Service quality, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions: a study of international flights with low-cost carriers in Viet Nam

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationships between dimensions of service quality, customer satisfaction, word-of-mouth and repurchase intentions from the customers‟ perspectives in case of international flights with low-cost carriers (LCCs) in Viet Nam. This research was undertaken with non-probability sampling. 240 questionnaires were delivered and collected, and 238 of them were useful for data analysis. The survey participants were the passengers who have flown abroad with LCCs at least 2 times within a year. The data collected from this survey were utilized for statistical analysis to evaluate the seven hypotheses, the positive associations of five dimensions of service quality and customer satisfaction, then the positive linkage of customer satisfaction and two behavioral intentions (word-of-mouth and repurchase intentions). Both qualitative (focus group) and quantitative research (SPSS 22 and AMOS 20) were applied to find the results. Regarding to the findings, reliability and assurance were the most influencing on the customer satisfaction; responsiveness and empathy were also seen as a significance. However, the performance of responsiveness is indeed not that good like the other dimensions. Tangibles was the only factor that did not have a great effect on customer satisfaction along with its not good performance. Word-of-mouth was found to be more affected by customer satisfaction than repurchase intentions.