Purchase and Market in the
Airline Industry facing an
uncertain society
BACHELOR DEGREE PROJECT PAPER WITHIN: Business Administration NUMBER OF CREDITS: 15 ECTS
PROGRAMME OF STUDY: MARKETING MANAGEMENT AUTHORS: Josefin Plantin and Lisa Wendt
TUTOR: MaxMikael Wilde Björling JÖNKÖPING December 2020
An exploratory research through a
multimethod study
Acknowledgements
We wish to acknowledge and express our gratitude to all who contributed and supported the process of development of the study and made this thesis possible.
Firstly, we would like to thank our tutor, MaxMikael Wilde Björling for all guidance, support and feedback provided throughout the process.
Secondly, all respondents of the survey as well as interview participants from SAS, Reseguiden, and Apollo, contributed to valuable information and insights of the study.
Thirdly, we want to acknowledge Anders Melander for providing us with key guidelines and Naveed Akhter for providing us with valuable knowledge regarding the principles of research methods.
Lastly, we would like to thank all participants for being flexible, allowing us to communicate easily in the time of crisis, facing social distancing and permitting us from physical meetings, as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19.
Enjoy the reading,
Lisa Wendt Josefin Plantin
Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration
Title: Purchase and Market in the Airline Industry facing an uncertain society Authors: Josefin Plantin and Lisa Wendt
Tutor: MaxMikael Wilde Björling Date: 2020-12-09
Key Terms: Pandemic; Tourism; Consumer Decision-Making; Consumer Attitudes ______________________________________________________________________
Abstract
Background: Several crises have passed and today, the world is witnessing the pandemic Covid-19. As a consequence, society is affected at large where new insights and attitudes are born. Existing literature suggests that a crisis may be a crucial determinant in shaping one’s attitudes and actions, and therefore marketing needs to adapt to these new attitudes and expectations. Involving consumers' perception of this issue, together with companies’ views within the industry, lies the foundation for this research to investigate any changing consumer attitudes towards the airline industry during Covid-19.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumer attitudes have changed within the airline industry in Sweden due to the Covid-19 pandemic, applying both consumers’ and companies’ perspectives to provide managerial implications for marketers.
Method: With an interpretive nature, the study is qualitative added by quantitative measures, hence stated as multi-method. Primary data is collected through an analytical survey and four semi-structured interviews.
Findings: Investigating attitudes from economic, social and environmental perspectives, the study concludes that consumer attitudes have changed in several perspectives while some attitudes stay consistent with pre-crisis attitudes, hence not directly affected by the crisis. The empirical findings are coherent with the conceptual framework, explaining the complexity of the tourism airline industry and how new attitudes that arise from the Covid-19 pandemic is a predictor of future behavior during the crisis, which may be useful for future crises to come.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ... i
Abstract ... ii
Table of Contents ... iii
1
Introduction ... 1
1.1 Background ... 1 1.2 Problem Discussion ... 2 1.3 Research Purpose ... 3 1.4 Research Question ... 42
Theoretical Framework ... 5
2.1 Systematic Collection of the Literature Review ... 5
2.2 Pandemic... 6 2.2.1 Covid-19 ... 6 2.3 Tourism ... 7 2.3.1 Airline Industry ... 7 2.3.2 Mobility ... 8 2.3.3 Tourism Trends ... 8 2.4 Consumer Decision-Making ... 9 2.4.1 Consumer Behavior ... 9
2.4.2 Consumer Decision-Making Process ... 9
2.5 Consumer Attitudes ... 11 2.5.1 Attitude Formation... 11 2.5.1.1 ABC Model ... 11 2.5.2 Prediction of Behavior ... 12 2.5.3 Attitude Categories ... 13 2.5.3.1 Economic ... 13 2.5.3.2 Social ... 14 2.5.3.3 Environmental ... 14 2.6 Conceptual Framework ... 16
3
Methodology ... 17
3.1 Research Paradigm ... 17 3.2 Research Approach ... 17 3.3 Research Design ... 183.4 Method for Quantitative Data ... 18
3.4.1 Primary Data ... 18 3.4.2 Sampling Approach ... 18 3.4.3 Surveys ... 19 3.4.3.1 Formation of Scale ... 19 3.4.3.2 Formation of Questions ... 20 3.4.3.3 Non-Response ... 20 3.4.4 Data Analysis ... 21
3.5 Method for Qualitative Data ... 21
3.5.1 Primary Data ... 21
3.5.2 Sampling Approach ... 22
3.5.3 Semi-structured Interviews ... 22
3.5.5 Data Analysis ... 24
3.6 Ethics ... 24
3.6.1 Anonymity and Confidentiality ... 25
3.6.2 Credibility ... 25 3.6.3 Transferability... 26 3.6.4 Dependability ... 26 3.6.5 Confirmability... 26
4
Empirical Findings ... 27
4.1 Quantitative Data ... 27 4.1.1 Background Factors ... 284.1.2 The Effect of Covid-19 ... 28
4.1.3 Economic ... 31
4.1.4 Social ... 32
4.1.5 Environmental... 34
4.1.6 Other Empirical Findings ... 35
4.2 Qualitative Data ... 37
4.2.1 Economic ... 37
4.2.1.1 Survive Financially ... 40
4.2.2 Social ... 41
4.2.2.1 Internal Social Company ... 42
4.2.3 Environmental... 42
4.2.3.1 Fundamental in a Long-term Perspective... 44
4.2.4 Other Empirical Findings ... 46
5
Analysis ... 48
5.1 Economic ... 48
5.1.1 The Covid-19 Effect ... 48
5.1.2 Consumer Attitudes ... 49
5.1.3 Changed Predicted Behavior ... 50
5.1.4 Extended Decision-Making Process ... 50
5.2 Social ... 51
5.2.1 The Covid-19 Effect ... 51
5.2.2 Consumer Attitudes ... 52
5.2.3 Changed Predicted Behavior ... 53
5.3 Environmental... 55
5.3.1 The Covid-19 Effect ... 55
5.3.2 Consumer Attitudes ... 56
5.3.3 Changed Predicted Behavior ... 56
5.3.4 Extended Consumer Decision-Making Process... 57
5.4 Additional Analysis ... 58 5.4.1 Previous Crises ... 58 5.4.2 Future Marketing ... 59 5.4.3 Background Factors ... 60 5.4.4 Ethical Perspective... 61
6
Conclusion ... 62
7
Discussion ... 63
7.1 Theoretical Contributions ... 63 7.2 Managerial Implications ... 637.3 Limitations ... 64
7.4 Suggestions for Future Research ... 64
8
References ... 65
9
Appendices ... 72
9.1 Appendix 1 - Interview Protocol ... 72
9.2 Appendix 2 – Consent Form ... 73
9.3 Appendix 3 – Survey informational letter ... 74
9.4 Appendix 4 – Survey questions ... 75
9.5 Appendix 5 – Frequency Schedule ... 77
9.6 Appendix 6 – SPSS Analysis ... 78
1
Introduction
The section presents the background of the research area, highlighting the effect of Covid-19 on society and consumer attitudes. Thereafter, a problem is discussed, establishing the purpose of the study and outlining the research question.
