Airline travellers' ethnocentric tendencies and their impact on travellers' behaviours: Extending consumer ethnocentrism to airline services

Abstract

Although recent political and economic conflicts have highlighted the significant role of ethnocentrism, empirical investigation into the consequences of this concept in the travel and tourism industry, especially airline services, remains under investigation. Therefore, this study aims to develop an integrated scale to capture airline travellers' ethnocentric tendencies that fit with the characteristics of airline services and go beyond the socioeconomic perspective of the existing measures of ethnocentrism, as well as to investigate their impact on travellers' behaviours. Data were gathered using questionnaires and were analyzed using EFA, CFA, and SEM. The results showed that the developed multidimensional scale has adequate reliability, validity, and predictability. It also confirmed the significant influence of travellers' ethnocentric tendencies on their perceptions of service quality, perceived value, and loyalty. Nevertheless, these effects were more prominent in travellers' behaviours towards national airlines compared to foreign airlines. The study concludes with implications for airline services marketers.