Online servicescape dimensions as predictors of website trust in the South African domestic airline industry

Abstract

Increased costs, competition and a dynamic environment have led to South African domestic airlines relying more on their own websites as outlets for airline tickets. Customers’ e-commerce uptake with respect to buying airline tickets online has been slow, attributed mostly to a lack of website trust. A well-designed online service scape has been identified as an important contributor to website trust by several authors, but not yet in this particular context or industry. This study investigates the extent to which three online service scape dimensions predict website trust in the South African domestic airline industry. A quantitative and descriptive research design was followed, and 300 responses were collected through self-administered questionnaires from domestic airline passengers who had purchased an airline e-ticket from a website. A multiple regression analysis indicates that online financial security is the best predictor of website trust, followed by layout and functionality and aesthetic appeal. Consequently, it is recommended that South African domestic airlines that wish to cultivate website trust should focus primarily on enhancing the online financial security of their websites, followed by customising the layout and functionality of their websites, and lastly improving aesthetic appeal by increasing the entertainment value of their websites.

The Effect of E-Servicescape Dimensions on Customer Trust of Tokopedia E-Store During Covid-19 Pandemic

“…This finding resembles Harris and Goode (2010), as they stated that aesthetic appeal has a positive and significant effect on Trust. Also, the research conducted by Kühn et al (2015), on the airline's website found that Aesthetic Appeal has a significant relationship with the Trust on the website.…”

“…This finding is similar to Harris and Goode (2010) because they stated that financial security has a positive and significant effect on customer trust in a website. Further, Kühn et al (2015), found on the airline's website that financial security also has a significant relationship with trust on its website.…”

“…Secure transaction is highly considered by online customers as well as easiness to pay. Kühn et al (2015), explained that despite the true benefits offered by e-commerce like better security and access to the updated information, lack of customer trust becomes the main obstacle of online exchange. Kim and Peterson (2017), said that online trust is an important construct that has been frequently studied in the e-commerce literature.…”

The Effect of E-Servicescape, Website Trust and Perceived Value on Consumer Online Booking Intentions: The Moderating Role of Online Booking Experience

“…As a result of the development of information technology and the growing number of website users, a lot of studies have transformed their focus from the physical environment (servicescape) to the online environment, which is used in different terms such as "e-escape (Koering, 2003)," "online servicescape (Harris & Goode, 2010;Kühn et al, 2019)," "virtual atmospherics (Abarbanel et al, 2015)," "digital servicescape (Ballantyne & Nilsson, 2017)," and "e-servicescape" (Hopkins et al, 2009;Lai et al, 2014;Lee & Jeong, 2012;Tankovic & Benazic, 2018;Teng et al, 2018;Wu et al, 2018).…”

“…Many studies have applied the e-servicescape dimensions of Harris and Goode in different online contexts such as online shopping (Tankovic & Benazic, 2018;Wu et al, 2018), the hospitality and tourism sector (Huang et al, 2017), and the airline sector (Kühn et al, 2019).…”