Customer satisfaction in the airline industry: the role of service quality, brand image and customer

123 Pages·2016·3.15 MB·English

University of Botswana
Faculty of Business
Graduate School of Business

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY: THE ROLE
OF SERVICE QUALITY, BRAND IMAGE AND CUSTOMER VALUE

Milton Oarabile Madikwe

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
of Master of Business Administration

Supervisor: Professor R. Makgosa

April 2015
University of Botswana
Faculty of Business
Graduate School of Business

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY: THE ROLE
OF SERVICE QUALITY, BRAND IMAGE AND CUSTOMER VALUE

Milton Oarabile Madikwe

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree
of Master of Business Administration

Supervisor: Professor R. Makgosa

April 2015
Customer satisfaction in the airline industry: the role of service quality, brand image and customer value

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page:

Declaration i
Acknowledgements.. ii
Dedication iii
Abstract iv
List of Tables 1
List of Figures 2
1.0 INTRODUCTION 3
Background of th 3
5
Justification of the 7
Objectives 8
8
Scope of the study 9
9
11
Brief description of Air 13
Conceptual clarification 13
Chapterization 14
Summary 14
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES 15
3.0 METHODOLOGY 44
Research philosophy and design 44
Sampling 45
Data collection 48
Questionnaire str 49
Data analys 51
Summary 52
4.0 DATA ANALYSIS & FINDINGS 53
5.0 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS 80
Customer satisfaction in the airline industry: the role of service quality, brand image and customer value

Discussion 80
Recommendat 87
Study limitations and future rese 90
Conclusions 91
References................................................................................................................... 93
Appendices 106
Appendix 1: Question 106
Appendix 2: Permission letter 112
Customer satisfaction in the airline industry: the role of service quality, brand image and customer value

Declaration

The work contained in this dissertation was completed by the author at the University of
Botswana between January 2014 and April 2015. It is an original work except where due
reference is made and neither has been nor will be submitted for the award of any other
University.

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Customer satisfaction in the airline industry: the role of service quality, brand image and customer value

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It gives me great pleasure to express my gratitude to many people who showed support and
contributed in making this dissertation possible.

It is difficult to overstate my profound sense of reverence and gratitude to my supervisor Prof.
R. Makgosa for her constant guidance, support, inspiration and motivation. I thank her for her
untiring help during the course of this dissertation. May you always find favour in the Lord.
My sincere thanks also go to Air Botswana, for allowing me to use the airline as a context of
the study. The Inflight services Manager, Evaan Isaacs and the Flight Attendants did a great job
with data collection and for that, I am very grateful. I express my deepest gratitude to Moses
Moseki Polokoeng and Baatweeng Romeo Mokopanele for their continuous love and support,
always ensuring I am at school on time and home safely after classes. I also extend my thanks
to my family and friends, including my church family for their unfailing love and support they
give without ceasing.

At the end of it all, honour and glory be to the Almighty, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
This dissertation exists because of the love and mercy from God.
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Customer satisfaction in the airline industry: the role of service quality, brand image and customer value

DEDICATION

I dedicate this dissertation to a man I consider an inspiration, Anthony Siwawa, the founder and
Chief Executive Officer of Venture Partners Botswana. I will always be grateful for the faith he
had in me and the encouragement he gave me to purse my Masters.
I also dedicate this dissertation and give special thanks to my best friend Tumelo E. D. Batshu.
The love and support he gives me are humbling and will forever be appreciated.
This work is also dedicated to my grandmother, Oaitse Obobonye Madikwe. She has been the
pillar of our family. She gave me love and taught me important values of life.

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Customer satisfaction in the airline industry: the role of service quality, brand image and customer value

ABSTRACT

Botswana is a landlocked country and therefore air transport is of strategic importance to the
nation as it offers an alternative gateway to the rest of Africa and the world. However the
Airline industry is experiencing several challenges including competition and continuous flight
delays which prevent it to successfully execute the purpose of transportation of passengers. The
main objective of this study is to investigate the impact of service quality, brand image, and
customer value on customer satisfaction in the Airline industry in an attempt to highlight
customer satisfaction contribution to company efficiency and effectiveness. Air Botswana as
context for the study is a national airline and currently the only commercial airline of Botswana.
The research design concentrates on three specific objectives for data collection which was
done mostly through structured questionnaires. The research assumed a positivist standpoint
and convenience sampling was used. 703 well completed questionnaires were analysed using
IBM statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 22. Regression analysis was
employed for hypothesises testing.

The findings revealed a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and three selected
customer satisfaction drivers. In particular, two out of five dimensions of service quality have a
positive influence on customer satisfaction, that is, the more these dimensions increase the more
satisfaction is elevated. For brand image and customer value, the relationship was also found to
be significantly positive, as image and value increases, so will customer satisfaction and the
reverse is the same. Passenger segments were explored on the basis of these relationships and
customer satisfaction strategy mix determined to facilitate managerial decisions. The level of
s
concerning service quality, brand image and customer value were found to be relatively low.
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Customer satisfaction in the airline industry: the role of service quality, brand image and customer value

This study contributes to the existing theories of customer satisfaction and selected drivers by
affirming the relationship that exists between them. Several recommendations were made
mainly for development of marketing strategies for improving service quality, brand image and
customer value in the airline industry in order to increase the level of satisfaction among
passengers. These will ultimately lead to better performance of the airline industry in terms of
profits and competitiveness.

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Customer satisfaction in the airline industry: the role of service quality, brand image and customer value

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Relationships between customer satisfact .. 35
Table 2: Air Botswana Revenue Passe 46
Table 3: Air Passenger Traf 46
Table 4 ............................................................. 55
Table 5: Flying related factors describ 57
Table 6: Factors influencing airl 58
Table 7: Dimensionality and Reliability of s 60
Table 8: Dimensionality and Reliability o .... 61
Table 9: Dimensionality and Reliability ............................... 62
Table 10: Customer satisfaction 63
Table11: Service quality perce 65
Table 12: Brand image perception 67
Table 13: Customer value pe 68
Table 14: Correlation coefficients for service quality dimensions, brand image &
customer v 70
Table 15: Regression analysis between overall satisfaction& the selected drivers... 72
Table 16: Regression analysis between overall satisfaction & the selected drivers
and other fa 74
Table 17: Customer grouping Cluster .. .. 76
Table 18: Customer sa 78

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