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Effects of new

technologies on

customer satisfaction

THESIS WITHIN: General management NUMBER OF CREDITS: 15

PROGRAMME OF STUDY: Engineering Management AUTHORS: Justas Bacinskas,

Viktor Kempers JÖNKÖPING: May 2020

A study on how new customer-facing technologies in airports affect

the customer satisfaction

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Master Thesis in General Management

Title: Effects of new technologies on customer satisfaction Authors: Justas Bacinskas & Viktor Kempers

Tutor: Sambit Lenka Date: 18/05/2020

Key terms: new customer-facing technologies, customer satisfaction, air travel, air travelling process

Abstract

Background: New technologies have turned out to be an inseparable part of the air travel

industry over the last couple of decades, and it brought us many benefits. Nonetheless, these new airport technologies also brought new problems that foster air travellers’ irritation. A negative experience has a relatively worse influence on an airport than a positive; therefore, this is an interesting topic to investigate. There is so far only limited research done about the connection between new customer-facing technologies and customer satisfaction. Due to this lack of analysis, this study has the goal to examine the understanding of the effects of new airport technologies on individual’s satisfaction.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to discover how new customer-facing technologies on

airports affect the customers’ satisfaction

Method: The research goal is accomplished by implementing qualitative research and

collecting the data through ten semi-structured in-depth interviews with various individuals that had a recent air-travel experience which was no earlier than three months. The data analysis is done by performing an inductive research approach.

Conclusion: The results show that customer satisfaction process begins at the need recognition

and how it is perceived depends on the experience of each person. The way the need is perceived decides the priority of the factors that describe the new customer-facing technologies’ (CFT) service, as a result of that setting the expectations towards the process of interacting with the new CFTs. The customer then interacts with the service while assessing the performance compared to the expectations, and subsequently, a positive or negative disconfirmation is made upon deciding if service is better or worse than expected. A positive disconfirmation results in a satisfied customer and a negative disconfirmation results in a dissatisfied customer.

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Acknowledgements

We want to direct our sincere appreciation to everyone who has helped and motivated us along the period of writing this research paper.

First and foremost, we are especially thankful to our supervisor Sambit Lenka who always supported, inspired, and guided us through the process of writing this thesis. He was always ready for us in times when we needed his help and guidance. Sambit’s encouragement contributed to our motivation to get the best result out of this research.

Secondly, we express our gratitude to all individuals that willingly agreed to participate in the research and dedicated their time for it. They provided us with great insights that helped us to make valuable findings; without them, we would not be able to finish this document. Moreover, we want to say thank you to our fellow students that provided us with insightful feedback during the seminars.

Ultimately, we are highly thankful to Wouter Kempers, who has provided us with thought-provoking feedback that helped us to refine and finalise our thesis.

____________________ ____________________

Justas Bacinskas Viktor Kempers

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Table of Contents

1.

Introduction ... 1

1.1. Background ... 1

1.2. Problem Statement ... 2

1.3. Purpose and Research Question ... 4

1.4. Delimitations ... 4

2.

Theoretical Framework... 5

2.1. Airport technologies ... 5 2.1.1. Information kiosks ... 7 2.1.2. Ticketing kiosks ... 7 2.1.3. CUSS Kiosks ... 8

2.1.4. Adoption of self-service kiosks ... 8

2.1.5. Airport safety technologies ... 9

2.2. Customer satisfaction ... 10

2.2.1. Consumer behaviour ... 13

2.2.2. Customer needs ... 15

2.2.3. The relation between customer satisfaction and new CFTs ... 17

3.

Methodology ... 18

3.1. Research design ... 18

3.2. Research philosophy ... 19

3.3. Research approach ... 20

3.4. Research strategy ... 21

3.5. Data collection procedure ... 21

3.6. Data analysis ... 24 3.7. Research quality ... 26 3.8. Research ethics ... 28

4.

Empirical Findings ... 29

4.1. Convenience ... 29 4.2. Safety ... 32 4.3. Inconvenience ... 34 4.4. Context of flying ... 37

5.

Analysis & Discussion... 39

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5.2. Safety ... 41

5.3. Inconvenience ... 43

5.4. Context of flying ... 44

5.5. Discussion ... 46

6.

Conclusion & implication ... 49

6.1. Purpose and research question ... 49

6.2. Theoretical implications ... 50

6.3. Practical implications ... 50

6.4. Limitations ... 51

6.5. Future research ... 52

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Figures

Figure 1 Kiosk classification at airports ... 6

Figure 2 Consumer satisfaction model ... 15

Figure 3 Maslow's Hierarchy of needs ... 16

Figure 4 Structure of this study ... 18

Figure 5 Process of data analysis ... 26

Figure 6 Codes within the theme convenience ... 30

Figure 7 Codes within the theme safety ... 32

Figure 8 Codes within the theme inconvenience ... 34

Figure 9 Codes within the theme Context of fling ... 37

Figure 10 Satisfaction as an outcome of convenience ... 41

Figure 11 Satisfaction as the outcome of safety ... 42

Figure 12 Dissatisfaction as the outcome of inconvenience ... 44

Figure 13 Consumer satisfaction on airports model ... 48

Tables

Table 1 Key aspects of the fast travel program ... 9

Table 2 Summary of conducted interviews ... 24

Table 3 Description of themes... 29

Appendix

Appendix A ... 63

Appendix B ... 64

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Abbreviations and acronyms

CFT – Customer Facing Technology AIT – Advanced Imaging Technology SST – Self-service technology

IEA - International Energy Agency ITM – Interactive Transaction Machine ATM – Automated Teller Machine CUSS - Common Use Self Service

TSA - Transportation Security Administration ID – Identification

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1. Introduction

______________________________________________________________________

In the introduction chapter the research topic is provided. A background and a problem discussion provide the base for the research gap and argue why the topic is relevant. Besides, the goal of the research is stated together with coherent research question.

______________________________________________________________________

1.1. Background

Nowadays, more and more people travel, and since the world is becoming more international, the aviation industry is experiencing tremendous growth (Brondoni , 2016). Official data from IATA (2019) (International Air Transport Association) shows that the aviation industry growth rate has been above 5% per year for the years 2010 to 2018 (see Appendix A) and the expected growth rate for the year 2019 is 5%. Furthermore, IATA estimated that the passenger numbers transported by airlines would reach 8.2 billion in 2037 compared with 4.3 billion in 2018. Such a rise of passengers changes the standard of services at airports and creates a misapprehension of service expectations (Chen & Chang, 2005).