1.1
Background
Human society has over the years been through several crises, affecting labor markets, household incomes, and poverty. A crisis may be for a short period of time, however its impact often shows long-term implications regardless of character, affecting both single individuals and societies at large (Fallon, 2020). Potential results of crises are that people either face psychological growth with changed attitudes, or return to old patterns without changed attitudes. Sometimes it may prevent progress and put society and living on pause, while sometimes it allows new eras to arise, with new attitudes and behavior based on lessons learned. Hence, a crisis may be a crucial determinant in shaping one's attitudes and actions (Hoff et al., 2009). A common definition of a crisis is “a serious occasion or turning point presenting both danger and opportunity” (Hoff et al., 2009, p. 4). While the last generation faced the Caribbean crisis of 1962 (Sergeev et al., 1990), the Millennials went through a changed way of living according to the 9/11 attack. Acute effects were shown by shock and loss of life, although soon after the economy was damaged, air travel was disrupted and uncertainty appeared in security and financial markets (Gould & Klor, 2012).
Today, the world is witnessing the impingement of a pandemic named Covid-19, affecting at least 216 countries on all continents, facing similar issues as earlier crises (WHO, 2020d). At a glance of the current virus spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) claims 1 397 139 confirmed deaths and almost 60 000 000 confirmed cases, yet still counting and far from all cases are reported. Covid-19, usually spoken as the Coronavirus, has changed the condition of living on earth during its existence in a tremendous rampage. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a severe impact on the airline industry where for instance SAS lost ten billion of their revenues during 2020 (SAS, 2020). This followed by layoffs leading to peoples’ financial sufferings and the
restrictions of travel prevented people from flying. In March, the US announced a thirty-day travel ban to most of Europe, the EU enforced travel bans, and countries went into full lockdown. The consequences of countries closing their borders was reduced flight frequency, consequently, the entire industry almost stopped during spring 2020 (Ibboston, 2020).
Due to this pandemic with diverse restrictions and financial opportunities around the world, people are living differently with new routines, thus, shaping new insights and attitudes that may affect their behaviors. As the prime minister Stefan Löfven expresses during an interview with TV4 on the 3rd of December, there is a tendency to see Swedes changing their behavior when it comes to traveling (TV4, 2020). As new public attitudes were shaped after 9/11 leading to civil liberties and war (Gould & Klor, 2012), attitude and behavior changes may follow a pattern post-crisis. Therefore, marketers play a crucial role in order to meet the new attitudes and expectations. The phenomenon of this research rises in how there has been any changing attitudes towards the tourism airline industry during the Covid-19 pandemic and to investigate the companies’ viewpoints operating in the industry. The phenomenon rises because of the industry's rapid decrease in flight frequency and consumption of traveling.
1.2
Problem Discussion
Regarding purchasing decisions within tourism, previous studies claim these to be highly interpersonal and emotional, and therefore need to be thoroughly examined, to understand how attitudes within traveling interrelate with such a broad consumption environment (Scott et al. 2014). Additionally, Mitran and Bebeselea (2012) highlight the importance of adopting marketing strategies to environmental changes since consumers are affected by both internal and external factors, but also because marketing acts in such a dynamic climate in today’s society. Due to the comprehensive change within the entire environment during a crisis, adoption becomes even more important. Purchasing high-involvement products or services, relevant to the tourism airline industry, consumers tend to search for more information due to its high degree of personal relevance and importance (Papathanassis & Knolle, 2011).
Covid-19 is a recent phenomenon, accordingly, a limited amount of research is to be found. Loxton et al. (2020) claim that basic needs such as food, water, and medication are prioritized until the threat of Covid-19 has subsided. Additionally, Sheth (2020) states that the effects of Covid-19, such as lockdown and social distancing, contribute to significant changes in consumer attitudes. The attitudes can be described as something that develops with time and is lasting when people determine behavior and choices.
Statistics show that Swedes flew 14 610 000 times year 2019, both for business and pleasure (Tillväxtverket & SCB, 2019) indicating that Swedes generally travel by airplane to a large extent. The novelty of Covid-19 arises a problem that attitudes within the airline industry in Sweden today are not yet investigated. A research gap can further be determined where economic, social, and environmental factors are examined when investigating changed attitudes during a crisis. As for this research, the Swedish participants' actual attitudes need to be examined in order to be a predictor of how they choose airline traveling further, enabling useful recommendations for marketing strategies ahead.
1.3
Research Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate how there are any changing consumer attitudes within the airline industry in Sweden due to the Covid-19 pandemic, applying both consumers’ and companies’ perspectives to provide managerial implications for marketers. Hence, this study will be of exploratory nature. Discussing the airline industry, it may be viewed as one business- and one private tourism sector, where this study only focuses on the latter. Even though traveling attitudes may already be discovered, the time has changed ever since. Consumption changes within the tourism air travel during the crisis are obviously shown through numerical fact, but attitudes during Covid-19 is still reasonably uncertain without further investigations. This study identifies an interspace between the consumption changes in the industry and the consumers’ present attitudes towards the industry, facing the crisis.
Through exploratory nature, the paper uses initial research seeking to understand more about the topic by developing a theory, and since it is a new phenomenon it adds value
and purpose to this paper. Investigating the crisis combined with eventual changing attitudes within has relevance in contemporary society. This paper focuses on adding knowledge within existing literature in the airline industry by presenting consumer changing attitudes, but also the company's viewpoint as a supplement where internal experiences are connected to consumer experiences. Additionally, it may be valuable for marketers beyond the specific industry, using any or all perspective for reference, yet with awareness that attitudes may adjust. Finally, marketing recommendations regarding consumer attitudes during Covid-19 may be essential for new future crises to be faced.
1.4
Research Question
How have consumers attitudes changed within the tourism airline industry during the Covid-19 pandemic?
2
Theoretical Framework
The section presents an overview of existing theories and literature of the research area. The theoretical framework is formed in an attempt to create a conceptual framework, guiding researchers throughout the entire paper. It starts with outlining a systematic collection of the literature and continues with a comprehensive investigation of the key terms for this paper; Pandemic, Tourism, Consumer Decision-Making, and Consumer Attitudes.
2.1
Systematic Collection of the Literature Review
To gain a relevant and comprehensive theoretical framework, a systematic approach has been used within the literature review process. This process can be outlined through three stages; Identification of the scope, Establishment of key literature, and Analysis of the literature. This procedure contributes to a deeper knowledge with valuable insights within the chosen key areas.
