An investigation of airline service quality, passenger satisfaction and loyalty: The Jordanian Airline

The primary objective of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between airline service quality, passenger satisfaction and passenger loyalty. This study identifies the main factors of airline service quality, passenger satisfaction and passenger loyalty and proposes a model examining the directional relationship among these three constructs. It is based on an empirical investigation of the data collected from 500 passengers with Royal Jordanian (RJ) airline during July and August 1996. The data are analysed using a variety of statistical techniques. Factor analysis is used to identify the main factors of airline service quality and passenger loyalty. The segmentation of airline passengers according to their loyalty levels and psychographic characteristics is performed using cluster analysis techniques. LISREL 8 and path analysis techniques are used to investigate the relationships among the three constructs namely: service quality, passenger satisfaction and passenger loyalty. The key findings of the study indicate that overall service quality is highly related to both passenger satisfaction and loyalty. The relationship between passenger satisfaction and loyalty toward a specific airline is less clear An approach to the identification of the dimensions (factors) of airline services based on the stages of providing services to passengers is introduced and a loyalty measure, covering both attitudinal and behavioural aspects of loyalty, is developed and used to examine the applicability of loyalty level in determining segments in the air passenger industry. The contributions of this study to the existing literature in services marketing and consumer behaviour is assessed together with the contributions made to the air passenger industry itself. The limitations of the study are discussed and the potential for future research in the area is indicated.