The described development becomes even more complicated as a result of events such as 9/11, which caused an increase in the level of security checks all over the world, as well as limitations in expanding spaces of existing infrastructures (Smit, 2003). These factors contribute to people spending more time in airports, higher numbers of complaints, and a decreased level of satisfaction with airport services. To reduce this problem, the IATA has introduced the “fast travel program,” which addresses the future of travel. They now “provide self-service options in six areas of the passenger journey” (IATA, 2019), including fast self-check-in, self-baggage service, faster document scanning, self-re-booking if a flight is cancelled or delayed, automated boarding gates and bag recovery if a bag gets lost. Currently, 48,33% of the global aviation industry has implemented the fast travel program, helping them to create a better customer travel experience and also save billions of dollars (IATA, 2019). When everything is working steadily, efficiently and smoothly, all services probably work fast, but when problems occur, passengers will experience these problems as well and get disturbed (Carstens, 2019). Therefore, despite

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this new program, the usage of the new technologies by passengers is affecting their level of satisfaction.

Since new technologies have turned to be an inseparable portion of the travel industry over the last couple of decades, it brought us many great things. New technological developments, made by airport IT platforms, grant new possibilities such as, for example, implementing the “intelligent airports” in the future (Rostworowski, 2012). Moreover, people, in general, have gotten used to being able to fix everything with just one click of the mouse, which can make everyday life feel like it happens at a languid pace (RTLnieuws, 2017). Regardless of implementing new technologies in the aviation industry, new problems occur that result in passengers being less satisfied, as was earlier noted. The decrease in satisfaction is experienced in situations such as increasing waiting times at airports. This usually results in passengers complaining, showing that they are unsatisfied with airport technologies.

Because the satisfaction of the passenger is of great importance to the airports, the new technologies should have a positive influence on customer satisfaction; unfortunately, this is not always the case. As Kan (1995) poses “a dissatisfied customer will tell seven to 20 people about their negative experience. A satisfied customer will only tell three to five people about their positive experience”. Hence, a negative experience has a relatively worse impact on an airport than a positive one explicating the relevance of researching the effects of new technologies on airports and customer satisfaction.

1.2. Problem Statement

Introducing new technologies always affects the people who are going to use it, either in a good or a bad way. The introduction of new safety technology in airports is an example. Due to events such as 9/11, new security check technologies were introduced (Blalock, Kadilyali, & Simon, 2007). This is beneficial for the safety of the passengers, but also comes with some downsides such as longer waiting times. The introduction of full-body scanners shows another problem: these scanners reveal you restricted items, such as weapons or knives, and also reveal the body of passengers (Welch, 2010). The fact that these full-body scanners must have a human-operator (similar to baggage scanners) means that the operator sees the passenger’s body through their clothes. Not everyone is aware of this fact, but this knowledge can have a bad effect on customer satisfaction

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(Blalock, Kadilyali, & Simon, 2007). Both these examples show both positive and negative sides to the introduction of new technologies. On the one hand, the passenger might feel more satisfied by the increased safety, but on the other hand, he/she might become dissatisfied because of long waiting times and the fact that operators see their naked bodies.

Moreover, there are many other options for flying, definitely on shorter distances. Already we can see trends in some European countries (i.e. Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands) where they promote the alternatives for air travel (Yuliya Talmazan, 2019; Jocelyn Timperley, 2019). However, these new alternatives are not yet the most convenient way of travelling (Hergesell, 2013). If the airports do not satisfy the needs of the customer sufficiently and the inconveniences of taking another way of transport start outweighing air travel, airports will start losing customers (Chapman, 2007). Also, Jocelyn Timperley writes about the International Energy Agency (IEA), saying that “Global transport emissions could peak in the 2030s if railways are not “aggressively”

expanded” (Jocelyn Timperley, 2019). From this, we can conclude that customer

satisfaction is of great importance for airports in Europe that support short-haul flights and that they must make sure that the customers leave the airport fully satisfied. This conclusion further explicates the importance of a better understanding of how new customer-facing technologies (CFTs) on airports affect customer satisfaction.

Looking at the literature only shows a limited amount of research that connects new CFTs to customer satisfaction (Bezerra & Gomes, 2016). Thus far, studies looked more at the connection between service quality and customer satisfaction. They are overlooking some unique aspects of the interaction between passengers and airport technologies (Bezerra & Gomes, 2016). Therefore, Bezerra and Gomes focus on connecting the adoption of new CFTs to customer satisfaction. However, they mention a couple of limitations. One of them is that they only looked at the relatively larger airport hubs in the U.S. Knowing that there are better alternatives for flights in Europe makes it more relevant to investigate how new CFTs affect customer satisfaction on European airports.

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1.3. Purpose and Research Question

By studying the effects of new CFTs on customer satisfaction, the purpose of this research is to explore how new CFTs on airports affect customer satisfaction. By an exploratory investigation within this area of study, the aim is to get a better understanding of the effects of new technologies on airports on customer satisfaction. This research will be useful in the development of the new CFTs because it gives a better insight into how the customers interact with it. In accordance, the aim to fill the gap within the existing literature is fulfilled, and a contribution is made through theory development.

The research leads to an answer to the main research question (main RQ):

“How will new customer-facing technologies at airports affect air travellers’ satisfaction?”

1.4. Delimitations

Particular perspectives and contexts have been disregarded to strengthen the research and hedge the scope. Since some findings and prospects do not contribute to the aim of the research, they have not been included.

Our study focuses on how new technologies at airports affect customer satisfaction. Because of the discovery of the gap in the literature within the investigation of the connection between new CFTs and customer satisfaction in European airports (Bezerra & Gomes, 2016), only residents of the European Union were included in the research. Therefore, we excluded all individuals who are not EU residents.

Moreover, we included only participants who had their latest trip with a passenger airplane no earlier than three months ago to ensure freshness of experience and sensations. Consequently, individuals that had their latest trip more than three months ago were disregarded in order to keep the study more consolidated.

