction. From the
indicators of post-flight services, passenger comments and concerns (r ¼ 0.503) had
more predictive power on passenger satisfaction because it had a higher correction Airline service
coefficient compared to the FFP (r ¼ 0.325): quality
H4. Passenger satisfaction has a positive effect on passenger loyalty.
Results from Table VI show that passenger satisfaction has a significant effect on
passenger loyalty. This concurs with previous studies by Parasuraman et al. (1988) and
Anderson and Sullivan (1993) who concluded that customer satisfaction was one of 529
the major determinants of customer loyalty. This aspect is strengthened by Lin and
Wang (2006), whose study concluded that customer satisfaction influences customer
loyalty. This relationship has been investigated in previous studies for example findings
by (Yang and Peterson, 2004) suggested that customer loyalty can be generated
through improving customer satisfaction and offering high product/service value.
Therefore delivering high quality in the airline industry should be recognized as the
most effective means of ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Conclusion
In general the study findings have coincided with other studies that the quality of
airlines’ services has a significant influence on passenger satisfaction and loyalty.
Findings indicated that pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight services had a significant
effect on passenger satisfaction. In addition to that, passenger satisfaction as a mediating
variable also had a significant effect on passenger loyalty. The study results imply that
airline marketers should develop various strategies to improve service quality, for
example, meeting passengers’ desired service levels, improving the quality of in-flight
meals, solving service problems effectively, developing convenient reservation and
ticketing systems, making convenient schedules for passengers and reducing the effect
of service failures as these directly affect passenger satisfaction and loyalty.
Further reading
Zeithaml, V.A. and Bitner, M.J. (1996), Services Marketing, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi.
Corresponding author
Juliet Namukasa can be contacted at: [email protected]