An Examination of How Ratings of Airlines are Effected by Different Types of Information

198 Pages·2016·0.92 MB·English

An Examination of How Ratings of Airlines are Effected by
Different Types of Information: A Mediation Analysis

by
Abdullah Selim Ozyurek
A Dissertation submitted to the College of Aeronautics of
Florida Institute of Technology
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Aviation Sciences
Melbourne, Florida
December, 2016
We the undersigned committee hereby approves the attached dissertation as
fulfilling in part the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in
Aviation Sciences.

“An Examination of How Ratings of Airlines are Effected by
Different Types of Information: A Mediation Analysis.”
by
Abdullah Selim Ozyurek
_________________________________________________
Stephen C. Rice, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, College of Aeronautics
Dissertation Major Advisor
_________________________________________________
John Deaton, Ph.D.
Professor, College of Aeronautics
Committee Member
_________________________________________________
Scott R. Winter, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, College of Aeronautics
Committee Member
_________________________________________________
Troy Nguyen, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, College of Engineering
Committee Member

_________________________________________________
Korhan Oyman, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor
College of Aeronautics
Abstract
Title: An Examination of How Ratings of Airlines Are Effected by
Different Types of Information: A Mediation Analysis
Author: Abdullah Selim Ozyurek
Advisor: Stephen Rice, Ph.D.
Many dynamics directly or indirectly influence the decision-making
process. An individual’s demographic features, such as gender, country of
origin, and emotions are some of the dynamics. In the aviation domain, air
passengers purchase their air travel tickets under those dynamics. The purpose
of this study was to determine if the airline type, gender of participants, and
participants’ country of origin had an effect on ratings of an individual’s
perception of safety and willingness to fly, and which emotions had a mediating
effect on this relationship. The study included Lufthansa Airlines and Turkish
Airlines from Europe. The affect was the participants’ feeling outcomes of
presented airline information. The feelings were Ekman and Friesen’s (1971)
universal emotions that include happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, anger, and
sadness. The results of the study indicated that airline type, gender, and country
of origin had a statistically significant effect and significant interaction on
safety perception and willingness to fly. Also, emotions were found significant
mediators on the mediation paths. Particularly happiness, fear, anger, and
disgust emotions had a significant influence on participants’ decision outcomes.
ii i
Table of Contents

Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... iii
Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... iv
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... vi
List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... vii
Dedication ................................................................................................................................ viii
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. ix
Chapter 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1
Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................. 1
Purpose Statement .............................................................................................................................. 2
Definitions ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Research Questions and Hypotheses ........................................................................................... 5
Significance of the Study ................................................................................................................. 6
Assumptions ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Limitations and Delimitations .................................................................................................... 10
Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................................... 13
Literature Review ................................................................................................................... 13
Trust ..................................................................................................................................................... 13
Safety ................................................................................................................................................... 24
Effect and Emotion ......................................................................................................................... 38
Airline Accident Statistics ............................................................................................................ 49
Gender Effects .................................................................................................................................. 51
Country of Origin Effects ............................................................................................................. 57
Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................................... 64
Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 64
Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 64
Research Design and Approach ................................................................................................. 64
Research Setting and Sample ...................................................................................................... 66
Research Instrumentation ............................................................................................................. 68
Variables ............................................................................................................................................ 70
Data Analysis ................................................................................................................................... 71
Participant Eligibility Requirement and Protection ............................................................. 72
Legal & Ethical Consideration ................................................................................................... 72
Summary ............................................................................................................................................ 73
Chapter 4 ................................................................................................................................... 74
Results ........................................................................................................................................ 74
Research Tools ................................................................................................................................. 74
Descriptive Statistics ...................................................................................................................... 75
Assumption Testing ........................................................................................................................ 87
iv
Inferential Statistics ........................................................................................................................ 90
Decisions on Hypotheses ............................................................................................................ 105
Summary .......................................................................................................................................... 108
Chapter 5 ................................................................................................................................ 110
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 110
Summary of Findings .................................................................................................................. 112
Discussion ........................................................................................................................................ 115
Recommendation for Future Research ................................................................................... 122
Limitations ...................................................................................................................................... 122
References .............................................................................................................................. 125
Appendix A Information about three Airlines ........................................................... 178
Appendix B Effect Scale ................................................................................................... 184
Appendix C Airline Safety Scale ................................................................................... 186
Appendix D Willingness to Fly Scale .......................................................................... 188
Appendix E IRB Approval ............................................................................................... 189

