Asia pacific journal of information systems

The Korea Society of Management Information Systems (한국경영정보학회)
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A Comparative Evaluation of Airline Service Quality Using Online Content Analysis: A Case Study of Korean vs. International Airlines

  • Peter Ractham (Thammasat Business School and Center of Excellence in Operations and Information Management, Thammasat University Bangkok) ;
  • Alan Abrahams (Department of Business Information Technology, Virginia Tech VA) ;
  • Richard Gruss (Department of Management Information Systems, Radford University VA) ;
  • Eojina Kim (Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Virginia Tech VA) ;
  • Zachary Davis (Davis College of Business, Jacksonville University FL) ;
  • Laddawan Kaewkitipong (Thammasat Business School and Center of Excellence in Operations and Information Management, Thammasat University Bangkok)
  • Received : 2021.03.01
  • Accepted : 2021.09.17
  • Published : 2021.12.31
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Abstract

Airlines can employ a variety of quality monitoring procedures. In this study, we employ a content analysis of 8 years of online reviews for Korean airlines in contrast to other international airlines. Online airline reviews are infrequent, relative to the total number of passengers - the number of reviews is multiple orders of magnitude lower than passenger volumes - and online airline reviews are, therefore, not representative of passenger attitudes overall. Nevertheless, online reviews may be indicative of specific service issues, and draw attention to aspects that require further study by airline operators. Furthermore, significant words and phrases used in these airline reviews may help airline operators to rapidly automate filtering, partitioning, and analysis of incoming passenger comments via other channels, including email, social media posts, and call center transcripts. The current study provides insights into the contents of online reviews of Korean vs Other-International airlines, and opportunities for service enhancement. Further, we provide a set of marker words and phrases that may be helpful for management dashboards that require automated partitioning of passenger comments.

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References

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