A STUDY ON HOW THE PASSENGERS MEASURE SERVICE QUALITY PROVIDED BY AIRLINE COMPANIES IN ASIA
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ABSTRACT
Today, there are not much differences between the services provided by different companies. What differentiates the best airline companies in Asia today is their service quality. Thus this feature aroused author’s interest to conduct a study of how the passengers measure service quality of airline companies in Asia. The main focus of the study is to apply the SERQUAL instrument developed by Parasuraman et al. (1988) which measure the service quality based on five dimensions. The study attempts to (a) identify the dimensions of service quality of airline companies; (b) to assess the overall level of service quality of airline companies; and (c) to determine the relative importance of the dimensions identified. The study found that the passengers have evaluated the airlines’ service quality by using the five dimensions: reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance, and tangibles. Besides, the study showed that SIA has scored a higher overall service quality rating than MAS. The study also indicated that the reliability dimension was the most important dimension that contribute quality service; the empathy dimension was the least important among the dimensions of service quality. In addition, the variable, such as different airline companies and frequency of using the airlines’ service were found to have significant influence on the overall service rating scores. The author has proposed “Two-Sided SERVQUAL Model” to measure service quality based on the viewpoints of both passengers and frontliners in future research. In addition, the author has introduced in this research, an ‘empowerment’ program for frontliners. Besides, flowcharting and periodic service quality improvement, in oder to remain competitive in airline industry.
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Bachelor of Atrs (Hons) In Marketing
April 1999
Number 2