Role of Airport Physical Environments in the Satisfaction Generation Process: Mediating the Impact of Traveller Emotion

Abstract

As the use of international airports has been increasing, airports have emerged as a remarkable background in the tourism industry. To address this, the present study aimed at (1) investigating the relationships among the variables of airport physical environments, customer emotion, and satisfaction, (2) verifying which attribute of airport physical environments has significant impact on customer emotion, and (3) examining the mediating role of emotion between airport physical environments and customer satisfaction. The snowball method was introduced to collect the data. According to the findings from the structural analysis, three components of airport physical environments had decisive effects on pleasure. However, most of airport physical environments were insignificant on arousal, and arousal had invalid impact on satisfaction. Customer emotion was found as a partial mediator between the identical attributes of airport physical environments and customer satisfaction. Discussions and implications for airport practitioners, limitations, and suggestions for future research were also provided.

The effect of physical environment on passenger delight and satisfaction: Moderating effect of national identity

“…Spatial layout refers to the size, shape, and arrangement of machinery, equipment, and furnishings whereas functionality refers to the ability of these items to fulfill customer needs. Lastly, signs, symbols, and artifacts indicate tools that can provide customers with information about service facilities (Moon et al, 2015). Using this initial classification, other researchers have proposed essential dimensions of the physical environment for other contexts (see Table 1).…”

“…Consequently, service providers now focus on identifying how to develop positive behavioral intentions among customers by delighting them (Kim, Vogt, & Knutson, 2015). The physical environment in service industries is a critical determinant of customer emotion and positive responses (Ryu, Lee, & Kim, 2012), but little to no research has examined how the physical environment of international airports can develop customer delight and satisfaction (Jeon & Kim, 2012;Moon et al, 2015). Thus, this study was designed to begin filling this gap by revealing how airport physical environments influence passenger delight and satisfaction.…”

“…This has changed the airport's role to include entertainment (Moon et al, 2015), where increasingly, passengers and visitors significantly affect the financial success not just of the airlines but all of these service providers as well. For instance, in first quarter of 2015, Kuala Lumpur International Airport recorded terminal retail sales of $123 million (US), 3% higher than terminal retail sales in the year 2014 (www.trbusiness.com, 2015).…”

“…Consequently, we can assume an increasing number of passengers and other visitors to international airports. Given this context, where airports focus on developing strategies to ensure delightful experiences among visitors, their physical environments are steadily gaining more attention as part of that purpose (Ariffin & Yahaya, 2013;Moon et al, 2015).…”

“…This has caused higher demand for air transportation and rising passenger traffic globally (Moon, Yoon, & Han, 2015). For instance, after outsourcing the operations of their national airlines (Malaysia Airlines) and launching of budget airlines such as Air Asia and Malindo Air, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Malaysia has recorded a count of 15 million incoming international passengers during the first quarter of 2014, a 16% growth in passenger numbers, which follows a 19% growth rate in 2013, making it the fastest growing major airport in Asia (http://www.malaysiaairports.com.my).…”