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Impact of national culture on airline operations

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Abstract

Organizations absorb their nations’ culture, norms, and beliefs; and therefore culture has unbeknownst influence on the process of service design and delivery. In this paper, we test the role of a nation’s culture on airline service quality. We use a non-perceptual global, airline dataset where cultural differences are measured by Hofstede’s and the GLOBE project’s national characteristics. As indicators of service quality, we use assessments of an independent evaluation agency. We find that cultures that place high value on future orientation provide higher quality airline services. On the other hand, cultures that are high in individualism and uncertainty avoidance tend to perform poorly. High individualism might impair true concern for passenger welfare, and high uncertainty avoidance means that employees are apprehensive towards the constant changes and fine-tuning necessary in airline services. We also determine that the implications of national culture may vary by passenger segments identified by cabin types.

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Notes

  1. We have used 2010 data as it was the most recent dataset at the time of the analysis. We ran subsequent runs with various years and confirmed that the results are very similar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lally School of Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY, 12180, USA

    H. Muge Yayla-Kullu, Christopher M. McDermott & Jeffrey F. Durgee

  2. Business Administration Division, Mahidol University International College (MUIC), 999 Phutthamonthon 4 Road, Salaya, Nakhonpathom, 73170, Thailand

    Praowpan Tansitpong

  3. Mihaylo College of Business and Economics, California State University, 800 N. State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA, 92834, USA

    Adelina Gnanlet

Authors
  1. H. Muge Yayla-Kullu
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  2. Praowpan Tansitpong
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  3. Adelina Gnanlet
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  4. Christopher M. McDermott
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  5. Jeffrey F. Durgee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to H. Muge Yayla-Kullu.

Appendix

Appendix

Motivated by the research propositions listed in Yayla-Kullu et al. (2015), our hypotheses for the airline industry are as follows for the impact of each national characteristic on each service quality dimension:

  • H1a: Airlines that are based in high-PDI nations are more successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H1b: Airlines that are based in high-PDI nations are more successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H1c: Airlines that are based in high-PDI nations are less successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H1d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-PDI nations.

  • H2a: Airlines that are based in high-UAI nations are less successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H2b: Airlines that are based in high-UAI nations are less successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H2c: Airlines that are based in high-UAI nations are less successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H2d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-UAI nations.

  • H3a: Airlines that are based in high-IDV nations are more successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H3b: Airlines that are based in high-IDV nations are less successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H3c: Airlines that are based in high-IDV nations are less successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H3d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-IDV nations.

  • H4a: Airlines that are based in high-IC/GC nations are more successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H4b: Airlines that are based in high-IC/GC nations are more successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H4c: Airlines that are based in high-IC/GC nations are more successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H4d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-IC/GC nations.

  • H5a: Airlines that are based in high-MAS nations are more successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H5b: Airlines that are based in high-MAS nations are less successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H5c: Airlines that are based in high-MAS nations are more successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H5d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-MAS nations.

  • H6a: Airlines that are based in high-GE nations are less successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H6b: Airlines that are based in high-GE nations are more successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H6c: Airlines that are based in high-GE nations are more successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H6d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-GE nations.

  • H7a: Airlines that are based in high-AST nations are less successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H7b: Airlines that are based in high-AST nations are less successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H7c: Airlines that are based in high-AST nations are less successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H7d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-AST nations.

  • H8a: Airlines that are based in high-FO nations are more successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H8b: Airlines that are based in high-FO nations are more successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H8c: Airlines that are based in high-FO nations are more successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H8d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-FO nations.

  • H9a: Airlines that are based in high-PO nations are more successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H9b: Airlines that are based in high-PO nations are more successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H9c: Airlines that are based in high-PO nations are more successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H9d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-PO nations.

  • H10a: Airlines that are based in high-HO nations are less successful in designing and delivering structural elements.

  • H10b: Airlines that are based in high-HO nations are more successful in designing and delivering infrastructural elements.

  • H10c: Airlines that are based in high-HO nations are more successful in designing and delivering service supply chain elements.

  • H10d: The difference in the service quality performance between business and economy class cabins is altered when airlines are based in high-HO nations.

Table 10 Descriptive statistics
Full size table
Table 11 Correlation matrix (pairwise with star sig. 0.05)
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Table 12 List of countries and number of firms from each country
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Yayla-Kullu, H.M., Tansitpong, P., Gnanlet, A. et al. Impact of national culture on airline operations. Oper Manag Res 8, 101–117 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12063-015-0102-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12063-015-0102-8

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