Thesis
Consumers' perceptions and selections of domestic vs. foreign airlines in the Arabian Gulf region : a survey among teachers in Qatar
- Creator
- Awarding institution
- University of Strathclyde
- Date of award
- 1997
- Thesis identifier
- T9247
- Qualification Level
- Qualification Name
- Department, School or Faculty
- Abstract
- This thesis investigates Qatari consumers' perceptions and selections of domestic vs. foreign airlines in the Arabian Gulf region, Qatar. The airlines used in this study are grouped into three categories: Gulf (named as "domestic"), Arab non-Gulf, and foreign airlines (named as "foreign"). The main objectives of this study are: (1) to understand customers' general perceptions of airlines in Qatar; (2) to examine country of origin (COO) effects on airline selection; (3) to understand country of origin (COO) effects on perceptions of quality, price and patriotic feelings and (4) to explore the relationships between demographic variables and COO effects. 430 questionnaires translated into Arabic were hand-delivered by the researcher to the headmasters and mistresses who were then asked to distribute them as randomly as possible among teachers in 100 schools in order to determine their perceptions and selections of Gulf vs. foreign airlines. Of the 430 teachers, 380 responses were received, of which 324 were usable questionnaires for final analysis resulting in a high response rate of 75.3. Overall, the findings of this research support the following main conclusions: 1. Domestic services had an unfavourable image in comparison to the foreign services and a favourable image compared with the Arab non-Gulf services. 2. Domestic services were perceived to have higher "prices in general" and to offer "more value for money" than the Arab non-Gulf services. But, when they were compared with foreign services, findings indicated that foreign services were perceived to have slightly more competitive prices and to offer better value for money than the Gulf services. 3. The demographic variables were relevant to few quality and price variables among the list used in this study. 4. In terms of consumers' selection of airline, the home country bias appeared to be more relevant in preferring services provided by the consumers' home-country to foreign ones. Moreover, significant relationships were found between gender and airline selection. Significant differences were also found between the consumers' perceptions of the quality and the price of the Gulf, Arab and foreign services in terms of ther selection of an airline. 5. Significant relationships were found between patriotism and consumers' perceptions of some of the domestic service quality variables but not with any of the price variables. 6. The 32 factors considered important in choosing an airline were factor analysed to define customer airline selection criteria The results showed that they could be summarised in six factors, namely performance, assurance, accessibility, frequency of flights, understanding/knowing the customer and trustworthiness. Significant relationships were found between the demographics of gender, marital status and income and factors considered important in choosing an airline. Finally an overall summary of the study, its contribution, limitations, and implications for further research are discussed.
- Resource Type
- DOI
- EThOS ID
- uk.bl.ethos.284514
- Date Created
- 1997
- Former identifier
- 541043
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