The effects of perceived crowding,emotional dissonance,and emotional exhaustion on critical job outcomes: A study of ground staff in the airline industry

Using Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and Stressor–Strain–Outcome (SSO) model as the theoretical underpinnings, this study proposes and tests a research model that examines emotional exhaustion as a mediator of the impact of emotional dissonance on service recovery performance, turnover intentions, and absenteeism. The model also investigates the mediating role of emotional dissonance in the relationship between perceived crowding and emotional exhaustion. Data obtained from ground staff in the low cost airline industry in Turkey were used to gauge these relationships. The results from structural equation modeling suggest that passenger crowding as perceived by ground staff results in emotional dissonance that in turn heightens emotional exhaustion. The results further suggest that emotional exhaustion fully mediates the effect of emotional dissonance on turnover intentions and absenteeism. Interestingly, the results suggest that the impact of emotional dissonance on service recovery performance, mediated by emotional exhaustion, is positive. Theoretical and management implications based on the aforesaid findings are discussed in the paper.     

Investigating the effects of service recovery quality elements on passengers' behavioral intention

This study intends to analyze how the elements of restoring the quality of airline service influences the airline image, recovery satisfaction, and behavioral intentions of airline passengers. For this testing, a survey was conducted on passengers with an experience of dissatisfaction of airline services. A total of 240 responses were analyzed by using structural equation modeling. The results revealed that among the recovery quality elements, promptness had a positive influence the image of the airline. Additionally, a recovered image of the airline had a positive influence on the recovery satisfaction and behavioral intention. The findings of this study may improve our understanding of consumer responses to the airline company's efforts to recover service failure.     

The negative effects of travel friction among road warrior salespeople

Dubbed as road warriors in the popular press, there is a select group of business traveling dealmakers that take at least four trips by commercial airline and stay in hotels at least thirty-five nights in a given year. These high value employees have often been subjected to cost-focused travel policies potentially to the detriment of their well-being. From a theoretical viewpoint, the boundaries of the existing sales literature are expanded to show how this unique group of salespeople, road warriors, face stressors and how these relate to major sales focused outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions). Further, this study adds an additional construct, travel friction, into the literature, yielding support for the importance of developing our understanding of this construct. Travel friction is found as a significant antecedent to both work-family conflict and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, through emotional exhaustion both travel friction and work-family conflict ultimately manifest in reduced job satisfaction, diminished organizational commitment, and increased attrition risk. The lack of business travel in the short-term due to the global pandemic offers corporate travel managers a unique opportunity to pause and recalibrate their travel policies to focus more on traveler well-being. Practical suggestions from travel experts that can potentially help to mitigate travel friction among road warriors are offered.     

The impact of airline service quality on passengers’ behavioral intentions using passenger satisfaction as a mediator

This research study measures the perception of airline service quality based on data collected from Pakistan International Airline (PIA) passengers using SERVQUAL. It investigates the impact of service quality dimensions on passenger's behavioral intentions in presence of mediator (passenger satisfaction). The data is collected through an adopted SERVQUAL instrument from the respondents in the domestic and International waiting lounges of PIA. The data is analysed using reliability statistics, correlation analysis and through hierarchal regression analysis. A systematic random sampling technique is used to analyze the study sample and PROCESS macros was used to run mediation analysis. The results reveals that passenger's satisfaction mediates the relationship between airline service quality and behavioral intentions. Practically, PIA should not only improve on Service Quality but should build up quality consciousness among on ground and inflight employees; pay attention to reliable factors and establish customer goodwill through enhanced services; regard reliability factors and enhance employee accomplishment. Implications of these results for management policy and practice are highlighted as guidelines. PIA managers can now better understand the importance of service quality and its long-term benefits in the form of customer loyalty.     

