Customer orientation and innovativeness in a customer satisfaction framework : A study within the Norwegian airline industry

Abstract

Obtaining satisfied and loyal customers is essential for the success of any business, and therefore it is crucial to continually develop a greater understanding of what drives customer satisfaction and loyalty. Subsequently, a number of national customer satisfaction indices have been introduced in the last decade. However, because of the changing market conditions, it is important to learn, adapt and improve these indices to be able to measure customer satisfaction in the best way. Accordingly, this research has taken this matter into consideration, and has included customer orientation and innovativeness to evaluate if the consequences of these constructs lead to customer satisfaction and loyalty. Additionally, the research also considers perceived price and quality as individual variables for creating perceived value, it evaluates relative attractiveness within the model, and appraises if customer loyalty can create engagement in social media. The empirical research has been conducted within the Norwegian airline industry, with focus on the different competitive strategies of the chosen airlines to investigate the relationship between the customers’ experience and the firm’s implementation of these strategies. As the airline industry is a competitive industry that changes rapidly, airlines should evolve their strategies around the customers want and needs, and be innovative to get a competitive advantage and outstanding business performance. A conceptual model was synthesized with inspiration from the Norwegian Customer Satisfaction Barometer. Then, Norwegian airline passengers was surveyed about the effects within the framework, and their perceptions of the airline. Further, Structural Equation Modeling techniques was used to analyze the data and to answer our hypotheses. Overall, the study presents strong support for the conceptual model and hypothesized paths, and thus adding some new angles to the strategic service marketing literature.