International Journal of Tourism & Hospitality Reviews

James Malitoni Chilembwe (chilembwe.j@mzuni.ac.mw)

Management, Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU)

October, 2015

Abstract

The national airline (Air Malawi) was introduced in 1968. Since its creation, has never been formal research conducted to identify the successfulness of service performance in order to understand how the airline can be described by its passengers in terms of service provision and satisfaction. Therefore this dissertation was to create an entire form of research for the national airline and was designed to measure customer satisfaction level as well as service quality. The main literature review includes the service quality definitions and importance, characteristics of the service industry, satisfaction, service quality in airline industry and measurement of service quality. The unique features of service quality products are demonstrated in comparison with other physical goods, and then the SERVQUAL dimensions and the Gap Model of Service Quality were applied. The field research was conducted mainly by quantitative method and to some extent also by a qualitative method. Conducted also were in- depth interviews with managers and travel industry personnel based on SERVQUAL dimensions such as tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy. The idea was to obtain an overall customer satisfaction level in figures and confirm the results with managers of the travel industry including Air Malawi. The reason for interviewing managers based on the similar questionnaire was to find the perception gaps. The findings indicated that the customer satisfaction level in general was remarkably moderate almost all dimensions. The results of customers and managers relatively matched in reliability and also differed in a few aspects. The lowest value was found in reliability such as punctuality and break downs which were very crucial. There was no significant difference in the rest of the variables; however, the best scored variable was assurance except website usage as attribute. The research has further identified and revealed two gaps. The first was customer expectation and management perceptions gap and second one was service delivery and external communication gap. References 1. Atalik, O. (2009) Voice of Turkish Customer: Importance of Expectations and Level of Satisfaction at Airport Facilities. Review of European Studies, 1(1), p. 61 – 67. 2. Caruana, A., and Ewing, M. (2010). How corporate reputation, quality, and value influence online loyalty. Journal of Business Research, 63, p. 1103-1110. 3. Chen, K., Chang, C., and Lai, C. (2009) Service quality gaps of business customers in the shipping industry. Journal of Transportation Research Part E, 45, p. 222-237. 4. Chiou, Y. and Chen, Y. (2009) An Investigation of Service Quality in China Low Cost Carrier Market. Journal of the Eastern Asia Society for Transportation Studies, 8, p. 1 – 16. 5. Doganis, R. (2006). The airline Business: London: Routledge. 6. Lee, J., Kim, H., Ko, Y.J., and Sagas, M. (2011). The influence of service quality on satisfaction and intention: A gender segmentation strategy. Sport Management Review, 14, p. 54-63. 7. Lovelock, C. (2001). Services Marketing People, Technology, Strategy. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. 8. O’Neill, M. (1992). Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure. New York: Haworth Hospitality Press. 9. Swarbrooke, J. and Horner, S. (2007) Consumer Behaviour in Tourism, 2nd edition, New York: Butterworth- Heinemann. 10. Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J., Gremler, D.D. and Pandit, A. (2008). Service Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus across the Firm, 4th Edition, New- Delhi: McGraw-Hill.