Investigation of entrepreneurial orientation development with airline employees: Moderating roles of a cooperation-competition mechanism

Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) represents a powerful predictor of firm performance, and the cooperation-competition mechanism is gaining importance in entrepreneurial development. In this study, we propose three research paths: (1) exploring how knowledge sharing influences EO; (2) exploring how knowledge sharing correlates with EO as a mediator of motivation, creativity, and human capital; and (3) exploring how cooperation, climate and competitive intensity as critical moderators affect motivation and creativity. We tested our hypotheses using data collected from 505 airline employees from airline organizations. The following findings were identified: (1) knowledge sharing is positively and directly correlated with EO; (2) knowledge sharing affects EO through motivation, creativity, and human capital but creativity does not indicate mediation effects between motivation and human capital; (3) both cooperative climate and competition intensity are positively affected by motivation and creativity; and (4) competition intensity positively affects knowledge sharing and motivation. To address the theoretical and managerial contribution of this study, a robustness examination was conducted to generalize the findings. Furthermore, this study further enriches the creativity and EO theory of uniqueness and identification. More importantly, this study provides effective and appropriate methods for airline organization management by guiding their employees to conduct entrepreneurial orientation in a cooperative circumstance successfully, and it especially emphasizes the role of knowledge sharing in facilitating motivation, creativity and human capital. Lastly, limitations and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

A study on the impact of airline service delays on emotional reactions and customer behavior

This study is intended to identify the influence of service delays on emotional responses and customer behavior. For this research, a survey was conducted on airline passengers that experienced service delays. A total of 395 respondents were analyzed using structural equation modeling. According to the analysis results, service delays positively influenced negative emotions and negatively influenced repurchase intention. In addition, service delays positively influenced negative word-of-mouth. This study provides a basic knowledge on how airlines can develop their service strategies to make good use of the motivating effect of service delays on emotional responses and behavioral intentions.     

An empirical investigation of psychological capital among flight attendants

Our paper develops and tests a research model that examines whether psychological capital (PsyCap) mediates the relationship between servant leadership and work engagement (WE) and whether WE mediates the effect of PsyCap on service recovery performance and life satisfaction. Data were collected from flight attendants with a two-week time lag in three waves and their pursers in the private airline companies in Iran. The results suggest that servant leadership influences WE indirectly only through PsyCap. The results also suggest that WE is a partial mediator between PsyCap and the aforesaid attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Our study discusses theoretical implications and provides recommendations for managers in the airline industry.     

Examining airline service quality from a process perspective

Airline service is composed of a set of processes. Passengers may have distinct expectations at different stages of the service chain. In this study, air travel was divided into ground and in-flight service stages. We first examined the gap between passengers’ service expectations and actual service received and the gaps associated with passenger service expectations and the perceptions of these expectations by frontline managers and employees of a Taiwanese airline. Next, importance–performance analysis was used to construct service attribute evaluation maps to identify areas for improvement. Results revealed that these gaps did exist and passengers were more concerned about the responsiveness and assurance dimensions from airline frontline staff. The tangibles dimension was considered more important when evaluating in-flight service quality than when evaluating ground service quality.     

Evaluating frequent flyer programs from the air passengers' perspective

Frequent flyer programs are used as a common strategy in the airline industry. They can be defined as a service quality attribute that consists of some redemption of free flight miles and can determines the selection of airlines. It has been argued that they can act as an entry barrier, but limited attention has been paid to assessing the impact of this strategy on passengers’ perceptions of service. They are generally part of broad airline service quality parameters and thus can creates dilemmas for airline managers, passengers and regulators regarding their added value, costs and competitive effects on industrial organization.     

Predicting airline passengers’ loyalty using artificial neural network theory

The study explores a model for predicting airline loyalty using the antecedents indicated in previous studies. Data was collected using a questionnaire distributed to 614 domestic air passengers using the snowball sampling method. The measurement tool had 16 scale items constructed on the recommendations of previous studies. Passenger satisfaction, airline service quality, passenger perceived value, and airline image are identified as determinants for airline loyalty. The predictive analytical approach of Artificial Neural Network theory and covariance-based Structural Equation Modelling for determining causality is employed in the study. The artificial neural network model predicts airline loyalty with 89% accuracy. Sensitivity analysis suggests passenger satisfaction as the most significant predictor of airline loyalty. The causal study supports that passenger satisfaction mediates the relationship between airline service quality and airline loyalty.     

