CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND REPURCHASE INTENTION TOWARD LOW COST AIRLINES IN THAILAND

Abstract

          The objectives of this study are to study the factors influencing repurchase intention of the customer satisfaction and repurchase intention of the customer s who use the services of low cost airlines to study the relationship. The characteristic of Low Fare service which possibly presents ample opportunities for customers to easily switch their purchase intention to others. Therefore, it is important for the service provider to learn how to retain or to prevent their existing customers from switching their purchase to other service providers in the highly competitive area. The research studied only the low cost airlines customer s from the respondents who were customers in Thai low cost airlines at Donmeung Airport and Suvarnabhumi Airport-BKK. The data was collected from 440 copies of questionnaires. For quantitative research, For the qualitative research, 15 in-depth qualitative interviews were carried out, and conformed to research’s hypothesis and quantitative research for more credible information. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted with two independent constructs, customer satisfaction and repurchase intention, showed that two constructs fitted well with the empirical data. And, a structural equation model utilizing the data as observed variables and the constructs as latent variables produced a model that showed the impact of customer satisfaction and repurchase intention. The major hypothesis, customer satisfaction was found to have a strong influence on repurchase intentions. The correlational value pointed out that that customer's satisfaction and customer's loyalty greatly affect each other, followed by service quality and customer's satisfaction. The least influential variable was between price and customer's satisfaction and loyalty. Thus, the investigation indicates that the casual correlation of customer's satisfaction and loyalty is largely interlinked. The local LCA should aims to develop their satisfaction through passenger's satisfied service quality, mainly via responsiveness quality.. Airlines can utilize these findings to design effective customer satisfaction strategies to increase their profitability.