The study mainly draws on literature collected at online databases such as Primo, Google Scholar and the JU Library using keywords within fields of Pandemic (Crisis & Covid-19), Tourism (Mobility, Trends, & Airline industry), Consumer Decision-Making (Process & Behavior), and Consumer Attitudes (Attitude formation). Studies regarding economics, sociality, environmentalism, and sustainable tourism have additionally been examined. These are used and combined differently to discover relevant literature. Moreover, a systematic screening of abstracts and summaries has been executed enabling the researchers to discover relevant articles. Also, the articles used are published in peer-reviewed journals to ensure quality and credibility (Appendix 7). The timeframe that is adapted when collecting articles starts from 2004 until today, to ensure relevance of the topic chosen, however, a couple of older articles are used due to their great contribution within specific areas of theory such as Sergeev et al. (1990) and Engel et al. (1968).
2.2
Pandemic
The term pandemic has its roots in Greek; pan (all) and demos (people) which reflects its widespread nature (Morens et al., 2020). The event of a pandemic appears when a new influenza virus emerges to which most people do not have immunity, thus, the virus is spread over the world. Pandemics share several characteristics with regular seasonal influenza such as affecting people of all ages and the highest activity often occurs during usual influenza seasons.
2.2.1 Covid-19
WHO states that in December 2019, a new virus in Wuhan in China was found and spread rapidly (2020b). At this point, the world was incognizant about the fact that this virus will be the next pandemic within this world. In a couple of months, the virus was spread to all continents, however, Covid-19 was not stated as a pandemic until March 12th (WHO, 2020b). Covid-19 can be defined as an infectious disease that is caused by a coronavirus, which in turn can be described as a large family of viruses that affects both humans and animals. For humans, coronaviruses are known as respiratory infections that can be as any other cold to more severe diseases, such as Covid-19. The transmission of Covid-19 primarily appears between people through small droplets from contained people’s nose or mouth (WHO, 2020a). Hence, social distancing is a prior commitment needed to obstruct the transmission.
WHO (2020c) warns that Covid-19 is a global crisis that requires a global response. However, Covid-19 is also present at a local level with diverse infrastructures, affecting all aspects of peoples’ lives and consequently, the virus is not equally received (Meade, 2020). Social distancing and hygiene are global commitments, but since countries have faced the crisis differently, several restrictions differ geographically. In Sweden, almost 500 000 people have lost their jobs and almost 600 000 people have been, or still are, permitted from their jobs (Ekonomifakta, 2020)(SCB, 2020). Crowdings of more than a certain number have been forbidden throughout the crisis, as fifty persons during spring 2020, as well as traveling longer than certain hours, as two hours during spring 2020 (Folkhälsomyndigheten, 2020a). These restrictions have been updated and correlated throughout the year, and there is no doubt that the restrictions affect society at large.
However, peoples’ attitudes play an important role both in marketing of companies, but also when determining society's readiness to accept the restrictions and changes stated by the authorities (Azlan et al., 2020). This could either facilitate the process due to the reliability of authorities or complicate the process as a consequence of bad attitudes or ignorance. With this said, studying the airline industry and consumer attitudes due to the effects of Covid-19 is an extremely topical area, yet not fully discovered.
2.3
Tourism
The World Tourism Organization (2020) claims tourism is one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in the world and a major player in international commerce, enabling income-earning opportunities. It also attracts different lifestyles, intelligence, value systems, beliefs, and traditions contributing to greater gender equality and intercultural tolerance. Further, it makes optimal use of environmental resources to maintain the essential ecological processes and to conserve biodiversity. All described contributions; economic, social and environmental, together create the foundation of ‘sustainable tourism development’ (World Tourism Organization, 2020). This concept claims to be a continuous process that requires both preventive and corrective actions when necessary, such as restrictions which are highly relevant during Covid-19.
Tourism may be conceptualized as a cultural, social and economic phenomenon that entails the movement of people to places outside their usual environment (World Tourism Organization, 2020). Higgins-Desbiolles et al. (2019) suggest tourism be a ‘social force’, a business sector or industry, narrowing the concept excessively. Therefore, tourism can also be defined through a mobility approach; an expression of lifestyle identified through voluntary travel or voluntary temporary change of residence (Higgins-Desbiolles et al., 2019).
2.3.1 Airline Industry
The airline industry cannot be treated like other industries when examining consumers’ patterns, choices and behaviors due to its complexity of product demand, price sensitivities and decision-making process. In addition, it does not follow the course for
ordinary goods in the sense that price increments diminish consumption (Masiero & Nicolau, 2012). Pricing is autocorrelated to previously realized demand shocks, making price endogeneity a prominent issue in contrast to other industries such as ordinary products (Li et al., 2014). In comparison to price fluctuations in for instance technological and seasonal products, the changes in the airline industry seem difficult to predict. Li et al. (2014) claim how consumers are aware and accept the fact that seatmates may have paid less for essentially the same seat, which lies a foundation of interest for exploring attitudes within the certain industry.
2.3.2 Mobility
The implementation of restrictions within aviation has global and long-term impacts on air transport mobility. Nižetić (2020) reveals in his case-study on air transport mobility in the EU that April 2020 was the peak of impact, with a reduction of flights in the EU region by 89%. Additionally, it was reduced by 96% within investigated airports. With closed borders and travel regulations, tourists are either forbidden or discouraged to travel leaving the air travel mobility to a large extent limited to business travel during the pandemic, hence without private tourism. Verified by this observation by Nižetić (2020), Zagreb airport had a mobility of 2659 flights for January while 100 flights for April. For Split airport, the number of passengers went from 36741 in January to zero in April (Nižetić, 2020). The two examples show consequently how the choices for Swedish consumers drastically decreases in their purchasing, leaving the immobility crucial for this paper.
2.3.3 Tourism Trends
Competition in the airline industry has sharpened in the last 20 years because of the emergence of new destinations and more opportunities (OECD, 2010). OECD (2010) claims that there is generally a tendency for increased frequent trips throughout the year with shorter individual stays. Yet in times of crisis, more Swedish tourists tend to stay at, or close to home, keeping the domestic tourism business relatively high. A publication by Dow Jones Institutional News in August (2020) states that the pandemic has boosted interest in domestic tourism. Additionally, the tourism industry is slowly recovering from the crisis thanks to domestic tourists (AllAfrica, 2020). While there have been delays in
recovery in the tourism sector overall, an upcoming trend for summer 2020 has been a shifted focus to staycations close to their own local area, hence, raising revenues at hotels from domestic travelers (Nasdaq, 2020). Thus, while triggering a lockdown of frontiers, the opposite has happened at the national level (Seraphin & Dosquet, 2020). A trend interesting to follow is how countryside areas and coastal areas have grown in interest, and that second-home and mountain tourism have increased. An explanation by Seraphin and Dosquet (2020) is that people are traveling away from their homes to more rural areas for the purpose of physical and psychological well-being. Furthermore, these types of holidays may be more affordable than traveling internationally, allowing tourists affected economically by the crisis to still enjoy their holiday (Seraphin, & Dosquet, 2020).