v
List of Figures

Figure 1 Ekman and Friesen's (1971) six universal emotions ........................... 43
Figure 2 Interaction plot of two-way interaction between airline type and
country of origin ............................................................................... 92
Figure 3 Interaction plot of two-way interaction between airline type and gender
.......................................................................................................... 93
Figure 4 Interaction plot of two-way interaction between gender country of
origin ................................................................................................ 94
Figure 5 Interaction plot of two-way interaction between airline type and
country of origin ............................................................................... 97
Figure 6 Interaction plot of two-way interaction between airline type and gender
.......................................................................................................... 98
Figure 7 Interaction plot of two-way interaction between gender and country of
origin ................................................................................................ 99
Figure 8 A demonstration of multiple mediation effects ................................. 100
Figure 9 Visual demonstration of the significant mediators between airline type
and safety perception ...................................................................... 102
Figure 10 Visual demonstration of the significant mediator between gender and
safety perception ............................................................................ 102
Figure 11 Visual demonstration of the significant mediators between country of
origin and safety perception ........................................................... 103
Figure 12 Visual demonstration of the significant mediator between gender and
willingness to fly ............................................................................ 104
Figure 13 Visual demonstration of the significant mediator between gender and
willingness to fly ............................................................................ 104
Figure 14 Visual demonstration of the sifnificant mediators between country of
origin and willingness to fly ........................................................... 105

v i
List of Tables

Table 1 Summary of Participants Age and Country of Origin by Gender ......... 75
Table 2 Means and Standard Deviations of Participants’ Age .......................... 76
Table 3 Means and Standard Deviations on the Measure of Each Emotion as a
Function of Airline Type, Country, and Gender .................................. 83
Table 4 Means and Standard Deviations on the Measure of Safety Perception as
a Function of Airline Type, Country of Origin, and Gender ................ 85
Table 5 Means and Standard Deviations on the Measure of Willingness to Fly
as a Function of Airline Type, Country of Origin, and Gender ............ 87
Table 6 Three-Way Analysis of Variance Output of Safety Perception Rating
.............................................................................................................. 91
Table 7 Three-Way Analysis of Variance Output of Willingness to Fly Rating
.............................................................................................................. 96
Table 8 Mediation Analysis Results of the Six Universal Emotions ............... 101

vi i
Dedication

This dissertation would never been written without the great support of my dear
wife, Tugba. She has been the best partner, wife, and mother. I am grateful for
her support and love. I am dedicating this dissertation to her and our lovely son,
Ahmet Yavuz.

vi ii
Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to thank my major advisor of this dissertation,
Dr. Stephen Rice, for the valuable guidance and advice. His willingness to
motivate me contributed tremendously to the dissertation. He also has been a
great mentor and I would not have been able to complete this dissertation
without him. In addition, I give special thanks to Dean Korhan Oyman, who is
the builder of this doctoral program. Also, I would like to thank my other
committee members Troy Nguyen, Scott Winter and John Deaton, for being
with me throughout the dissertation.
ix
1
Chapter 1
Introduction
Problem Statement
Previous literature reviews have shown that emotions have significant
effects on a person’s decision outcomes. Affect can influence attitudes
(Huntsinger, 2011) and motivation (Marien, Aarts, & Custers, 2012). Affect
also had effects on a person’s life and world perceptions (Bless & Fiedler, 2006;
Bodenhausen, Mussweiler, Gabriel, & Moreno, 2001; Clore, Schwarz, &
Conway, 1994; Forgas J. P., 2006; Schwarz & Clore, 2007). Positive affect
makes a person more positive about world view (Jones & George, 1998).
Affect, and particularly positive and negative affect, has an effect on cognitive
judgments (Forgas, 2006). Dunn and Schweitzer (2005) discovered that, while
positive affect increases a person’s trust in another entity, negative affect
decreases a person’s trust in another entity.
Bauer (1960) equalized consumer behavior with risk taking and added
that consumer decisions involve uncertainity and potentially unpleasant
consequences. Behaivor decision theory was an area of how consumer’s
emotion arises and influences decision outcomes. Behavioral decision theorists
noted that many decisions are made under the conditions of negative emotions,
and having to make a decision increases the negative emotion (Hogarth, 1987;
Janis & Mann, 1977; Simon, 1987). The recognition of emotional sides of
decision making led researchers to conduct cognitive research in this area. For