5. Managerial implications and conclusion
In order to create satisfied customers, an airline needs to integrate and coordinate various variables of the service environment, and deliver consistently (Jager de et al., 2012, p. 21). This empirical study shows that there is significant variation in the level of service quality across airlines (see Section 4.2; similar in Baker, 2013, p. 67). Even more importantly, the study reveals an interrelation between the service environment of an airplane and how passengers perceive the quality of in-flight food. This interrelation reliably exists on an individual passenger level as well as on the aggregated level of airline companies. If the in-flight service environment is good, passengers also tend to perceive the food quality as good. Because the correlation between the components of the service environment is strong, but not even (see Section 4.1), this is most likely not a misjudgment arising from passengers' reliance on the service environment as a surrogate indicator (Fitzpatrick, 1991, p. 888). Instead, it is suggested that an airplane's surrounding actively influences perceived food quality; the worth of in-flight food is assessed in its environmental context (see Section 3.1). Not a single outlier is found in the 23 airline setting examined. Out of an airplane's service environment components (seat comfort, cabin staff service, and in-flight entertainment), cabin staff service shows the strongest interrelation with food quality. This is logical because “service encounters are first and foremost social encounters” (McCallum and Harrison, 1985, p. 35). The interaction with the stewardesses and stewards onboard an aircraft replaces the usual interaction with the dining companions in a restaurant setting (see Section 3.1).