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2. Theoretical Framework

______________________________________________________________________

An overall understanding of the essential theory of this research is clarified in this chapter including different airport technologies, understanding about customer satisfaction, behaviour, needs, and connection between customer satisfaction and new technologies. This chapter gives a rough idea of available literature, clarification on studies carried out, and an outline of present theories.

______________________________________________________________________

2.1. Airport technologies

Beneficial technological solutions are being designed to reach the needs of more and more people. Such broad pervasiveness of technology across all aspects of life resulted in technology adoption becoming a vitally important piece of fully functioning and developed societies. Because of these technologies that facilitate daily jobs, people are getting opportunities to stay independent for a more extended amount of time (Mitzner, et al., 2010). Some academic researchers acknowledged that the delivery of various services is facing the vast significance of technology (Bitner, Brown, & Meuter, 2000). Some researchers claim that the traditional marketplace interaction is experiencing a marketspace transaction (Rayport & Sviokla, 1994). Therefore, marketspace habits changed because of these new developing bases of customer-company interactions. One example of such marketspace transactions is self-service technologies (SSTs) that do not require any contact between customers and service employees, and airports are no exception (Abdelaziz, Hegazy, & Elabbassy, 2010).

Airports use SST’s for ticketing, self-check-in, self-baggage services, document scanning, self-rebooking and provide competitive advantages not only for customers but for service providers and airlines as well (Drennen, 2011). The most common form of SST’s at the airports are various kiosks (see figure 1). Airport kiosks may be described as a standalone desk or an interactive computer unit which gives information, services (information kiosk) or products. Passengers may buy tickets, check baggage and track the status of departures and arrivals at a particular airline’s kiosks (ticketing kiosk) (Abdelaziz, Hegazy, & Elabbassy, 2010). Some airlines use kiosks for facilitating crowds and preventing queues at check-in counters (cuss kiosk). Lastly, there are the retail kiosks

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which improve the retailing process; however, this is not relevant for this research because the focus goes to the retailing process instead of the process of boarding the plane.

Figure 1 Kiosk classification at airports, source: (Abdelaziz, Hegazy, & Elabbassy, 2010)

All interactive kiosks, in general, provide a big perspective of benefits for both passengers and airline workers. It helps in staying away from long queues at ticket desks and provides an ability to check-in whenever the passenger feels that it is convenient for him. Moreover, the job of customer service agents is facilitated because it repeals the need for manually entering information and checking in all passengers before every flight. The self-service technologies play a big role in eliminating or reducing the needs of airline employees to interact with passengers and perform tasks for them because they can do it themselves. It does not mean that customer service agents lose their job but, instead, they help travellers that face any difficulties with the usage of kiosks. A great number of airlines have a goal to keep power over ticket agents in order to deal with growing numbers of passenger traffic, while kiosks can be adopted by almost every airline. The airline is thereby able to maintain hundreds of kiosks for providing tickets, baggage tags, assigning seats and getting boarding passes. The airlines that adopted this technology claim that kiosks remove tiresome, monotonous jobs and allow airline agents to provide “real customer service” (Abdelaziz, Hegazy, & Elabbassy, 2010).

Kiosks classification is suggested by Tung and Tan (1998) by the tasks carried out on the system. A four-dimensional grid is suggested regarding transaction power and availability of information (Tung & Tan, 1998). There exist four types of kiosks, but the only ones being used at airports are types 1 & 3. Type 1 includes ticket purchasing systems that grant low transaction power and low information accessibility. In contrast, type 3 includes kiosks that grant information about schedules at the airports (train or bus stations as well) and are considered as systems with low transaction power but high information availability (Tung & Tan, 1998).

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2.1.1. Information kiosks

Information kiosks are described as a self-technology station together with interactive information processing capacities which can be found in public places (Rowley & Slack, 2007). In general, these kiosks give the details for travellers about the airport and its various facilities. They are composed of wall-mounted or column-type workstations with mounted touch screen technology or just a regular personal computer. An easy graphical interface is used together with multilingual options and gives travellers information about airport plan and its facilities that include restaurants, rest lounges, arrival/departure schedules, shops. Sometimes information kiosks are being used by airport operators and passengers to give information about airport sponsored partners: hotels, car rental companies, any tours and other valuable services to travellers (Abdelaziz, Hegazy, & Elabbassy, 2010).

2.1.2. Ticketing kiosks

Self-service ticketing kiosks, also known as automated ticketing kiosks, are a subcategory of one bigger class of information technology that is called Interactive Transaction Machines (ITMs). The most popular form of ITM technology is automated teller machines (ATMs) that were invented in 1973 and started used by banks in 1980. The kiosks used by airline companies and banks do not operate as a standalone mechanism and, nevertheless, this is not that common for most of ITMs. Preferably, ticketing devices are highly networked with IT equipment that interacts with customers and provide direct access to a service provider’s customer-service systems (Abdelaziz, Hegazy, & Elabbassy, 2010). For a majority of airlines, digitalized self-service ticketing terminals are usually located next to check-in counters, and passengers have opportunity to check ticket prices, flight times, as well as an opportunity to acquire those tickets. An automated ticketing kiosk can verify an individual’s identity by asking to type in an identification number and put in the credit card for buying tickets. Airlines provide information database for these kiosks; therefore, they have access to it that allows seeing payment information right away. Benefits of such kiosks include reduced costs because of a lower number of employees, higher customer retention rate, decreased costs for basic service standards, smaller waiting lines for passengers and increased sales (Anitsal, 2005).

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2.1.3. CUSS Kiosks

Regular Use Self Service (CUSS) is providing functions straight on customers self-service devices (Sabatova, Galanda, Adamcik, Jezny, & Sulej, 2016). This kind of installations allows travellers to check-in, receive boarding passes, check baggage, and to run other tasks at places and times when it is convenient for them. Generally, check-in services step by step is being shifted from the procedures being done at check-in counters to check-in procedures made from home with the help of internet or self-service check-in equipment at the airports (CUSS). Some researchers are aware of the incorporation of alternative check-in choices with smart-phones for the commercial aviation industry (Lee, Castellanos, & Chris-Choi, 2012). Self-service technologies are turning to be the general check-in systems in European airports, USA and a big number of other airports. CUSS is developed according to separate types of travellers which includes passengers with or without luggage (Abdelaziz, Hegazy, & Elabbassy, 2010). In contrast with regular agent check-in that provides services between 20 to 25 travellers per hour, a CUSS kiosk completes the same procedures for 40 to 50 travellers per hour (E-Ticketing Comes of Age, 2006).

