Passengers' expectations of airport service quality

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the development of a conceptual model of service quality in airports by conducting an empirical investigation into passengers' expectations for this service industry. Design/methodology/approach -The paper is a qualitative exploration of the airport experience from the passengers' perspective was combined with a review of relevant literature to identify variables, to clarify basic concepts and to generate a conceptual model of airport service quality expectations. The paper's quantitative research was used to develop a self-report scale to measure passenger expectations of airport service quality, to test dimensionality and to evaluate scale reliability and validity. Findings -Qualitative and quantitative research on nearly 1,000 airport users provided results suggesting that passengers' expectations of airport service quality is a multidimensional, hierarchical construct that includes three key dimensions: function, interaction and diversion. Research limitations/implications -By bringing together different literatures and research paradigms to conceptualize service quality in a novel environment, the study contributes to the ongoing extension of service quality research. It is limited insofar as efforts to define a global expectations construct may have "homogenized" results. Practical implications -This paper builds on the extant literature on service quality to propose an approach for measuring passengers' expectations of airport service quality that can serve as a foundation of a concise and easy-to-administer self-report measure for identifying and managing airport service quality strategies. Originality/value -The paper shows that by going beyond traditional service performance measures used in the airport industry and by introducing new variables to the service quality literature, such as Csikszentmihalyi's taxonomy of activity, this study broadens and enriches both practice and theory.

An Airport Experience Framework from a Tourism Perspective

“…In the past few decades, related business research has been adopted and conducted in the airport context. These topics are, for instance, the servicescape model by Bitner (1992;see Jeon & Kim, 2012), service quality (Bogicevic, Yang, Bilgihan, & Bujisic, 2013;Fodness & Murray, 2007), service encounter (Rowley & Slack, 1999), and airport retail (Omar & Kent, 2001;Rowley & Slack, 1999). Some topics are specific to airport terminals and seek to improve objective measurements or the current conditions to enhance passenger satisfaction, for instance the level of service (LOS; Correia, Wirasinghe, & de Barros, 2008a, 2008b and wayfinding (Farr, Kleinschmidt, Yarlagadda, & Mengersen, 2012).…”

Influence of Service Quality on Passenger Satisfaction at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Jakarta, Indonesia

“…The research results prove positively influential service quality significantly to the satisfaction of the passengers at the international airport of HalimPerdanakusuma in Jakarta. This research is the development of the theory (Fodness & Murray, 2007)where a passenger's behaviour and expectations of the experience at the airport, depending on the type of tourists, travel destinations and other aspects of the context associated with it. This is evidenced by the presence of the influence of the quality of service to the satisfaction of the passengers at HalimPerdanakusuma International Airport, Jakarta.…”

“…Due to the cognitive process, the service quality perceived is not only subjective, but also varies depending on the context and the possibility of some factors (Wilson et al, 2012). Passenger behaviour and expectations of the experience at the airport, depending on the type of tourists, travel destinations and other context with related aspects (Fodness & Murray, 2007). Thus, attributes to measure the quality of service the airport should reflect evaluation with regard to the problem and investigating the environmental services (Bezerra & Gomes, 2015), (Yeh and Kuo, 2003).…”

Assessing Customer Service in Airports – Models from the UAE

“…Fodness and Murray (2007) presented a service quality model for airports. The authors concluded that the expectation of passengers' service quality in an airport is comprised of diversion, interaction, and function.…”