Saudis’ Attitudes Towards Airline Services: The Impact of Religion, Country of Origin, Ethnocentrism, and Animosity (Essay Sample)

Saudis’ Attitudes Towards Airline Services: The Impact of Religion, Country of Origin, Ethnocentrism, and Animosity Author’s Name Institution Course Name Professor’s Name Date Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction4 1.1 Chapter Overview 4 1.2 Background to the Study4 1.3 Saudi Arabia Economy and the Airline Industry5 1.4 Rationale for the Study 11 1.5 Research Aim and Objectives 16 1.6 Gaps in Literature Review18 1.7 Contribution of the Study22 1.8 Research Structure17 Chapter 2: Literature Review23 2.1 Introduction26 2.2 Key Concepts and Variables26 2.2.1 Passenger Ethnocentrism and Airline Services27 2.2.2 Consumer Animosity and Impact on Behavior42 2.2.3 Religiosity and Effect on Human Behavior55 2.2.4 Country of Origin Image and Buying Intentions65 2.3 Service Image and Effect on Customer Decisions71 2.4 Service Quality as a Concept77 2.5 Characteristics of Saudi Arabia85 2.6 Conceptual Framework and Hypothesis Development 91 2.7 Conclusion95 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Chapter Overview This chapter introduces the various components of the thesis. Specifically, it includes background to the study and its context, the objectives, rationale, and justification for the objective. These sections give a brief image of the wider research project and the expectations the researcher has after completing the entire study. 1.2 Background to the Study Being a developing country, Saudi Arabia has experienced robust development in a change in its economy and social development. Within the last four decades, this nation has reduced its heavy reliance on traditional economic systems, such as agriculture, to a service economy with a modernized consumer culture (Oyewole, 2015). Consumer behavior theory (CBT) guides analysts to examine how people from different regions formulate their decisions regarding what they buy. Consequently, marketers and entrepreneurs find the available evidence useful for predicting consumer behaviors and encouraging them to embrace specific services and goods (Albugami & Ahmed, 2015). In another study, Awang and Yazid (2015) observed that “consumer emotions influence service quality perceptions – ultimately leading to purchase intentions” (P. 2344). The reasoned action model provides additional insights for learning more about consumers’ behaviors and how they anticipate specific results after using various services and goods (Al-Medabesh & Ali, 2014). A detailed application and adoption of these theories can guide businesspeople in the global airline industry to examine people’s perceptions, attitudes, and reactions towards the available services. Taking the case of Saudi Arabia, the advances in consumerism and use of air transportation services have created new challenges for social relations influenced by traditional and religious values. Although Saudi Arabia’s economic development has been studied extensively, scholars have done little to complete more studies on the nation’s consumer attitudes towards airline services. Additionally, numerous gaps exist in research in regards to how religiosity, country of origin, ethnocentrism, and animosity affect decision-making processes. These issues explain why a serious gap exists in knowledge and why a new study is due to offer powerful insights about the attitudes Saudi Arabians harbour towards most of the available airline services and the notions that inform them. 1.3 Saudi Arabia Economy and the Airline Industry Over the past decades, Saudi Arabia's economy has experienced tremendous growth occasioned by the huge hydrocarbon deposits. This country’s economic maturity and global prominence is attributable to increased oil exports and its strategic location connection to these three continents: Africa, Europe, and Asia (Oyewole, 2015). The discovery of oil greatly changed the country's fortunes, turning the undeveloped country into one of the most developed economies in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia's fortunes are in oil, but to diversify its economy, the country has invested in exploring other resources such as copper, gold, iron, titanium, zinc among others (Benny, 2021). Additionally, Saudi Arabian government has engaged in numerous initiatives to expand its industrial sector. Since 1976, it established Saudi Basic Industries Country of originperation (SBIC) to expand the potential sectors of the country’s economy to diversify the economy (Luk, 2021). Since then, many major manufacturers have emerged from refining petrochemicals, rolling steel, cement, plastics, and small enterprises such as baking. Financial services are another major contributor to the country’s economy. The financial sector in Saudi Arabia is largely driven by Islam monetary policies, with all major international lenders being co-owned by Saudis (Benny, 2021). Although these financial institutions are highly rated among