How airline service quality determines the quantity of repurchase intention - Mediate and moderate effects of brand quality and perceived value

Drawing on an integrated framework of service quality theory, this study develops and demonstrates a mediation-moderation model of airline service quality that influences the repurchase intentions of passengers. This model associates service quality with individual behavioral and perception—brand awareness and perceived values and examines the buffering role of brand attractiveness and experience in the decision-making processes. In a sample of 451 passengers, somewhat as expected, airline service quality enhances the positive effect of repurchase intention on airline company service because it fosters a positive link between brand awareness and perceived value. Unsurprisingly, brand attractiveness and memorable brand experiences are found to strengthen the positive effect of brand awareness and perceived value. Several alternative models were used to check the robustness of our findings. Patterns of moderated mediation modeling for theoretical and empirical implications are discussed.     

Antecedents and outcomes of flight attendants’ job satisfaction

This paper develops and tests a comprehensive model for job satisfaction amongst flight attendants with antecedents and outcomes that are germane in the context of airlines. The antecedents are: jetlag, role overload, emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and depersonalization, and the outcomes are; job performance and service recovery performance. A framework was tested using structural equation modelling. A survey was conducted of flight attendants working in Malaysia found exhaustion and personal accomplishment have a direct effect on job satisfaction; emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment affect the level of depersonalization; and role overload has a positive relationship.     

FIPIA with information entropy: A new hybrid method to assess airline service quality

This study proposes “FIPIA with information entropy” as a new, hybrid method to assess airline service quality by identifying the most important priorities for airline passengers and producing recommendations to airline management for optimal resource allocation to improve service quality and customer satisfaction. The proposed method is an improvement over IPA, IPIA and FIPA methods, through the introduction of information entropy and fuzzy logic to the analysis of importance, performance and impact dimensions of airline service quality to improve interpretability and actionability of analysis results. This study also offers airline managers a list of what they should improve in resource allocation in order to increase service quality considering customer satisfaction and create value by managing the relational capital more effectively. The new hybrid method was field-tested by administering a 26-item questionnaire to passengers of a major airline operator, analyzing the responses using the Importance-Performance-Impact Analysis (IPIA) method, fuzzy logic and information entropy. The analysis revealed four main dimensions of airline service quality, namely reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness with 17 constituent attributes. The case study revealed that (1) resource allocation was adequate only on four attributes; (2) seven service quality attributes were identified as needing further management focus on resource allocation; (3) six service quality attributes received more resources than necessary which should be shifted to other attributes; (4) dimensions of reliability and tangibles needed more focus than others. The proposed hybrid method of FIPIA with information entropy can be employed for any industry where service quality depends on multiple attributes.     

Quality risk assessment model for airline services concerning Taiwanese airlines

Whereas most studies have focused on elevating the service quality of airlines, few have explored quality risks from the viewpoint of customer dissatisfaction caused by poor service. For this study, we designed a quality risk assessment model that measures quality risk for airline services by integrating the Kano model, degrees of importance and satisfaction, and the failure mode and effects analysis. Data were collected for Taiwanese airlines through a questionnaire. The application of the proposed quality risk assessment model revealed several high-risk services, such as employee service attitudes, the ability of employees to manage customer complaints, the comfort of airplane seats, in-flight snack services, and flight punctuality. Finally, this study presents a discussion on the managerial implications and recommends directions for future research.     

Linking brand commitment and brand citizenship behaviors of airline employees: “The role of trust”

Despite the growing interest in understanding employees' brand related behaviors in the airline industry, the research in this area mainly focus on the effect of employee brand commitment and limit the empirical support as well. Although, brand commitment explains brand behaviors of employees, commitment in a relationship usually works through trust. Therefore, this study integrated brand trust and analyzed the relation between brand trust and brand commitment on brand citizenship behaviors of employees. Data were collected from 523 flight attendants of a corporate airline company. The findings reveal that brand trust has a significant effect on brand citizenship behaviors as well as it mediates the effect of brand commitment on these behaviors. The uniqueness of this study is the integration of brand trust for its effect on commitment and brand citizenship behaviors of employees as well providing empirical support for their relationship within the context of airline industry.     