There exist plenty different kinds of kiosks and specification of the configuration is changing; therefore, they hinge on many elements, and it is crucial to place kiosks according to visibility, travellers’ privacy and comfort, approachability and flow of passenger traffic (Dave, 2007)

2.1.4. Adoption of self-service kiosks

All kiosks mentioned above are the critical elements of the programme called Fast Travel that embraces a great part of self-service operations, and they have the prospect to quicken passenger flows within airports. Table 1 shows five vital elements of this programme and includes survey findings on how airports expected to be prepared for introducing these services in 2018 (SITA, 2016). The goal of this programme is to suggest absolute self-services for 80 per cent of global passengers. IATA claims that there are many examples that airport operating costs declined when comparing standard check-in to self-service check-in. Most airports adopted the services mentioned above and allow travellers to access it just with the help of new technologies. These technologies keep getting more and more popularity, as passenger surveys regarding airport technology disclose (Marintseva, 2014).

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Table 1 Key aspects of the fast travel program

Process Key elements Airport readiness by 2018

Check-in Automated, online, mobile,

and self-service kiosks

60% stating that mobile check-in is the primary method for checking-in Bags ready-to-go Home printing, self-tagging,

and bag drops

90% offering assisted bag drop

Document check Self-service kiosks 72% offering information services via kiosks

Flight re-booking Online, mobile, and self-service kiosks

61% offering passenger self-service tools to solve disruption problems

Self-boarding Automated boarding gates 53% implementing self-boarding gates

Sources: IATA (2017); SITA (2016)

2.1.5. Airport safety technologies

Events, such as 9/11, has caused the improved usage of technology as well as better quality of training amongst security staff as a method for increasing travellers’ security (Murphy, 2006). There were few suggestions such as checking all luggage, strengthening cockpit doors, introducing air marshals, but it did not implicate privacy interests (Cusick, Cortes, & Rodrigues, 2017). Privacy and security risks are introduced to passengers because they can make data files that are connected to the identity of passengers (Dekker, 2008). For instance, backscatter x-ray and millimetre wave technology are applied by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that can get naked pictures (Noftsinger, Newbold, & Wheeler, 2007). Moreover, x-ray registered images of travellers are in a very high resolution; therefore, detailed human forms of passengers introduce privacy issues (Kane, 2010). Images might be permanent, and the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) claims that screeners may save the body pictures to the system’s disks for posterior observation on the system’s monitor or any consistent personal computer. However, technology itself should be used for finding a solution for both the privacy and security issues. Several airports in Europe use scanners that “produce images in which the traveller is represented as a stick figure, with suspicious objects highlighted” claimed TSA Chief on National Public Radio. A balance between assuring safety and protecting privacy should be found. Safety technologies help to focus more attention on suspicious travellers, which does not involve all passengers for a detailed check and results in others not being disturbed by intensified security (Kane, 2010). Nevertheless, terrorists are

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trying to look like regular passengers (Emerson, 2003). Security experts accepted that the exclusion of all security dangers at the airports is impossible. The Washington Post announced that some airports around the world such as Ben-Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv (Israel) have rigorous searching that passenger sometimes results in walking through the terminals, the gates and to the airplane with no handbag, wallet or even shoes. Israel’s system of security has a goal to gather detailed information about travellers before their flights. In general, in most of the world’s airports, passengers already have to take their shoes off and get their bottles of water for confiscation before security check. Therefore, decisions that are accepted for ensuring airport safety might leave some customers not satisfied (Frimpong, 2011).

2.2. Customer satisfaction

To be able to understand how new CFTs affect customer satisfaction, first, it is essential to know about previous research on customer satisfaction; this helps to understand how it works and how to use it to understand the influence of new CFTs.

Customer satisfaction has been a research topic for many years, however, after all the research it still seems that there is no agreement on major issues such as concepts, constructs, definitions and measurements (Yi, 1990). It is therefore that several approaches propose to operationalize the customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction construct. Some of the main approaches are:

1. Equity Theory – satisfaction is reached when a balance is found between the input-output of a given party during an exchange process, such as cost, time, and effort. 2. Attribution Theory – here they look at the outcome of purchase as successful or as a failure, the outcome can be caused by either internal factors such as the buyer’s perceived buying abilities or external factors such as the difficulty of the buying task.

3. Performance Theory – this theory directly links customer satisfaction to the product or service performance that is received by the customer.

4. Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory – this is the dominant theory used and is well defined by Oliver and DeSarbo (1988) “Consumers are believed to form expectations of product performance characteristics before purchase. Subsequent purchase and usage reveal actual performance levels that are compared to

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expectation levels using a better-than, worse-than heuristic. The judgement that results from this comparison is labelled negative disconfirmation if the product is worse than expected, positive disconfirmation if better than expected, simple confirmation if as expected.” (p.495)

Within the expectancy disconfirmation theory, the determinants of satisfaction/dissatisfaction come from the three following factors (Brookes, 1995):

1. Prior expectations - expectations that can be based on the service quality of previous experience.

2. Performance assessment - comparing the expectations with the performance when experiencing the product of service.

3. Disconfirmation - post-purchase judgement of the experience which can be better or worse than expected, leading to a certain degree of satisfaction.

Many studies around the 1980th century supported the positive and negative

disconfirmation, at the end of the 1970’s there has been a wave of research on consumer satisfaction looking at causes and effects of satisfaction cognition (Oliver R. L., 1980; Day, 1984; Woodruff, Cadotte, & Jenkins, 1983). Some of these studies conducted a state of the art and concluded that two significant constructs play part in satisfaction decisions, performance-specific expectation and expectancy disconfirmation (Latour & Peat, 1978). It is argued that the customer has an expectation; customer satisfaction is a function of this expectation. The expectation is seen as a frame of reference, based on this frame of reference, one makes a comparative judgment. So, when purchasing a product, the expectation is disconfirmed, the outcome of this disconfirmation can be either positive when the purchase exceeds the expectations, or it can be negative when the purchase dissatisfies. This research emphasizes the cognitive side of customer satisfaction as an intentional decision that is the result of a selected purchase (Oliver R. L., 1980). Other studies focused more on the product performance found that product performance has a greater influence on the satisfaction of the customer with durable goods compared to expectancy disconfirmation (Tse & Wilton, 1988).

