Do airport staff helpfulness and communication generate behavioral loyalty in transfer passengers? A conditional mediation analysis
Collins Opoku Antwi,
Chong-jun Fan,
Ihnatushchenko Nataliia,
Michael Osei Aboagye,
Hangyu Xu and
John Coffie Azamela
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2020, vol. 54, issue C
Abstract:
The footloose nature of transfer passengers in the turbulent air transport market landscape has necessitated the need to assess service marketing constructs relevant for airport competitiveness. The current cross-sectional study examined (1) the influence of transfer passengers’ perceived airport staff helpfulness and communication (H&C) on their behavioral loyalty, (2) the mediating roles of passenger affective image and satisfaction, and (3) the interaction effects of passenger types (trip purpose & travel frequency) and airport in the direct and indirect airport staff H&C – behavioral loyalty relation. Post-hoc analysis of transfer passengers’ perceived airport staff H&C across airports and passenger types was performed. Data was collected from three international airports in China (N = 829). Findings revealed that perceived airport staff H&C has significant positive associations with the three behavioral loyalty variables, and indicated further that these associations are partly explainable via passengers’ affective image and satisfaction. Also, the perceived airport staff H&C’s direct and indirect relations with behavioral loyalty variables are sensitive to passenger types but not airports. Expectedly, the post-hoc analysis showed that transfer passengers’ perceived airport staff H&C is significantly different across passenger types but not airports. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations and directions for future studies have been discussed.
Keywords: Transfer passengers; Airport staff; Helpfulness & communication; Behavioral loyalty; Travel purpose; Travel frequency (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:54:y:2020:i:c:s0969698919300438
DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.102002
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