The mediating role of relational benefit between service quality and customer loyalty in airline industry

Service quality, in essence, seeks to measure firm performance along transactional dimensions, whereas relational benefits measure the intangible aspects of relationships, over and above the core elements of the service. Thus, the interaction between the consumer and service provider is ongoing (relational) rather than one-off (transactional). The purpose of this study aims to identify the role of relational benefits between service quality and loyalty. In order to achieve the objective of this paper, a quantitative analysis through a personal survey of passengers was performed. Four hundred and fifty questionnaires were distributed and 403 useable samples were obtained with 89% response rate. The results of this study found that service quality has positive impacts on relational benefit and customer loyalty in the airline industry. Additionally, relational benefit influences customer loyalty directly. Furthermore, service quality would also affect customer's loyalty through customer relational benefits.