Nevertheless, expectations are an essential factor and knowing the nature of these expectations is highly relevant as well, concerning the nature a variety of options are found (Zeithaml, Berry, & Parasuraman, 1993):

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1. Ideal – the level of performance that the customer wishes to see.

2. Brand – the brand sets a standard, the consumer wishes that the next product/service lives up to that standard.

3. Expected – predicted performance, based on previous experience. 4. Minimum tolerable – the lowest level of acceptable performance.

5. Deserved – what customers expect back based on time and/or money they put up for it.

Knowing where the expectations come from is not sufficient; it is also essential to know what influences these expectations, several factors influence expectations (Brookes, 1995):

1. The product or service itself 2. The context

3. Individual characteristics

Within later research, another vital connection is made, during the post-purchase phase, there is not only cognitive process going on but also some emotional responses come into play. Westbrook and Oliver (1991) conducted a study where they research the relationships between consumption emotion and cognitive satisfaction judgement which both occur in the post-purchase period. They confirmed the finding of Westbrook (1987), he argues for two-dimensional emotional space, either positive or negative, which occurs after purchase. However, the research of Westbrook and Oliver (1991) argues that the positive emotional space is divided into two parts, rather than one. In both of these positive dimensions, high levels of joy are experienced, but one is more focused on surprise, and the other focusses on interest. Because of this development, combining consumption emotion and cognitive satisfaction judgement, better explains the post-purchase beliefs, attitudes and activities, single measures of satisfaction are not sufficient. The psychological field of study generated five theories providing a foundation for attitude formation and customer satisfaction (Yi, 1990):

1. Cognitive Dissonance Theory – customers adjust their previous attitude to their judgement of the perceived performance, an assimilation process.

2. Contrast Theory – this theory emphasizes the effects of surprise; it causes customers to enlarge the experience disconfirmation.

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3. Generalized Negativity Theory – here they say that the one who experiences negative expectancy confirmations has stronger feelings than when one experiences positive confirmation.

4. Assimilation-Contrast Theory – there are degrees to what customers accept and reject, messages about a product or service should create the highest expectancy for the customer only to the extent that the company can follow upon; otherwise, a negative disconfirmation might be caused.

5. Hypothesis Testing Theory – advertisement, for example, creates expectations. This serves as hypotheses for customers when the customer utilizes the product or service; this hypothesis will either be confirmed or disconfirmed.

Furthermore, a substantially different field appeared; first, the focus of customer satisfaction research revolved around products. Later developments created a second field of study regarding customer satisfaction, that is of services which became an essential factor in developed economies. The main differences for both fields consist of (Brookes, 1995):

1. Intangibility – the vagueness of services and service encounters. 2. Inseparability – differences in production and consumption. 3. Service’s heterogeneity – every service experience is different.

4. Service’s high perishability – an unused seat for an event the profit from that ticket is forever lost.

2.2.1. Consumer behaviour

In order to put customer satisfaction in another perspective, it is interesting to look at it from an individual consumer behavioural standpoint. This behavioural standpoint comes from the psychological domain were the focus their studies on understanding personal human qualities that influence the consumer's behaviour. Relevant aspects of the consumer behaviour are understanding how the urge of need is created, how different stimulators influence the personal decision-making process, and how the satisfaction sensation is created and confirmed (Mont & Plepys, 2003). It is therefore that the following three significant processes are being studied by psychologists (Blackwell, Miniard, & Engel, 2006);

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2. influencing attitudes and behaviour and 3. learning processes.

It is essential to look further into the information processing to understand where and how new CFT influences customer satisfaction. When purchasing a product/service, the consumer undergoes a process, the decision-making process. This process is captured in the EBM model; this model combines the decision process with the influencing factors. Because the EBM model uses this combination, it is later adopted by Mont and Plepys (2003) and formed into the customer satisfaction process. By understanding this process, a better understanding is created about how the new CFTs influence the behaviour of the customer. The process shows us were and why the process starts. In the process variables that influence the outcome are also introduced and explained, this can help us understand how the new CFT affects the outcome of the customer is satisfied or not. The model begins with need recognition, and the goal of the model is to satisfy this need, see Figure 2. As the model shows, consumers go through the following main steps: need recognition, information search, pre-purchase alternative evaluation, purchase, consumption, post-purchase alternative evaluation and divestment.

1. Need recognition – this happens when a person notices the difference between the

ideal situation and one’s current situation. One expects a purchase to fulfil this discrepancy.

2. Information search – search has two sides internal- and external search. For

internal, knowledge is retrieved from memory and for external, information is collected from peers, family, and the marketplace.

3. Pre-purchase alternative evaluation – evaluating the options that will satisfy the established need by looking at some benefits that an option offers over the other option thereby limiting down the number of options to one (or more) preferred option(s).

4. Purchase – at this stage, the consumer decided to go for the chosen option. 5. Consumption – this is the actual moment the consumer gets hold of the product

(use of product or service).

6. Post-purchase alternative evaluation – assessment of whether the purchased product lives up to the expectation and thereby dis-/satisfies the need.

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In this process, two important things are happening, the need is recognized, and before purchase, an expectation is created. The need is vital because this is the thing that must be satisfied; therefore, it is important to look further into this concept to know how it applies to new CFT on airports. The expectation is essential because this is evaluated after the purchase, and it will determine to what extent the customer is satisfied. As a result, the next paragraph will talk about customer needs.

