Instagram: A Gimmick or a Serious Reputation Builder in the Airline Business?

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to shed light on the interrelatedness between Instagram and corporate reputation, on the one hand, and customer service expectations, on the other. A conceptual model was proposed to be tested in the context of the civil aviation economy. A national flagship airline company was chosen in which to conduct the research. An online questionnaire was made available, and 283 responses were collected. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS SEM) was used to test the research hypotheses derived from the literature. The novelty of the work is in the scarce research found when scrutinising the literature on possible links between Instagram and airline corporate reputation. The study found a positive correlation between social media usage and corporate reputation in the airline sector. Future research needs to replicate this study across other airlines to ascertain the external validity of the current study and its potential for extrapolation.

Surviving and thriving through a crisis: a resiliency branding approach to transform airline industry

“…Customers prefer brands that follow safety measures, respect new norms, extend benefits and reassure communication to gain their confidence for physical interactions with customers. Brand communication is crucial during the pandemic as there were a lot of rumors and fake information in the marketplace that makes the vision of customers blur while preferring a brand (da Silva et al, 2021). The customers' access was restricted to markets due to lockdowns and they are dependent on the information from social media.…”