2.4
Consumer Decision-Making
2.4.1 Consumer BehaviorConsumer behavior is an ever topical concept with a growing interest in several areas, especially within marketing. Solomon et al. (2006, p.6) define the concept as “the study of the processes involved when individuals or groups select, purchase, use or dispose of products, services, ideas or experiences to satisfy needs and desires”. Solomon et al. (2006) also highlight the importance of looking at the entire consumption process and not merely the moment of exchange since it is equally important to screen the consumer before, during, and after a purchase. The actual demand in the airline industry is a result of changed consumer attitudes, hence, investigating how these behaviors come about is relevant.
2.4.2 Consumer Decision-Making Process
Examining consumers’ decision-making process is of high importance in order to understand consumer attitudes and behavior (Goworek & McGoldrick, 2015). Accordingly, it is the key for successful marketing strategies (Panwar et al., 2019) (Darley et al., 2010). Several models exist relevant for this task, however, the Engel–Kollat– Blackwell (EKB) model is one of the most prominent models used within marketing. The EKB-model evaluates consumers’ decision-making process through five steps; Problem
Recognition, Information Search, Evaluation of Alternatives, Purchase Decision, Post-purchase Evaluation (Darley et al., 2010), which are developed by Engel et al. (1968) (Figure 1). According to Wolny and Charoensuksai (2014), this model is mainly applicable for high-involvement products and services due to its schematic representation of consumer cognitive processes. Since tourism travel services and products represent high-involvement products, this model is preferred when studying travel consumer behavior (Papathanassis & Knolle, 2011). Additionally, it is of high importance to study instances of changing consumer behaviors in response to financial and natural crises (Loxton et al., 2020), hence, fundamental when developing marketing strategies. However, there are situations when the consumer does not walk through all these steps and heuristics decisions are made (Nuraeni et al., 2015).
Several studies acknowledge that the travel decision-making process is even more complex than the EKB-model presents (Vinerean, 2014) (Gardiner et al., 2013) (Nuraeni et al., 2015). First, Vinerean highlights the importance of understanding the most powerful variables that motivate and influence tourists to make particular purchases, both consciously and unconsciously. Second, marketing managers need to study consumers’ needs and preferences but also tourism market segmentation and motivational factors such as status, cultural, personal and emotional (Vinerean, 2014). Lastly, it is important to study the group and individual dynamics affecting the consumer decision-making process and their generational perspective due to its complexity (Gardiner et al., 2013). To conclude, the decision-making process is affected by internal, external, psychological variables, and non-psychological variables that need to be determined within tourism marketing. Sirakaya and Woodside (2005) therefore highlights the necessity of developing tourist decision models based on the real-world influences and other relevant factors influencing purchases of different tourism services.
2.5
Consumer Attitudes
Solomon et al. (2006) explain the term attitude to be a lasting general evaluation of people, objects, advertisements or issues. It tends to endure over time and applies to more than a moment; meaning an attitude is lasting and general. Solomon et al. (2006) further clarify how shaped attitudes determine people’s behavior, relationships, decisions, choices and directions on a daily basis.
2.5.1 Attitude Formation
The traditional consumer decision-making process explains that information search to some extent is done internally, focusing on recalling stored information. Lamb et al. (2018) express how attitudes shaped towards different alternatives are crucial in whether that alternative will be considered in the buying process. Consumers’ attitudes are a crucial component in marketing strategies since it decides whether a product or service will be attractive and recalled. As for this paper, one of the consequences of a crisis may be changed consumer behavior. The crucial question is how these consumer behaviors come about. Thus, the research needs to investigate attitudes and how they are formed at first.
2.5.1.1 ABC Model
Several researchers agree that an attitude consists of three components; affect, behavior and cognition; constructing the ABC model. The way a consumer feels about an attitude object refers to affect, while cognition is the beliefs the consumer has about an attitude object. To have the intention to do something with regard to an attitude object refers to behavior. Hence, the model emphasizes an interrelation between feeling, knowing and doing. The relative impact of the components can be explained through a hierarchy of effects, where each hierarchy presents a fixed sequence of steps that occurs when forming an attitude (Mathew, 2016).
• Standard learning hierarchy goes from forming beliefs about an object by accumulating beliefs and knowledge regarding attributes, to later on evaluate beliefs to form a feeling known as an effect, to finally engage in behavior based
on the evaluation. Attitudes are based on cognitive information processing and are often relevant for high-involvement purchases.
• Low-involvement hierarchy takes the consumers’ beliefs and acts on the basis of limited knowledge, forming an evaluation only after the purchase is done. Attitude comes about through behavioral learning.
• The experiential hierarchy means that consumers act on basis of their emotional reactions such as how the purchase makes them feel. Hence resulting attitudes will be affected by hedonic motivations (Mathew, 2016).
2.5.2 Prediction of Behavior
According to Glasman and Albarracín (2006), their meta-analysis of the attitude-behavior relation indicates that attitudes have a strong correlation with future behavior. Especially, when these attitudes were confident and where participants had direct experience with the attitude object indicates that they were easy to recall and stable over time, which Solomon et al. (2006) confirm. Direct experiences and personal involvement induce customers to think about their attitudes, increasing availability of it as a prediction of future behavior (Glasman & Albarracín, 2006).
Contradictory, several studies have obtained a low correlation between reported attitudes towards something and the actual behavior. Solomon explains an issue regarding it:
“This questionable linkage can be a big headache for advertisers when consumers love a commercial yet fail to buy the product” (Solomon, 2006, p. 155).
Some studies claim past purchase behavior to be a better predictor of future behavior than the intention, including uncontrollable factors inhibiting the prediction of behavior. This may be social pressure, outcomes out of the buyer’s control, or that the act of buying is more valid than the object itself. The extended Fishbein model suggests a gap between intention versus behavior, referring to the influence of social pressure. To conclude, attitudes may be used to predict behavior, although this study is aware of the questionable linkage. Tracking attitudes involves administration of attitude surveys at regular intervals, which is valuable for long-term strategic decision-making (Solomon et al., 2006).
2.5.3 Attitude Categories
Gössling and Hall (2006) mention the ‘destination life cycle model’, suggesting any destination to inevitably decline in interest amongst tourists if economic, social or environmental conditions become less favorable at that place. To suggest a lasting and fair travel industry, sustainable tourism may be conceptualized as "tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities" (World Tourism Organization, 2020). As for this paper, attitudes are divided into three larger categories reflecting the actuality of tourism through economic, social and environmental perspectives, due to its essentiality within the decision-making process of tourism.
