The Impact of Training on Customer Satisfaction in Airlines

This research paper, titled "The Impact of Training Ground Staff on Customer Satisfaction: A Case of the Airline Industry," investigates the relationship between employee training and customer satisfaction within the airline sector. The study, based on a primary quantitative research approach, explores how training initiatives for ground staff influence passenger experience. The paper includes an introduction outlining the research problem, objectives, and questions, followed by a literature review examining customer satisfaction and staff training. The research methodology details the approach, design, and data analysis techniques. The findings chapter presents statistical results, including descriptive and inferential statistics, to test the hypotheses. The study concludes with a discussion of the findings, limitations, and recommendations for future research. The paper aims to highlight the importance of ground staff training in enhancing service quality and improving overall customer satisfaction, addressing a gap in existing literature.

Running head: RESEARCH PAPER
Title: The Impact of Training Ground staff on Customer satisfaction: A case of the
Airline Industry
Student Name:
Student ID:
Degree:
Module:
Module Tutor:
Date of Submission:
Word Count:
Please insert your name below to verify the following statement:
By formally submitting this work, I confirm that I have read the University of Lincoln’s regulations, that I
understand them, and that the work I have submitted is my own original work.

1RESEARCH PAPER
(Insert your full name above to confirm agreement with the statement above)
1 Do you have a disability/medical condition?
YES NO
(please delete as applicable and if YES, please answer question 2 below)
2 Are you in receipt of a Learning Support Plan?
YES NO
(if NO, please contact the University’s Student Wellbeing Centre at
[e-mail]).

2RESEARCH PAPER
Executive Summary
Employee training refers to the training initiative which is generally undertaken by an enterprise
in order to train the different employees who are present. The short term goals of training the
employees can be mentioned to be the fact that the different employees feel motivated to
perform better and increase the productivity of the enterprise and the long term objective of the
initiative can be mentioned to be the fact that the customer satisfaction of the firm can increase
to a great extent. The main aim of the study is to find the impact of training on the customer
satisfaction. The study follows a systematic format whereby the Introduction set down the
objectives of the study which is then followed by the Literature review and the Research
methodology. The primary quantitative method of research has been adopted. The fourth
chapter presented the statistical representation of the results and it was found that the alternate
hypothesis was accepted and it was found that the Training of the employees has a very strong
impact on the Customer Satisfaction.

3RESEARCH PAPER
Table of Contents
List of Figures.............................................................................................................................. 5
Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................................ 6
1.0 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 6
1.1 Background of the study........................................................................................................6
1.2 Research problem.................................................................................................................6
1.3 Research objectives.............................................................................................................. 7
1.4 Research Questions.............................................................................................................. 7
1.5 Research Hypothesis............................................................................................................. 7
1.6 Dissertation structure............................................................................................................. 8
1.7 Summary............................................................................................................................... 9
Chapter 2: Literature Review.....................................................................................................10
2.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 10
2.2 Customer satisfaction.......................................................................................................... 10
2.3 Staff training......................................................................................................................... 13
2.4 Impact of staff training on consumer satisfaction.................................................................15
2.5 Factors affecting Training needs for consumer satisfaction.................................................16
2.5.1 Training tangibles..........................................................................................................16
2.5.2 Training reliability.......................................................................................................... 17
2.5.3 Training responsiveness...............................................................................................17
2.5.4 Training assurance........................................................................................................17
2.5.5 Training empathy...........................................................................................................17
2.6 Conceptual framework.........................................................................................................18
2.7 Literature Gap...................................................................................................................... 19
2.8 Summary............................................................................................................................. 19
Chapter 3: Research Methodology............................................................................................20