expatriates, most Saudis rely on money changers due to their anonymity. When it comes to trade, Saudi exports are mainly petrochemicals. The country’s imports are mostly machinery, foodstuffs, chemicals, and chemical products. The country's main trade partners include the United States, China, Japan, Singapore, with China being a major source of imports (Al-Medabesh & Ali, 2014). Saudi service sectors are the most robust sector in the country, with many of the country’s residents working in tourism, airline, wholesale, defence, and civil administration. The sector accounts for roughly one-fourth of the country’s GDP (Waheed et al., 2020). This country has gone further to construct resort cities that continue to promote its tourism sector. Saudi airline industry is another area of the economy that has experienced continued growth within the past decade. The experienced growth in the airline and other sectors is linked to a domestic market that is characterized by a growing young population and rising disposable income. While the sector has largely remained undersupplied, the existence of growth potential is substantial (Klabi, 2021). Unlike other Arab countries, such as the UAE where the airline sector depends on tourists' availability, Saudi has the largest population among Gulf countries (Al-Medabesh & Ali, 2014). As a result, many people have recorded improved social and economic mobilities than ever before (Al-Medabesh & Ali, 2014). The connection existing between Saudi Arabia and other countries has created an enabling environment for both domestic and international travel (Klabi, 2021). These trends are setting the stage for a new future for the regional airline industry. Increased discretionary income has transformed the experiences and consumer behaviors of the Saudi population. More citizens have in the past been keen to identify greener pastures in different regions in the country and across the globe (Waheed et al., 2020). The shifting patterns in employment have compelled many Saudi Arabians to consider how they can move from one place to another and pursue their goals (Gösslinga & Humpe, 2020). The global society is also becoming a single community whereby individuals can communicate and shares ideas instantaneously using modern technologies. Similarly, many people are presently travelling from region A to B in search of jobs or tourism activities. Others are also relying on the global aviation sector to visit their relatives in diaspora (Al-Medabesh & Ali, 2014). These changes have remained critical in reshaping the current development and future of the Saudi Arabian aviation industry. The government is launching a wide range of efforts with the aim of expanding the local aviation sector. For instance, Benny (2021) indicates that the country intends to support the industry to ensure that it continues to support the local economy. For example,Gösslinga and Humpe (2020) observed that the nation had the potential to improve the sector in such a way that it would contribute over 74 billion US dollars to the economy by 2030 (Saudi Arabia targets $74.6bn aviation industry by 2030, 2022).The same study revealed the industry’s contribution to the country’s GDP stood at 21.3 billion US dollars in the year 2018 (Gösslinga & Humpe, 2020). The government was also putting the necessary mechanisms in place to make the sector a leader in the wider Middle East region before the year 2030 (Benny, 2021). The available financial resources and the presence of the required knowhow mean that the country’s competitiveness in the global aviation industry has the potential to increase tremendously. A report released in 2020 by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) revealed that the government was planning to increase air connectivity. The agency would achieve this aim by collaborating with both international and domestic airline companies. The move would ensure that more citizens travelled to over 250 destinations in different parts of the world (Saudi Arabia targets $74.6bn aviation industry by 2030, 2022). Such gains wouldmake the sector more successful, meet the demands of different citizens, and eventually support the country’s economic development plan. In 2019, the country’s aviation industry managed to transport around 103 million people to their respective destinations (AbuAlhommos et al., 2021). Since then, the relevant agencies and decision-makers were working hard to ensure that the number would triple and help deliver meaningful results. The government seeks to achieve this goal through continuous policymaking and partnering with likeminded agencies and airlines across the globe (Saudi Arabia targets $74.6bn aviation industry by 2030, 2022). Additionally, the government was putting in place the necessary mechanisms to improve its cargo segment and deliver more items to different customers across the globe. Some of the measures considered to deliver the intended results include mechanizing operations, improving security and safety i...