2.5.3.1 Economic
Examining economic attitudes, comprehensive valuation of money in decision-making may be found based on factors such as income, private economy, layoffs, and price sensitivity. Gardiner et al. (2013) explain how consumer value perceptions are conceptualized as a split into functional and hedonic value considerations. Emotional and novelty value lies at heart for hedonic value, while the value for money and quality for functional. The most notable functional value is the perceived monetary cost of traveling relative to what is received, hence its value for money. Consumers make price comparisons to avert loss and maximize their benefits (Gardiner et al., 2013). Tourists usually expect their purchase to arouse pleasure and excitement rather than what is necessary, and a purchase delivering emotional or novelty value lies the foundation for hedonic value assessment (Gardiner et al., 2013) (Lu et al., 2016). Lu et al. (2016) elaborate on how utilitarian consumption is linked to necessities, while hedonic consumption may be linked to luxuries.
Background factors can affect economic attitudes, such as gender and age. Erceg et al. (2018) discuss how women may be more communal and supportive of social equality thus, concerning others. Further, they discuss how men are more market and business-oriented, resulting in more violence and competition. Discussing age, younger and more educated people may see foreign competition as something good. However, Erceg et al. (2018) also state that a large part of the variance of economic attitudes still lies untapped,
hence not fully answering the origins and true structure of people’s attitudes about economy.
Regarding tourism, Nicolau and Masiero (2013) claim that segmentation allows tourism organizations to structure segments formed by price sensitivities, hence adapting prices based on individual demand. The same authors claim in another study made, that evidence contains how price responses are diverse and complexed in tourism products. Therefore, it challenges the idea that demand for these products can be connected to demand other goods (Masiero & Nicolau, 2012).
2.5.3.2 Social
Social interactions increase well-being, reporting positive effects of social events and activities whereas people tend to recall socialized events as positive (Sandstrom & Dunn, 2014). Social preferences, also called social utility, regard the payoffs and intentions of others. It includes a person’s willingness to cooperate and whether it results in social utility (Henrich et al., 2004). In contrast, social distancing during Covid-19 has been voluntarily driven by its dissemination and risk. Accordingly, social distancing will arise during crises as Covid-19, regardless of interventions and restrictions since they coordinate predisposed individuals (Maloney & Taskin, 2020).
Discussing the tourism airline industry, perceived density dimensions may affect the purchase decision; positive as socializing and negative as personal space violation and discomfort (Jacobsen et al., 2019). Tourists can adapt to crowding situations by avoiding areas with many visitors, where in general short-travel tourists are more susceptible to crowding compared to long-travel tourists (Schuckert & Wu, 2020). Long-travel tourists seem to favor cultural attractions while shorter trips are purchased to achieve leisure and relaxation. Additionally, cruise passengers and charter consumers seem more tolerant toward crowding compared to the self-organized tourists (Jacobsen et al., 2019).
2.5.3.3 Environmental
Environmental attitudes cover thoughts regarding environmental changes, awareness of climate changes, and future-oriented consciousness, and at an individual level with
personal commitment. Earlier studies underline a multidimensional nature of its concept including cognitive, affective and evaluative factors that influence post environmental behavior. A strong interconnection among beliefs, values, attitudes and knowledge has been emphasized as a foundation for behavior (Telesiene & Gross, 2017). Telesiene and Gross (2017) highlight that the young generation differs from previous ones since they seem to be more socially and environmentally conscious in consumption behavior. Although, post environmental behavior is not always based on positive environmental attitudes since influencing factors such as behavioral intention play as a mediator, similar to the presented Fishbein model. Certain behavior mediated through behavioral intentions enables prediction of the behavior. For instance, one may save water if that person is willing to sacrifice its own living standard for the environmental good. The environmental attitudes behind these intentions are in turn formed individually by world views and beliefs (Telesiene & Gross, 2017). The empirical findings of the paper may therefore depend on the participants’ gathered knowledge, beliefs, and views on Covid-19 from their contexts and surroundings.
Climate changes may lead to new attitudes towards the environment amongst travelers, thus influencing their decisions. First, changing the choice of destination based on expectations from the chosen place lies a crucial foundation for decision-making, where the role of climate information is proved to be a principal attribute (Gössling & Hall, 2006). Along with increased climate impact comes changed attractiveness in destinations. This is crucial in decision-making where tourists are influenced to change destinations instead of preferences by just traveling elsewhere (Gössling & Hall, 2006). Additionally, environmental contributions from consumers’ viewpoints may impact tourism decisions. Stoddart and Nezhadhossein (2016) refer to ‘ecotourism’ to interact with nature through environmental awareness and responsibility amongst tourists. The unconsciousness and denial amongst consumers drive the airline industry to grow faster where some tourists seem to believe that individual behavioral change is irrelevant. Simultaneously, others prioritize and consider environmental contributions in their traveling decisions (Gössling & Peeters, 2007).
2.6
Conceptual Framework
All concepts discussed sums up the complexity of the tourism airline industry and the attitudes during a crisis, thus, creating a tailored-made model for this investigation. First, separating the concept of pandemics in general and Covid-19. Accordingly, the chosen attitude-perspectives; Economical, Social, Environmental is applicable. The social distancing and immobility are definite characteristics of Covid-19 leading the research toward the tourism airline industry.
The model of the theoretical framework presented (Figure 2) discusses the key terms pandemic, tourism, consumer decision making and consumer attitudes to meet the specified purpose and research question. It is developed and recombined in another approach to explaining the key terms in this context and their interrelations. Amongst all crises, Covid-19 leads to complexity of both the tourism airline industry at large, as well as the consumers’ attitudes. This model suggests the economical, social and environmental attitudes be formed through the ABC model in a standard learning hierarchy. In the consumer decision-making process, tourism aviation is the industry and consumer attitudes are the foundation, both affected by several factors. It is extended specifically to fit this industry, leading to different purchase decisions and attitudes, hence, changed behavior. The model is relevant for analyzing the findings determining similarities and differences with the theoretical framework presented.
3
Methodology
The methodology and method chosen are expressed, starting with outlining the methodology through its Research Paradigm, Research Approach, and Research Design. The methods used for collecting and analyzing the different data are clarified followed by ethical considerations.
3.1
Research Paradigm
The research paradigm constitutes a philosophical framework of agreements between scientists regarding how problems should be addressed (Collis & Hussey, 2014). The two main paradigms create a foundation for the research philosophy; Positivism and Interpretivism. Positivism is commonly associated with quantitative, claiming only actual fact and equal reality to be trustworthy knowledge (Ryan, 2014). Contradictory, Ryan (2018) describes interpretivism as the actual opposite; anti-positivism. Interpretivism is an established research paradigm for qualitative research integrating the human interest in terms of already existing subjective meanings. Basically, to acknowledge, reconstruct and understand the meanings and use them within theory (Goldkuhl, 2017). This paper aims to gain a deep understanding of changed attitudes and predicted behavior during the crisis of Covid-19 acknowledging data deeply rooted within the subjective meanings; applying an interpretive approach.