2.2.2. Customer needs

The consumer satisfaction model shows us that the whole process of a customer satisfaction process starts with the need recognition. When the need is recognised, the goal of the customer is to satisfy that need. The need is a crucial part of understanding how a new CFTs affects satisfaction because by understanding the need, one can better understand if the need is satisfied. The past decade much research has been conducted to identify and classify needs (Dichter, 1964; Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982). As a result, different kinds of needs are found. To fulfil one need it often comes at the expense of another need; therefore, different needs have different priority. Maslow (1943) introduced a well-known hierarchy, specifying the priority to different needs. The needs he used in

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his hierarchy are, physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization needs see Figure 3. The basic needs are seen as the highest priority after these are fulfilled, one can

move up to the next level of needs which are less and less critical. Most people can relate to the order of the hierarchy, but it certainly does not apply to every situation. The evaluation criteria in the pre-purchase evaluation phase of the decision-making process may change depending on what benefits are desired and what needs are to be fulfilled. Looking more towards the satisfaction from a service businesses point of view, a satisfied customer is more likely to repurchase a product or service and recommend it via word of mouth (Ryu & Han, 2009). Kan (1995) emphasizes this importance even more by talking about dissatisfied and satisfied customers. “A dissatisfied customer will tell seven to 20 people about their negative experience. A satisfied customer will only tell three to five people about their positive experience” (Kan, 1995, p. 114). So, satisfaction is a vital aspect to consider for any service business. However, in this study, we aim to understand better how the new CFTs on airports affect customer satisfaction; therefore, we focus on the cognitive/affective approach to customer satisfaction.

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2.2.3. The relation between customer satisfaction and new CFTs

Now that the two main constructs have been introduced the next step is to look at the relationship between both constructs. Looking at Fodness and Murray (2007) shows us that people at airports have expectations towards a variety of services. They divide the services into three dimensions:

1. Servicescape – addresses spatial layout and functionality.

2. Service providers – addresses personnel service delivery.

3. Services – addresses how time is spent in airports.

Of these dimensions, only in servicescape customer-facing technology is represented, and therefore we focus on this dimension. “The servicespace includes all the objective factors controllable by the service provider that facilitate customer actions during the service encounter and enhance their overall service quality perception” (Fodness & Murray, 2007, p. 496). Within this dimension, Fodness and Murray (2007) look at expectations towards ease of navigation, waiting times in queues and the provision of flight information. Their research shows that passengers expect clear signs that point them towards the airport facilities. Also, passengers do not expect to wait longer than ten minutes; if they have to wait longer, they will get upset. Lastly, passengers expect to be informed about updates regarding their flight. Fodness and Murray (2007) however, talk about waiting times at in counters, whereas nowadays, most people do their check-in onlcheck-ine because the check-introduction of this new CFT the expectations towards checkcheck-ing check-in might have changed. These expectations influence the evaluation of the perceived service for the customer, which together determine if the customer is satisfied with the technology.

When taking the approach of the customer behaviours viewing point, some exciting connections appear, starting with the satisfaction process. The satisfaction process begins with need recognition; this need can be different per individual. Connecting this to the interactions people have with the new CFTs might give exciting discoveries.

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3. Methodology

______________________________________________________________________

The methodical decisions and comprehensions perceived from the researcher’s point of view is described in this chapter. First of all, the selected research design, philosophy, approach, and strategy are explained. Later, it presents the data collection procedure followed by the data analysis. Ultimately, research ethical elements are imposed together with the research’s quality features.

_____________________________________________________________________

3.1. Research design

The research design portrays methods that ground the principles of the research methodology for the research project. It highlights ways of carrying out particular parts of the research as well as the methods for the different steps of the study procedure related to the research question (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). In general, the structure of the research project can be described as a proper sequence which relates the empirical data to the research question and study’s findings (Yin, 2018). The general summary of the methodological solutions for this research study is demonstrated below, see Figure 4. All different parts of these solutions are investigated and explained in the further sections.

Figure 4 Structure of this study

Data analysis procedure

Thematic analysis

Data collection procedure

Semi-constructed interviews

Research strategy

Qualitative research

Research approach

Inductive research

Philosophical supposition

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3.2. Research philosophy

The philosophical approaches should be examined before collecting new information. These approaches are critical for framing the research in connection with our research method, question and explanation of our findings (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). This will contribute in finding the most appropriate method to develop the research in as high quality as possible by reviewing epistemological, ontological and methodological approaches (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). None of these models is impartially right and which model to choose depends on the researchers’ views on the world. Hence, the research model is supported by constructivism, which covers the researchers’ views in the best way (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). We will clarify constructivism by explaining how ontological, epistemological, and methodological options relate to our study.

The goal of this research is to find elements that new technologies affect customers at airports and how it affects their satisfaction. Unfortunately, there is no sole truth answer to this question. Therefore, we are conscious of the complex nature of it. It corresponds to the nature of reality concerning ontology because it is connected to the beliefs preserved by researchers about how the world is functioning. As we mentioned that there is no sole truth, but rather population building laws (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018), the conviction that the world is realistic and external may only be observed.

Consequently, we are not convinced by the approach of realism. The two other ontologies, nominalism and relativism, address reality from a distinct point of views. While nominalism view claims that truth does not exist and that people build facts, relativism claims that there are plenty of truths and that facts rely on observer’s attitude (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). Because of our faith that people build laws and that their understanding relies on individuality, we go along with the relativism viewpoint.

Next, in order, epistemology may be described as the study of the criteria that researchers apply in order to assort what contains proper knowledge and what does not (Hellebone & Priest, 2008). Thus, we take a subjectivist position when it comes to epistemology. As stated earlier, the reality is built socially, and we approve that knowledge and truth belong to people’s experience. According to Chilisa and Kawulich (2018), our study is examined

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through the point that knowledge is related to culture and impacted by the situation. Therefore, we reason that a plurality of elements influences the aspects of customer satisfaction in airports, and it is unique in a certain manner. In order to completely understand and extend knowledge of subjectively shaped reality, it is crucial to capture the viewpoint of people taking part in it (Scotland, 2012). Consequently, we construct our future findings by; us interacting with the target of research (Guba & Lincoln, 1994). Eventually, a research pattern also includes which methodology has to be exploited to implement the knowledge. We are convinced that communication between the observer and the target of research builds knowledge. Therefore, according to the constructivist pattern, we ground our methodology as a qualitative method (Guba & Lincoln, 1994).