Focusing on the big picture while observing the concerns of both managers and passengers in the post-covid era

This study reveals how to improve and define the issues of service quality in the airline sector after the outbreak of COVID-19, to what extent customer needs (important issues) and expectations (expected performances) will differ, and the priorities of airline sector managers in terms of resource allocation, costs, planned strategies, and operational efficiency and effectiveness. It offers a systematic and interactive perspective by simultaneously providing the perspective of both airline managers and passengers by using a new hybrid method, namely Fuzzy Importance, Expected Performance, and Priority Analysis (FIEPA) with VIKOR. This method allows the use of different perspectives of different managers in the analysis, which can be prioritized with different weights. According to the results of the study, in which 449 passengers participated on Twitter, the attributes on which airline managers should focus were determined, having three distinctive characteristics of being important for customers, having high priority according managers, and having low expected performance according customers. Twenty-two attributes related to the service quality of airlines during outbreak periods were classified into three main dimensions as “social distance and hygiene during flight”, “information awareness and concern”, and “infection alert procedure”.     

The good,the bad,and the ugly: 30 years of US airline deregulation

The US airline industry was deregulated in 1978 and has undergone significant changes in industry structure, profitability, employment, passenger volume, and patterns of service and fares, among other characteristics. This paper sets out to make three contributions to the literature as related to the story of airline deregulation. First, discussion of economic theory will provide the context for an updated overview of the positive, negative, and really negative results of US airline deregulation, summarized in the form of “the good”, “the bad”, and “the ugly”. Second, this paper provides a periodization of the 30-year history of US airline deregulation that is important in understanding the cycles of change as reflected in the industry’s financial performance and other relevant data. Third, this paper contributes to the renewed debate about the efficacy of deregulation and liberalization policies, particularly at a time when the global financial crisis has cast a harsh spotlight on the (un)desirability of these policies. Some of the good results during the 30 years of airline deregulation, from the industry and consumer perspective, include higher passenger volumes, more service to the most popular destinations, and lower fares on average. Bad results include financial and employment instability, diminution in the quality of airline service overall, and fewer flights and higher fares to smaller places. The recent 2000–2005 period has been particularly ugly, as the airline industry has lost over $30 billion, and several high-profile carriers, such as United, Delta, Northwest, and US Airways, were forced into bankruptcy.     

Does service recovery affect satisfaction and customer loyalty? An empirical study of airline services

This paper investigates the relationships among service recovery, recovery satisfaction, overall customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in airline services. The perception of justice in service recovery is specifically examined. A survey of airline passengers who have experienced service failure and recovery is analyzed using structural equation models. It is found that both interactional and procedural justice have a significant effect on recovery satisfaction. Overall satisfaction mediates the relationship between recovery satisfaction and loyalty.     

Service quality and price perception of service: Influence on word-of-mouth and revisit intention

Drawing on an overarching framework of marketing theory, this study develops and tests an integrated model of service quality that explicates the affective mechanisms through which service quality is associated with price perception of service (e.g., monetary price and behaviour price), word of mouth (WOM) and revisit intention. In a sample of 484 low-cost airline passengers, we found service quality to be related to increased price perception of service as a result of increasing passengers' WOM, which also creates success in this regard by increasing their revisit intention. Moreover, it is not surprising that there was a positive relationship between service quality and WOM mediated by perceived value of monetary price. The theoretical and empirical implications of these results are discussed.     

Recovering costs through price and service differentiation: Accounting for exogenous information on attribute processing strategies in airline choice

The entry of low cost airlines has thrown out a challenge to all airlines to find ways of attracting passengers, through a mix of fare discounting, greater frequency, improved flight times and no-frill's levels of on-board service. These competitive strategies have an impact on cost recovery. As airlines seek business in an increasingly heterogeneous passenger market, a greater understanding of what matters to potential passengers in choosing an airline grows in importance. Traditional studies of passenger airline choice assume that all attributes matter, but some to a lesser extent. What happens to the empirical evidence on willingness to pay when specific attributes are totally ignored by particular passengers? In this paper, we examine the impact of individual-specific attribute processing strategies (APS) on the inclusion/exclusion of attributes on the parameter estimates and behavioural outputs of models of airline service and fare level choice. Modelling practice assumes that whilst respondents may exhibit preference heterogeneity, they employ a homogenous APS with regards to how they process the presence/absence of attributes of stated choice (SC) experiments. We demonstrate how information collected exogenous of the SC experiment on whether respondents either ignored or considered each attribute of the SC task may be used in the estimation process, and how such information may be used to provide outputs that are attribute processing strategies segment specific.