3.2
Research Approach
Inductive and Deductive are two research approaches. When theory is developed through collection of empirical reality it is inducive. Contrary, deductive approach tests the validity of theory (Collis & Hussey, 2014). An interpretive paradigm and deductive research apply, starting with a collection of relevant theories, thus finding patterns in data to finally connect it to theory explaining the problem (Bryman, 2008). Specifically, conclusions are drawn on changed attitudes and predicted behavior in the airline industry during Covid-19.
3.3
Research Design
With an interpretive nature, the study is qualitative added by quantitative measures and can be stated as multi-method. Although, Goldkuhl (2017) states how the choice depends on underlying philosophical assumptions of the researcher. The methodology of qualitative research means finding meanings in research rather than measuring occurrence of a phenomenon, including interviews, observations, and focus groups. A survey and semi-structured interviews are sources of primary data for the study, where statistics is analyzed through a program named SPSS and a thematic analysis is conducted for qualitative data. Surveys are mainly used for quantitative studies, yet this study additionally consists of open-end questions requiring motivations for the scale-choice, allowing data to reveal underlying assumptions and potentially find patterns of reasons behind the stated attitudes. The survey hopes to reach a sufficiently large number of people so that data can facilitate making analytical generalizations regarding attitudes in the industry. Nevertheless, it is impossible to generalize an entire population, it still gives a small sense of the phenomena (Collis & Hussey, 2014).
3.4
Method for Quantitative Data
3.4.1 Primary DataPrimary data collection means collection directly aimed at contribution of a specific study. Observations, surveys, experiments and interviews are some among all alternatives. With lack of secondary data, meaning information collected about this case, excluding general sources of topic, primary data from original sources is crucial for drawing conclusions (Collis & Hussey, 2014). An E-survey is managed, meaning a written survey that is self-administered, with the aim of gaining large amounts of data throughout a shorter interval.
3.4.2 Sampling Approach
Restriction in access and money and above all the time-aspect, make sampling techniques useful to reduce the amount of primary data by taking an independent random subset from a population (Saunders et al., 2007). The analytical survey aims to determine patterns of
attitudes and describe certain attitude-related characteristics of people in the chosen industry. Convenience sampling is used as a method where the researchers choose respondents with possibility to participate at the time when asked, due to availability and accessibility (Christensen et al., 2016). The study notices that the sample may include selection bias, using people close to researchers’ own society in targeting. In opposition, the survey is implemented online without limiting it to certain geographics or demographics, although it only reached people living in Sweden. It allows others to share the survey within their network, resulting in 23 shares. As participants are staying anonymous besides stating gender, age and employment, the results are more properly handled when making judgments. The notation is outweighed by the strengths of the technique used in general, as least expensive and less time-consuming, considering the paper’s time frame and circumstances in a crisis (Taherdoost, 2016). The number of data reaches a confident amount of 170 answers where the collection ended when answers were repeated by the respondents.
3.4.3 Surveys
An analytical survey lies the foundation of the quantitative data aiming to find attitudes and patterns amongst the consumers. The convenience sampling is done through an E-survey, using the program named Google Form. Ease of use and accessibility facilitates the effectiveness of spread, hence capturing a larger respondent size (Hagevi & Viscovi, 2016). Digital surveys provide anonymity for the respondents hence allowing a greater scope of technical possibilities and a more effective way of collecting and compiling data (Christensen et al., 2016). As Folkhälsomyndigheten (2020b) urges to stay at home and keep social distance, E-survey is both efficient and well suited according to the circumstances (Christensen et al., 2016).
3.4.3.1 Formation of Scale
The ordinal scale, as common when studying consumers’ attitudes towards different products and services, appears in certain questions. It consists of a six-point scale, inviting answers of any number between 1 to 6 depending on how consistent it is in relation to respondents’ attitudes. However, the survey does not provide information about the distance between the numerical choices since that lies individually but is taken into
account when analyzing the answers (Christensen et al., 2016). The scale is formed to reveal attitudes by eliminating the bias of middle alternatives, receiving a direct attitude from the respondents. When questioning to what extent Covid-19 has affected respondents in any way, 1 means the smallest extent while 6 the largest. Additionally, the motivational open answer-sheet allows clarification and explanation of the chosen score.
3.4.3.2 Formation of Questions
Since it is vital to describe the aim of survey and purpose of the research, the survey starts with an introduction (See Appendix 3). The survey consists of 19 questions and by introducing initial questions about the respondents, they are helped to perceive it simple to answer while simultaneously receiving an overall picture of demographics. This facilitates the distribution of gender, age and employment in the analysis using nominal scales where only one alternative may be correct. The age groups are divided due to their shared and expected lifestyle. Questions are based on the research purpose, starting with asking the extent of effect from Covid-19 on the respondents, soon moving into the three categories of attitudes examined. Finally, perceptions of airline companies are asked, focusing on marketing strategies and services offered in relation to trustworthiness, how well it affects purchasing decisions, as well as a future-oriented question. (See Appendix 4). Through a pilot test, feedback of uncertainty is received along with obstacles that the test-respondents encountered throughout answering, to add validity and reliability. Finally, consciousness of derivation is a critical part of the formulation of questions to add confirmability (Christensen et al., 2016).
3.4.3.3 Non-Response
Possibility of non-response answers and disappearance of answers to voluntary questions exists and is noticed such as the study is well thought out keeping all questions compulsory. Therefore, questions are carefully designed as not sensitive or provocative, using employment in general such as “student”, “worker” and “retired” instead of asking for roles, wages, or employer. Though some respondents may not express a total motivation used as qualitative findings, few of even one word describing their attitudes may still be helpful in the creation of word clouds in quantitative findings. It may generate more answers as respondents are kept anonymous throughout the whole survey.
3.4.4 Data Analysis
With 170 conducted answers to the survey, the result is reviewed and coded through Excel and transferred to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). To transfer into SPSS to later analyze the data, all questions with predetermined answers are handled one and one. Once imported to SPSS, questions are reformulated into themes rather than the actual questions which bring more visibility of answers in terms of charts. Instead of presenting the whole question, it may be coded as Effect of marketing in the buying process. A One-way ANOVA test is conducted through SPSS to test the level of significance regarding relation between different themes. Significance should score below 0,05 to be reliable, meaning to a 95% confidence interval that the results is not affected by chance (Barmark & Djurfeldt, 2015). The numerical scale-results are presented in form of bar- and pie charts, in addition to clustered bar charts and tables supported by One-way ANOVA tests to find relations in between answers.
The open-ended questions are compiled by common words to establish themes, thus undergoing a thematic analysis of survey responses, and summarized in a “word cloud” illustrating the overall picture of the frequency of responses. Though, fully explained insights are included as a part of the qualitative findings.
