Customers' Expectations of Complaint Handling by Airline Service: Privilege Status and Reasonability of Demands from a Social Learning Perspective

Abstract

In the airline industry, membership and cabin class are noticeable servicescape features of customers' privilege status. Customers may learn that higher privilege customers are more desired and endured by the airline. From the customers' point of view, those with higher privilege may expect their demands to be complied with when they complain. The present study employed hypothetical scenarios to investigate how the privilege status of passengers and reasonability of their demands influenced their expectations toward the compliance of airline personnel. Analysis showed that higher privilege customers were more likely to expect airline personnel to comply with their demands. Moreover, participants with medium or high levels of privilege status had greater expectations of compliance even when demands were unreasonable. In sum, customer expectations toward complaint handling reflected predictions based on social learning.