A cross-cultural analysis of passenger's reactions to revenue and pricing management

Abstract

This article explores whether satisfaction decreases if passengers, when confronting price increases during the buying process and the selling period, perceive unfair transactions and untrustworthy airlines. These consumers’ reactions are supposedly dependent on their collective traits of culture. Using structural equation methodology, the analysis of responses of American, French and Pacific Islands passengers to a survey supports that fairness perceptions and trust fully mediate the effects. The emergence of a global consumer culture is consistent with the results as uniform consumers’ responses are found across groups of passengers. The airlines, as managerial implications of the findings, should use global pricing strategies that maintain trust of the consumer in the provider, that is signal their benevolence and integrity.