The Factors Affecting the Passengers’ Avoidance to Use the Mobile Applications of Airlines

Abstract

Nowadays, rapid development in information technologies has been experienced in the aviation industry as in other industries. This development has affected both passengers and airlines in different aspects. The use of information technologies enables passengers to carry out flight-related transactions more easily and quickly, without place and time constraints. Information technologies have necessitated the use of different applications in the marketing activities of airlines. So in terms of airlines, it is extremely important to adapt these information technologies to all processes in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Today airlines have also started to use mobile applications (mobile apps) in their marketing activities. They encourage their passengers to use these apps, which require great investment. However, some passengers may avoid using mobile apps due to a variety of reasons such as technology anxiety, privacy concerns, complexity, etc. In this case, high investments made for the development of these apps may not be compensated and the competitiveness of airlines may be weakened. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the factors affecting passengers’ avoidance of using airlines’ mobile apps. A survey was conducted using a face-to-face interview technique with convenience sampling method to collect data. Questionnaire items were measured by a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). The survey was conducted in the two busiest airports in Turkey (Atatürk and Sabiha Gökçen Airports in Istanbul). A total of 450 respondents have been reached but 400 valid questionnaires were analyzed by using Partial Least Squares method. A pilot study was conducted on 20 volunteer participants before the field research was initiated. In this context, the questionnaire was finalized by taking into consideration the suggestions expressed in order to maintain the coherence. The survey questionnaire consisted of two sections. The first section comprised of perceived irritation, perceived lack of utility, perceived lack of incentive, technology anxiety, privacy concern, and mobile app usage avoidance. In the second section, there were questions about passenger’s demographic characteristics such as; age, gender, education level, average income level, and flight frequency. Respondents were also asked about their general usage related to smartphones and mobile apps. According to the results; perceived irritation, perceived lack of utility, perceived lack of incentive, technology anxiety, and privacy concerns have a positive and significant effect on mobile app usage avoidance. Among these variables, technology anxiety is the most affected variable on passengers’ avoidance of using mobile apps. Both in national and international literature, there are numerous studies on mobile internet, apps adoption, and actual usage of mobile apps in different industries. Previous studies are especially related to the factors accepting the mobile apps. In addition to this, there are limited studies including avoidance of using airline mobile apps. In aviation industry also, there are a few studies both national and international literature on passengers’ avoidance of using airline mobile apps. Therefore, this study will be one of the few studies both shedding light on literature and airlines to increase the use of mobile apps.