4RESEARCH PAPER
3.1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 20
3.2 Research Philosophy...........................................................................................................20
3.3 Research Approach............................................................................................................. 20
3.4 Research Design................................................................................................................. 21
3.5 Data collection and analysis................................................................................................21
3.6 Sampling technique............................................................................................................. 22
3.7 Reliability and Validity..........................................................................................................22
3.8 Ethical consideration............................................................................................................22
Chapter 4: Findings, Analysis and Discussion...........................................................................23
4.1 Overview.............................................................................................................................. 23
4.2 Analysis............................................................................................................................... 23
4.2.1 Descriptive statistics......................................................................................................23
4.2.2 Inferential statistics........................................................................................................31
Training Tangibles and Customer satisfaction........................................................................34
Training Reliability and Customer satisfaction........................................................................35
Training responsiveness and customer satisfaction...............................................................36
Training assurance and Customer satisfaction.......................................................................38
Training empathy and Customer Satisfaction.........................................................................39
4.3 Hypothesis testing............................................................................................................... 41
4.4 Discussion........................................................................................................................... 42
4.5 Summary............................................................................................................................. 43
Chapter 5: Conclusion............................................................................................................... 44
5.1 Limitations and Future research...........................................................................................44
References................................................................................................................................ 45
Appendix.................................................................................................................................... 51

5RESEARCH PAPER

6RESEARCH PAPER
List of Figures
Figure 1: Age group of Participants............................................................................................24
Figure 2: Gender of the participants...........................................................................................25
Figure 3: The educational level of the employees......................................................................26
Figure 4: The work experience of the different employees in the sample population.................27
Figure 5: Domain of work of the participants..............................................................................28
Figure 6: The training procedure implemented..........................................................................29
Figure 7: The income level of the employees in the sample group............................................30

7RESEARCH PAPER
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Introduction
This report examines the influence of training of ground staff on consumer satisfaction in the
airline and airport business. The examination of the previous literary sources has shown that the
majority of the studies have focused on training and development needs in general. This study
investigates the training impact of ground staff on consumers. There has been significant growth
in the airline and airport industry where the consumers have become dynamic. It implies that
airline companies have to adapt to the change in the business environment. The companies in
the airline industry are facing a huge dilemma where they have to reduce their cost of operation
to remain competitive, and on the other hand, they are trying to add value to the consumers.
1.1 Background of the study
The fierce competition in the industry makes it necessary for the organisations to focus
on the satisfaction and experience of the passengers. Consumer feedback is critical in the
industry as it measures the outcome to improve the performance of the business. The
international airport transportation has mentioned that passengers are increased by 7% every
year and is expected to grow exponentially (Farooq et al. 2018). On the contrary, there has
been a significant decrease in the profit margin when the year on year profit margin shows a
decrease of 2% in the year of 2018 (Sandada and Matibiri 2016). The main reason behind this
is the increase in competition in the airline industry, along with the increase in the cost of the
airlines. Labour, fuel and maintenance costs are significant factors affecting the overall profit
margin of the consumers. In light of the past literary sources, it can be seen that quality of
service in the airline industry has been analysed in various instances (Ali, Dey and Filieri 2015).
Moreover, the importance of online reviews and user-generated content on the internet has
created a pool of content which cannot be controlled by business organisations. It makes it
necessary for organisations to focus on improving the performance of the employees at every
level.
1.2 Research problem
Past literature synthesis shows that the majority of the studies focused on analysing the
impact of training on consumer satisfaction in the airline industry has focused on the cabin crew
and other staffs. The aspect of ground staffs has been mentioned very minutely in some of the

8RESEARCH PAPER
studies, but the majority has not focused on the impact of training on ground staffs. Ground
staffs have a challenging job role where they various job roles both inside and outside the
airport terminal. The ground staffs are essential for easing out the overall customer journey and
are a vital contributor to the overall journey map. The research has chosen the given topic for
this reason as it provides the opportunity to analyse a critical aspect of the airline industry which
has been neglected in the majority of the past academic studies. The purpose of the research is
to highlight the ways training of ground staffs can improve the quality of service and provide
better satisfaction to the consumers.
1.3 Research objectives
The objectives of the following research are as follows:
 To examine the impact of training of ground staffs on the consumer satisfaction
of airline consumers
 To identify the different elements of training of ground staffs
 To highlight the different aspects of consumer satisfaction in the airline industry
 To recommend suitable approaches to increase the satisfaction level of the
consumers
1.4 Research Questions
The research questions have been formulated based on the objective and scope of the
research. The questions are as illustrated below:
 What are the different elements of ground staff training?
 What are the factors affecting the satisfaction of consumers in the airline
industry?
 How does the training of ground staff affect the satisfaction level of the
consumers?
1.5 Research Hypothesis
H01: There is no noteworthy influence of training tangibles on consumer satisfaction of airline
consumers