3.5
Method for Qualitative Data
3.5.1 Primary DataSAS, Reseguiden, and Apollo as original sources are interviewed in an attempt to cover broader perspective of the industry while keeping an unattached picture, through different companies with individual procedures, strategies, and services (Collis & Hussey, 2014). The approach allows gathering valuable information, from a company viewpoint, on how attitudes may have changed during Covid-19. An inductive nature allows in-depth insights to be collected through four semi-structured interviews conducted along with the analytical survey. Interview challenges are time required in arranging and conducting data along with risk of interviewee bias, while survey challenges are difficult ensuring great depth for the study (Business Research Methodology, 2020). Accordingly, tailoring the survey towards more open-ended questions with a 6-score scale of likelihood of
occurrence, together with in-depth semi-structured interviews allowing for dialogue and discussions, sums up to a balanced and even result which is valuable for future marketers.
3.5.2 Sampling Approach
Non-probability sampling regards qualitative research focusing on small samples to examine real-life phenomenon instead of making statistical inferences (Taherdoost, 2016). As for the interpretive paradigm, the purpose of collecting in-depth insights from the chosen industry and its consumers outweighs selection of an unbiased sample. Sampling method, argued as purposive sampling, is therefore used with respondents selected based on criteria, such as experience of the phenomenon of study (Saunders et al., 2007). The interviewees obtain knowledge within the industry working for currently operating companies in the field, which generates accurate and valuable information additionally to statistics.
3.5.3 Semi-structured Interviews
Recalling, the breadth of survey data is a comprehensive part of the study yet company viewpoint is crucial when examining the topic as an industry, what actions are taken and predictions in consumer behaviors further on and post-crisis. To add depth, participation from several individuals allows pursuit of detailed attitudes, discussions and speculations to a greater extent (Adams, 2015). As a comprehensive role in the Swedish airline travel industry, the companies were chosen accordingly. Yet facing a crisis leading to difficulties in reaching interviewees restricting the study to three large companies. To receive an overall view of the industry, they focus on different services such as; regular flights versus package offers, airline company versus travel agency (Table 4). Two respondents representing one company still contribute to the research revealing different angles of the topic as working in different roles.
The four respondents for participating are required to have the broader strategic picture of the company but also the industry, within their roles. To catch interest and desire for participation, they are asked through a shorter letter of introduction by email where explaining the conditions and structure of the interview. This will further increase the
validity and reliability (Christensen et al., 2016). The crisis circumstances led the interviews to be executed by Google Meet. Video service remains the facial and non-verbal expressions, facilitating the communication process where credibility can grow stronger (Guest et al., 2013). A pilot test is a necessary stage to get insights and facilitate the sessions by allowing modification. Any unclear or out-of-topic questions are refined to put the content of protocol back in the right direction. A consent form is signed verbally, aiming to reach confidentiality before start recording. The interviews conducted are approximately 45 minutes to one hour where neither participant wished to stay anonymous, adding credibility to the primary data.
Developing well-crafted questions and a schedule to follow is essential for the results, since the content remains the most important element (Christensen et al., 2016). Adams (2015) highlights that the blend of closed- and open-ended questions, including follow-up questions like why and how are typical for semi-structured interviews. Accordingly, preparation of questions in the interview protocol is made beforehand. The focus of the questions lies within the industry overall, the consumer attitudes and behaviors, their marketing strategies pre-crisis and during crisis, and the different aspects of attitudes; economic, social and environmental. The flexibility of adding spontaneous questions is allowed to bring out the underlying meaning of responses (Collis & Hussey, 2014). As a common disadvantage for interviews is the small sample size, the paper views these four valuable insight interviews as a supplement for large-scale data gathered through the analytical survey.
3.5.4 Interview Questions
Keeping the themes and issues needed to be questioned is crucial while keeping the protocol flexible in order to allow an open interview climate (Christensen et al., 2016). The interview is open-ended based on supplementary questions to receive deeper knowledge. Starting with asking roles and history within the company and continuing with the effect of Covid-19 on the business and their consumers from three different perspectives gives valuable foundation. Further, marketing strategies and future predictions of consumer behavior are discussed. Questions use daily vocabulary to prevent misunderstandings and are concise for a non-leading purpose. Findings are noted
and sound-recorded ensure relevant content and quotes presented, which is clarified in consent form.
3.5.5 Data Analysis
Amongst methods available for analysis, a flexible way of deriving conclusions is through thematization. Crucial features found in light of the research question may be themes, representing a pattern as foundation for analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Further, themes facilitate dividing and separating all empirical data according to relevance.
Thematic analysis uses 6 stages (Figure 3) starting with familiarization with depth and breadth of data by repeated reading, so that ideas and identifications of patterns may be shaped. Coding is theory-driven; where specific questions are asked in mind of generating initial codes around them yet new still may be found. Mapping codes, similar or divided into categories and review themes by combining, separating, adding or withdrawing some (Braun & Clarke, 2006) is the third and fourth step. For instance, Survival factor for humanity and Reduce climate impacts is a fundamental question were initially separated but later became the theme Fundamental in a long-term perspective. In phase 5, this paper concludes and presents “Survive Financially”, “Internal Social Company”, and “Fundamental in a long-term perspective”as identified and named themes.
Figure 3 - Steps of thematic analysis
3.6
Ethics
Ethical considerations remain equally important regardless of a qualitative or quantitative study (Bell & Bryman, 2007) and need involvement throughout the whole research process. Ethics are the standards of behavior expected of an individual by a group where research ethics are the codes of behavior regarding the rights of the ones the research affects. Researchers should question complex ethical issues by involving organizations
and human subjects within the social sciences, assuring that all ethical consideration is taken into account throughout the study (Collis & Hussey, 2014).
3.6.1 Anonymity and Confidentiality
Maintaining anonymity and confidentiality of the participants is a vital aspect to prevent unwanted actions such as discrimination. The concept shares several characteristics but differentiates at some points; where anonymity regards protection of identity of an individual or organization and confidentiality involves protection of information supplied by them. The protection plays a crucial role in how research is outlined and findings disseminated (Bell & Bryman, 2007). For the study, interview participants agreed to share roles and names as vital for empirical findings. Contrary to the survey spread within a larger network, information besides age, gender and employment are in the survey unnecessary.
Stated in the introduction-part of the survey, respondents are informed about anonymity and confidentiality prior to taking part, which aims to enhance security and encourage free expression. The interviewees verbally sign a consent form that they are not anonymous, that participation is voluntary and that they have the right to read final research before publishing (See Appendix 2), increasing honesty and minimizing the risk of distorted answers (Christensen et al., 2016).
