Insight into the behavioral influence of service quality on divergent groupings in south african owned airlines

This study analyses the effect of passengers’ service quality expectations and perceptions among divergent groupings in respect of South African owned airlines (). The study wasintended to gain insight into the behavioral effect of service quality ondivergent groupings, namely gender, race, age, level of education and occupation,using South African owned airlines.Primary data was collected from 684 passengers at O.R.Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and King Shaka International Airport in Durban using quantitative research and a cross-sectional analysis (sample survey) approach. The SERVQUAL model was adapted to design an instrument for the study. The major findings were: (1)The gender expectations and perception were the same for all the dimensional variables as no significantgaps exist in the dimensional variablesof tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy;(2) Irrespective of the races of the participants, there were gaps in service quality expectations, although some races recorded higher expectations than others; (3)Irrespective of the ages of the participants, they all expected the same levelof service quality from the airlines, however, the age group 31-40 years expected differentand higher service quality in South African owned airlines, hence the statistical significance value of p<0.05. In conclusion, the divergent groupings have different expectations and perceptions towards service quality. The findings of this studyprovide an opportunity for South African owned airlines to design appropriate marketing strategies for services to suit the divergent passenger groupings in order to meet passengers’ requirements.