دانلود رایگان مقاله ارتباط نام تجاری بین اتحادیه هواپیمایی جهانی و خطوط هوایی

abstract

Brands and branding are crucial to global airline alliances in establishing competitive superiority. Although most previous studies have focused on the operational and strategic advantages of alliances, this study investigates the brand relationship between global airline alliances and their member airlines. The equity effect of alliance and member brands on passenger purchasing is also examined. A conceptual model is proposed in which member airlines dominating local markets are assumed to directly influence alliance brands, whereas brands that are unfamiliar to passengers are assumed to influence passenger brand attitude toward an alliance through a halo construct. A stratified sampling survey was conducted at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to collect empirical data for evaluating the proposed model. Overall, 450 respondents were included: 137 from EVA Air (Star Alliance), 138 from China Airlines (SkyTeam), and 175 from Cathay Pacific (Oneworld). Through structural equation modeling, this study showed that passengers had dissimilar perceptions about member airlines in an alliance, implying that the global airline alliance brand has not been completely integrated with its member brands. The alliance and airline brands were mutually endorsed; however, their effects on passenger purchasing were unequal. Although enhancing passenger perceived equity of individual airlines considerably changed the purchasing of airline and alliance products, improving passenger brand attitude toward an alliance substantially affected the purchasing of alliance products but not airline products. In addition, passenger purchasing behaviors among the three global airline alliances were dissimilar. Finally, according to the results, managerial implications for alliances and airlines are provided.

5. Discussion

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the brands of global airline alliances, proposed four hypotheses, and examined these hypotheses by using an empirical data set collected at TTIA. The results showed that the relationship between passengers’ beliefs about partner airlines and their alliance brand attitude was significant in the Star Alliance and SkyTeam models but not in the Oneworld model. Therefore, H1 is partially supported. H2 assumes positive mutual endorsement between alliance and airline brands and is supported by the empirical analysis. The results showed that, even though the passengers’ perceived equity of locally dominant airlines was positively associated with the purchasing both alliance and airline products, the effect of passengers’ alliance brand attitude was significant on the purchasing of alliance products but not on the purchasing of airline products. Therefore, H3 is partially supported, and H4 is completely supported.