9RESEARCH PAPER
H11: There is a noteworthy influence of training tangibles on consumer satisfaction of airline
consumers
H02: There is no noteworthy influence of training reliability on consumer satisfaction of airline
consumers
H12: There is a noteworthy influence of training reliability on consumer satisfaction of airline
consumers
H03: There is no noteworthy influence of training responsiveness on consumer satisfaction of
airline consumers
H13: There is a noteworthy influence of training responsiveness on consumer satisfaction of
airline consumers
H04: There is no noteworthy influence of training assurance on consumer satisfaction of airline
consumers
H14: There is a noteworthy influence of training assurance on consumer satisfaction of airline
consumers
H05: There is no noteworthy influence of training empathy on consumer satisfaction of airline
consumers
H15: There is a noteworthy influence of training empathy on consumer satisfaction of airline
consumers
1.6 Dissertation structure
The dissertation has been divided into five chapters, and each chapter plays a significant
role in providing a complete understanding of the project. The first chapter is the introduction
chapter which provides an outline of the overall study along with the scope of the research. The
second chapter of the dissertation analyses the past literature to provide a detailed analysis of
arguments provided by different authors. The evaluation of the literary sources helps in
identifying the gap in the literature, which forms the basis of the current study. The third chapter
of the dissertation is the research methodology section which provides a detailed description of
the research design, frameworks and instruments used for gathering information and analysing
it. The fourth chapter of the dissertation describes the findings and analysis gathered through
data collection and analysis where statistical tools and techniques have been used to test the

10RESEARCH PAPER
hypothesis. The final chapter of the dissertation links the objectives with the findings to provide
a relevant conclusion. It also provides recommendations based on the findings in the research.
1.7 Summary
The first chapter has developed the research problem, which shows that training of
ground staffs and its impact on consumer satisfaction has not been considered in the majority of
the cases. The research aims to examine the different aspect of training and its impact on
consumer satisfaction. Ground staffs have an essential role to play in the organisation and the
next chapter analyses the past literature to develop the conceptual framework and literature
gap.

11RESEARCH PAPER
Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
This chapter critically examines the concept of customer satisfaction, staff training, and
the impact of staff training on consumer satisfaction in the airline industry. In light of the past
literary sources, the contentment of the consumers is the primary factor affecting customer
satisfaction and organisation, including airline businesses. The concept of satisfaction is
subjective, which makes it difficult to determine the level of satisfaction of customers (Imran and
Tanveer 2015). Globalisation has increased the competition in the global market and achieving
the highest level of satisfaction is one of the major priorities of the companies in the airline
industry. There airlines industry has been experiencing slower growth rate in the current year,
but in overall, the industry is expected to have positive CAGR, but there has been a significant
increase in competition in the market with the low carrier airlines showing tremendous growth.
Ayeleke et al. (2016) state that an increase in competition in the global market has made it
difficult for organisations to retain their existing consumers which have increased focus on staff
training. Moreover, the change in service culture and needs of the consumers make it
necessary to develop new skills for retaining existing by providing desirable throughout the
journey. Georgiadis and Pitelis (2016) opined that ground staffs are the centre area of failure of
services as a client and dealing with their demands and change in demands have made it
difficult for them to cope.
2.2 Customer satisfaction
Various senses have been used to evaluate satisfaction among the consumers as
consumers have different needs before the service. It is quite different from contentment,
enjoyment, relief, fulfilment and pleasure. As stated by Rahimi and Kozak (2017), quality is one
of the factors used for perceiving services by any consumer but their satisfaction level with the
overall experience determines the satisfaction level of the consumers. According to Spector,
Revolta and Orrell (2016), customer satisfaction can be defined as the outcome when the
expectation of the consumers are matched with the actual service provided. On the other hand,
Beynon et al. (2015) state that customer satisfaction is the judgment of the consumers towards
service quality. Furthermore, Zablah et al. (2016) improved the definition by stating that
satisfaction and dissatisfaction depend on the ability of the brands to meet the need and