Nordic Airports’ service quality attributes: themes in online reviews

ABSTRACTUser-generated online content can be an alternative data source for investigating airport perceived service quality, which effectively accompaniments as well as cross-validates the traditional service quality questionnaires. This research aims to identify the main themes shared in online reviews by airport passengers, then, distinguish key concepts for passengers’ distractors as well as enhancers of passenger satisfaction. The research uses mixed methods, qualitative (i.e. narratives) and quantitative (i.e. computer) approaches, to investigate the main components of passengers’ airport experiences in the top five largest Scandinavian airports.A content analysis of 704 passenger’s reviews shared on an online content through web site was implemented to identify key themes as well as satisfiers/dissatisfiers regarding airports’ service perception. The analyses demonstrated nine themes in descriptions of airport travel experiences. These are “staff”, “immigration”, “gate”, “shops”, “terminal”, “lounge”, “luggage”, “screen” and “restaurants”. The outcomes of this research posit beneficial insights into airport passengers’ overall experiences according to social media platform information and facilitate the identification of the main themes linked with distractors and enhancers.KEYWORDS: Service qualityonline reviewnordic airportspassenger perceptionairline industry Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).