THE CUSTOMERS’ EXPECTATIONS AS A GUIDE TO SERVICE INNOVATION IN THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY

Abstract

According to the strategic innovation paradigm, service companies have their innovative efforts guided by market needs, so customer demand is crucial to successful innovation. However, the service literature about air transportation has been focusing on the evaluation of service quality delivered instead of the identification of market demands. This study applied the Hierarchical Model of air transportation service quality evaluation adapted to identify customer’ expectations in a Brazilian domestic airport. The results indicate that customers have higher expectations regarding airline employees’ conduct and expertise, which suggests areas where investments should be prioritized in order to optimize efforts on service innovation.