Search and Compare drives Satisfaction - Virtues of online ticketing for air travelers

Ability to easily search and then compare items is an advantage that online platforms have over bricks and mortar formats. In such an intensely competitive airline market, this paper investigates if this exploration experience satisfies the traveler during air ticket booking, by applying the stimulus organism response model. An empirical study is used to test the proposed model by applying the structural equation modeling and interaction effects. The model describes the extent by which traveler’s repurchase intention is influenced by four important factors – search and compare assortment satisfaction, social influence and overall satisfaction. The paper extends the satisfaction to online repatronage intention and customer loyalty. This empirical study also establishes that the relationships are moderated due to civil status and ticketing number of platforms used by the customers.