Expectancy disconfirmation: Effects of deviation from expected delay duration on service evaluation in the airline industry

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of expectancy disconfirmation on passengers’ reactions to airline delays. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a between-subject factorial design with 9 treatments involving 161 subjects to collect data to test the hypotheses. Findings: The study showed that, when given a positive disconfirmation, subjects feel better and are more satisfied, but when given a negative disconfirmation, they feel more negative and dissatisfied. Also, the effect size of positive disconfirmation on satisfaction and feelings about the service provider were significantly less than that of negative disconfirmation of the same size. Hence, in the event of a delay, managers may have to announce the upper bound of the delay duration so that passengers might feel better and become more satisfied when the actual delay duration is shorter than what was initially expected. In addition, they must try their best not to create situations of negative disconfirmation in light of their disproportional impact on satisfaction. Practical implications: According to the results, airline managers should estimate as accurately as possible the duration of a delay when there is one. Originality/value: A major contribution of this study is that manipulating the way delay duration information is given to passengers can affect feelings about the delay and the level of satisfaction with the airline.