3.3. Research approach

Since we decided to base our research qualitatively, our choice of the research approach is guided. Altogether, the research approach in exploratory researches is divided into two different categories that are known as deductive and inductive (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2018). A deductive approach begins at the top of theory and then continues to test hypotheses, formulation, and suggestions for a final evaluation if the theory is well-founded. This kind of research approach does not fit our study because available researches of customers’ effects on new technologies at airports are quite limited, and it creates complications for testing. Moreover, this approach does not build value for selected research goal as it is to examine how new technologies affect customer satisfaction. The inductive research approach begins at the bottom of determining models and creating broader themes of a phenomenon of exercising the party’s standpoints, followed by developing theory with merging themes (Bryman A. , 2012). Since we investigate how new technologies affect customer satisfaction at airports, we decide to use an inductive research approach. Moreover, this topic is a new phenomenon in a particular situation since the aim is to analyse European airports. Although this research includes theoretical elements from former literature, this approach fits best because all sorts of understanding come from appearing knowledge.

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3.4. Research strategy

A research strategy gives a rough idea of a procedure for direction in order to answer the research question (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). In the area of management and business, research highlights words rather than quantification. Therefore, it is specified as a qualitative research strategy (Bryman A. , 2012). This type of research strategy begins with general research questions that usually contain terms such as why and how. The goal of a qualitative research strategy is to comprehend how participants act and what they communicate verbally as well as helping to understand why a particular context is vital as a resolution (Myers, 2013). The goal of this study is to examine how new technologies affect customer satisfaction at airports. Consequently, a qualitative research strategy is well-suited for this study. Moreover, our purpose is to grasp deeper at how passengers get affected in terms of new technologies, so qualitative strategy is even more suitable to this study.

On top of that, a qualitative research method begins from actions and standpoints of the themes investigated and includes an interpretive and naturalistic view, and this is unique for a quantitative research method (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2018). Our research starts with the outlook of airports’ passengers and their judgment on how new technologies affect their satisfaction within this theme and gives reasons for qualitative research. Further, a qualitative research strategy tends to be conjugated with an inductive approach (Bryman A. , 2012), explorative nature and with a research philosophy of social constructionism (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). Therefore, a qualitative research method is the most eligible since the philosophical suppositions of the constructionism, and the inductive approach is related to this study.

3.5. Data collection procedure

The research strategy we chose, qualitative method, collects primary data through text and language, for instance, interviews or observational and interactive ways that involve participations of differing standards of the investigator performing the research (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). In this type of research, there is an explanatory nature that frequently includes researchers exploring events in the natural environment (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2018). Subsequently, it tries to construct the logic of examined phenomena, occurrence and the sense individuals leave on occurrences

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(Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). With regard to holding a reflective and objective way of thinking, the explanatory nature of qualitative researches puts a great deal of liability on the ones executing the research (Alvesson & Sköldberg, 2018). With that being said, even though interviews are the most common way of collecting qualitative data, there does not exist one sort or technique for doing interviews in a qualitative study (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018).

For the data collection, we chose face to face interviews that leads the interviewers to understand social actualities and collect facts regarding the comprehension and experiences of individuals that participate in the interviews. Developing information and high comprehension of an occurrence where participants might take some information as susceptible gives us a conclusion that face to face interviews fit best (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). Moreover, we have experience of running interviews, as well as an easy approach to interviewees so, that enhances our selection of conducting interviews even more.

Three of the most used methods which differ in terms of the level of eligibility related to the environment and the goal of the research are: unstructured, semi-structured and highly-structured interviews (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). In this thesis, by conducting interviews, we aim to get as detailed data as possible. Therefore, we seek for the interview method, which lets us come up with spontaneous questions that are relevant for this study, which means being flexible. However, we are still in need of having an arranged framework for asking questions. The interviewer has to be significantly experienced in doing interviews about technologies and its effects on customer satisfaction and since it is our first-time conducting interviews regarding this topic we need a structure to follow (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). Therefore, an unstructured interview method is eliminated, and because we need to have some flexibility and adaptation, a semi-structured interview method is invoked.

Interviews were constructed as a listing by creating questions that have to be approached preferably in order but without having tight control over it which means that following this order is not a must (see Appendix B). A collection of questions of what we need to cover as part of the interview is prepared as a guide for leading the interviews and ensuring common comprehension between the interviewees and the interviewers (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). Our interview is organised in a

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structure where we start by asking general questions so that the interviewee would gain the comfort to speak. Later, we go more in-depth with the questions; these questions are directly connected to our study. Lastly, the research does a recap of the conducted interview, where interviewees get the chance to supply more information.

The constructed interview consists of queries about the various themes concerning the situations of air travellers using new airport technologies that we recognized in our theoretical framework part. The basis for our themes covers the topics that are associated with customer satisfaction and new CFTs being used in airports. Regarding new CFTs the suitable themes were self-check-in technologies, new security control scanners, information, and boarding technologies. Further, we were seeking for information regarding how the interviewee feels about each of technology, how and why it affects his satisfaction, what he/she likes/does not like, and what could be improved.

During the last seven days of March, we carried out ten interviews where six of them were face to face, and the other four were online because of the outbreak of the international pandemic known as COVID-19. Therefore, 9 hours of recorded data is collected. The composition of interviews is coherent, including the introduction part at the beginning of each of the interviews where we presented ourselves, our research, the goal of the research, and described the topic. We defined the significance of the anonymity and ensured that there are no wrong or right responses. Both of us contributed with supplementing and following up essential points of the interviews to obtain extra data and more reflections from people that participated in our interviews (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). After conducting each of the interviews, we transcribed each of it fully while being extremely cautious about putting data into written accurately that any data would not have been lost.

Sampling methods may be probability and non-probability sampling. While probability indicates that each person has the same chance of being selected as a participant, non-probability indicates framing people by selecting only ones that match features of the study goal (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018; Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). The goal of this research project is to investigate customer satisfaction from the perspective of airport technologies factors and, specifically, air travellers were selected as participants. Therefore, we decided to use a non-probabilistic sampling design and to implement a purposive sampling method which determines principles for

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involvement in the matter of the aim of the research (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). We purposely involved participants that had a recent trip with a passenger airplane that was no earlier than three months ago in order to assure novelty of experience and impressions. We selected individuals that primarily travel in Europe because in the problem statement we described a gap in research that connects new CFTs to customer satisfaction at the European airports and, therefore, we seek to fulfil this gap (Bezerra & Gomes, 2016). In the table below, the research illustrates a summary of completed interviews where each participant is assigned a letter to guarantee their anonymity.

