SEVERITY AND LOYALTY: THE EFFECT OF SERVICE FAILURES ON AIRLINE TOURISTS

This paper explores how the severity of a service failure experienced during a recent flight for tourism influences loyalty to the respective airline. Results from an online survey show that tourists who experienced a minor issue during their flight exhibited equivalent loyalty to the airline to those who did not experience any problems. However, tourists who experienced a severe service failure during their flight exhibited a decrease in their loyalty. Like in previous studies on product defects, not all service failures are equally relevant to customer relationships: To manage tourist loyalty effectively, airlines should prioritize their efforts to eradicate service failures that tourists deem severe and then the others.