3.6.2 Credibility
Credibility is crucial assuring that the research has been conducted as the problem is stated by guaranteeing that readers can believe in the research (Collis & Hussey, 2014). The research question is referred to and answered throughout the entire paper, using well-established methods and models relevant to the research area, by using credible sources. The study reveals the interviewees’ professional role working in the field of topic, hence increasing credibility for empirical findings.
3.6.3 Transferability
The extent to which data apply to similar contexts refers to transferability and is generally not relevant for qualitative studies since it is narrow and specific but preferable making generalizations using quantitative studies (Cope, 2014) (Shenton, 2004). The interviews capture four people and three companies, complicating the process of transferability. Though, the study is multi-method where analytical survey may be transferable to some extent. Recall from research design, analytical generalization can be made regarding attitudes in the certain industry during Covid-19, meaning that result indicating to be in a certain way; where indications are transferable, though limited to a small sense of the phenomena and restricted to generalize an entire population (Collis & Hussey, 2014). Generalizability is limited to the ordinal six-point scale while the open-end questions are more specific answers with motivation for this single study case. For transferability, usefulness of numerical data is facilitated by a frequency schedule in Appendix 5.
3.6.4 Dependability
If the empirical findings are similar and comparable regardless of researcher and his or her profile, it can be considered as dependable. Hence, a crucial component is the auditability of data management (Koch, 2006). The two researchers analyze the empirical data separately giving individual insights for improved reliability. Tutoring sessions allow neutral peer-researchers to bring insights and valuable feedback. Finally, all interview records and survey documentation are saved for other researchers to examine, for improved validity (Anney, 2015).
3.6.5 Confirmability
It is especially important to consider ethics in presenting the interview data, to separate the dialogues between interviewer and interviewee. Concerning the analysis of survey data, the consciousness of derivation is critical for the result (Saunders et al., 2007). Maintenance of objectivity lies at heart for ethical considerations (Collis & Hussey, 2014). The data collection is performed precisely since the empirical data is stated as reported, excluding selectivity, bias and own thoughts. Cope (2014) argues that validity and reliability are captured by representing the respondent’s attitudes solely.
4
Empirical Findings
The section presents empirical findings from quantitative and qualitative data, connected to the conceptual framework. Findings are separated into two sections to demonstrate it clearly and comprehensively which facilitates answering the research question.
4.1
Quantitative Data
The data gathered is supported with Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) descriptive statistics in terms of frequencies. With a total of 170 responses, the empirical data is shown through a frequency schedule (Appendix 5) and bar- and pie charts, tables, and word clouds; while extended data from open-ended answers may be found in the qualitative paragraph. Forementioned word clouds are used for thematisation revealing different perceptions among consumers. This gives an overview of motivation for the respondent’s changed attitudes which may answer why and how their attitudes have been changed, giving real-life examples.
4.1.1 Background Factors
While 68% are women and 32% are men (Chart 1), it is an equal total of respondents in the majority age; over 50 as between 20-35 years old. Almost 15% are between 25 and 50 and 1% under 20 (Chart 2). Employment is more united where 7 out of 10 are working, 2 out of 10 are studying and the rest either non-working, retired or not specified. (Chart 3).
1. 2. 3.
Chart 1 - Distribution of gender Chart 2 - Distribution of age
Chart 3 - Distribution of employment
4.1.2 The Effect of Covid-19
Regarding the first question to what extent Covid-19 as a pandemic has affected the respondents; 4, 5 and 6 (out of 6) are the most frequent answers, yielding a very large extent (Chart 4). One-way ANOVA tests in SPSS show the background factors in relation to the effect of pandemic, where the level of significance should score below 0,05 to be reliable (Barmark & Djurfeldt, 2015). Investigating gender, women tend to some extent to be more affected than men (Table 1). This is confirmed by ANOVA-test where mean for women yields 4,47 while 3,94 for men (out of 6), and where significance level lies
within its comfort zone (Appendix 6). The mean reveals that younger people are least affected by Covid-19, older more affected, while age 35-50 the most affected (Table 2). The age in relation to the effect is confirmed with the means shown in the ANOVA-test, which is an accurate indicator since the significance level is 0,000, leaving no room being affected by chance (Appendix 6). Investigating employment (Table 3), ANOVA-test shows no relation between the effect of pandemic and the employment factor, since the significance level is way below the 95% confidence interval, yielding 0,301 (Appendix 6). Therefore, indications regarding relation to employment cannot be stated. Compared with the diverse answers in the pandemic’s effect overall, the travel restriction’s effects are more coherent, yielding a majority of responses within the highest extent (Chart 5). To conclude, the background factors indicate relations to the effect regarding gender and age such as their means can be indicators, while not for employment. The findings indicate how people may be affected to different extents, but agree more about the extent of effect regarding travel restrictions.
Chart 4 - Effect of the pandemic
Table 2 - Effect of the pandemic based on age
Table 3 - Effect of the pandemic based on employment
4.1.3 Economic
From an economic perspective, attitudes indicate no change regarding airline traveling overall. Findings reveal that 44% answered 1 out of 6, while 30% answered 2 out of 6. Following, the percentage results are 10%, 7%, 4% and 5% for 3 to 6. As strengthened by the One-way ANOVA analysis, the mean of the result of economic behavior rises coherently with the economic attitudes where there is a great level of significance (Appendix 6). Hence, economic factors such as private economy, savings, layoffs, etc. facing the crisis may not change one’s attitudes when traveling. This follows quite coherently with their predicted purchase behavior in the future regarding airline traveling (Chart 6) (Appendix 6). The frequent answers of non-behavioral change are the same respondents as for a non-attitude change, and vice versa. Thus, the ones with affected attitudes due to Covid-19 would also believe their behavioral change to be high accordingly. This indicates a correlation between attitudes and behavior, as in the conceptual framework.
The word cloud presents answers from open-ended questions where respondents motivate their changed attitudes from an economical perspective (Figure 4).
Figure 4 - Answers about changed economic attitudes
4.1.4 Social
The consumer viewpoint of this phenomenon agrees social attitudes be changed to a high extent towards airline traveling. To clarify (Chart 7), 27% of all respondents are affected to the highest extent and 24% to the second-highest, while 13%, 11%, 13% and 12% of the respondents perceive a lower change. As seen in the One-way ANOVA analysis with a great level of significance, behaviors are coherent with attitudes where more behavioral-change is predicted along with more attitudes-behavioral-change, since the mean rises accordingly (Appendix 6). The interplay in Chart 7 shows that for all 6/6-score attitudes-scale, the most frequent answer to behavior is also 6/6. Similar to non-change in attitudes, respondents predict no change in behavior. The pattern is, as well as for the economic perspective, coherent with the attitude-behavior relation revealed in the conceptual framework.
Chart 7 - Social attitudes versus behavior
The word cloud presents answers from open-ended questions where respondents motivate their changed attitudes from a social perspective (Figure 5).