Table 2 Summary of conducted interviews Participator Gender Times the participant flies per year Interview’s length (minutes) A Male 4-6 55 B Female 2-4 60 C Female 2 50 D Male 4 55 E Male 10 60 F Male 12 70 G Male 6 55 H Female 2-3 50 I Female 2 50 J Male 6 45 3.6. Data analysis

Our data consists of nine hours of recorded material, which counts representative for qualitative research (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). Next, all interviews were transcribed in separate documents but afterwards they were put into one document in order to ease the procedure of thematic data analysis which we chose because it provides generous records of information (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Structured shaping of the information is a significant primary move in analysing information that helps researchers in identifying specific models (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). In general, thematic analysis is judged as a fundamental approach in qualitative studies (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The main goal of the thematic analysis is to look for themes or models of collected information (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). Relying on how the thematic analysis is conducted, this method might be connected to a few research paradigms (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This adaptability of taking over thematic

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analysis to different studies let us to choose this method instead of other methods that are more rigid, for example, grounded analysis which involves theoretical duties and focuses on creating a new theory that is reliable and worthwhile (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). Since the main aim of this research project is to find out effects of new technologies on customer satisfaction and our goal is to explore, thematic analysis fits well because it is not demanded to be pointed for developing any theory (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Thematic analysis is applied for investigating encounters, real-life actualities and values by determining themes that could result as a structure or a model. Besides, while grounded analysis and thematic analysis have some similarities in getting structure from the information by making a comparison of various pieces, other methods such as deductive methods assemble information in line with a pre-existent framework, for instance, content analysis. Moreover, both grounded and thematic analysis seeks to research the sense of information by the way it is built and the terms that entitle the personal information that is collected (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018).

This research project the interview’s questions were not used as themes; alternatively, we determined themes during the whole transcription procedure by examining the information collected. Thematic analysis reduces the natural difficulty of qualitative research with the help of an incremental procedure (Braun & Clarke, 2006). We started by getting more familiar with the collected information by reading the interview transcripts more carefully, underlining some critical comments that could be useful for our study. We did not sort out the collected data regarding the goal of our research because we made our study as a blank page. We began generating our first level codes by reading the collected data after a few times. Our level codes were finished by holding up very close to the collected information (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). Therefore, we wrote all codes down in a new document in order to get a better summary to facilitate collation or elimination of codes with separate labels but the similar meaning. Later we analysed all meanings and templates within all codes for further grouping and preparation for labelling them into themes. In the last step, we summed up the complete story and meanings of our collected data by analysing them and defining discoveries. The last step resulted in us creating three themes that are: convenience, safety, and inconvenience (seeFigure 5).

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26 Faster Comfortability Convenience Safety Health issues Inconvenience Easier usage Check-in Trust Luggage check-in Faster Safe enough Feeling safer Less convinient Slower Information Updates on phone Clear information Lack of information Feeling safer Faster Boarding Slower Online check-in Self service kiosk Counter Metal detector Body scanner Airport navigation Flight information Person Selfscan Security check Codes Themes Trust Less convinient Feeling safer Context of flying Flying experience Part of the holiday Way of transport

Business

Figure 5 Process of data analysis

3.7. Research quality

This qualitative research aims at an internal generalization, meaning an explanation of research within a given setting. One of the disadvantages of conducting qualitative research is that it has always been criticised for its difficulties with replication and generalisation, this is the result of producing biased results and lacking precision in measurement (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe, Jackson, & Jaspersen, 2018). However, as mentioned by Janesick (2003), the contribution of qualitative research often lies in its uniqueness, not in whether it can be replicated. To avoid this criticism and to ensure the study’s quality and trustworthiness the four criteria provided by Guba (1981) are applied:

credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability.

Credibility – the first criteria to consider, credibility, is focussed on the perceived reality

by the interviewee. It is the researcher’s task to describe an event as clear as possible so that the interviewee recognises this in the same way the event is perceived. In other words,

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credibility aims to mirror the collected data with the interviewee’s interpretation (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). There are several ways to ensure this criterion, for example, using triangulation (Shenton, 2004). Using triangulation means the use of more than one method and/or source that makes up the data collection. Therefore, during the interviews, notes are taken, and all the interviews are recorded, both are put together during transcription. To further increase the credibility, during the interviews, the technique of summarising the interviewee’s answers is applied as a test to see if the correct interpretation is made by the interviewer, another form of triangulation (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2009).

Transferability – secondly, transferability, looks at the research-setting, to increase this

criterion sufficient information of this setting is needed. In a way, it shows to what extent the research findings can be copied to other settings or context besides the one that is already studied (Shenton, 2004). Because of the social constructionist research perspective, the transferability refers to related or similar contexts instead of a generalisation of this study (Guba, 1981). Earlier in this chapter, the context of this study is explained; this enables the reader to transfer the findings for this research.

Dependability – the third criteria, dependability, concerns the reliability of the data, this

data should be able to be reproduced by future researchers. By explaining every step of the research process, one can produce a more stable and reliable explanation of the research; this helps other researchers with their understanding of the study (Saunders, Lewis, & Thornhill, 2016). This criterion is covered in this chapter, methodology, were a clear description of the context and procedures of the research is provided. This contributes to the ability of other researchers, reproducing our research as closely as possible.

Confirmability – lastly within, confirmability, the aim is to virtually eliminate any biases

that could have, unconsciously, turned up in the research. It is essential for this criterion to stay objective towards the research findings. Therefore, it is essential that the research findings correspond to the experiences and ideas of the interviewees and preferences or characteristics of the researchers must, at all cost be avoided. To overcome this problem, there is again made use of triangulation to avoid the potential for bias, which is as vital for credibility as for confirmability (Shenton, 2004). Moreover, when conducting the analysis, the coding process is done together. By doing this together, a common

Figure

Figure 1 Kiosk classification at airports, source: (Abdelaziz, Hegazy, & Elabbassy, 2010)
Table 1 Key aspects of the fast travel program
Figure 2 Consumer satisfaction model, source (Mont & Plepys, 2003)
Figure 3 Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, source (Maslow, 1943)
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