ABSTRACT

The major objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between service recovery strategies and customers’ patronage of domestic airlines in the south-south geo-political zones of Nigeria. The specific objectives were: to ascertain the relationship between Customer Complaint Management (CCM) and domestic airlines referral in South-South Geo-Political zone of Nigeria; to ascertain the relationship between Speed of Recovery (SR) and domestic airlines retention in South-South Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria; to evaluate the relationship between Rebooking Flight (RF) and domestic airlines loyalty in South-South Geo-Political Zone of Nigeria; to ascertain the relationship between apology to customers and domestic airlines repeat purchase in South-South geo-political zone of Nigeria; to ascertain the relationship between use of Discount (PD) and domestic airlines brand satisfaction in South-South geo-political zone; and to ascertain the relationship between airline passengers disposition and domestic airline patronage in South-South geo-political zone. The study employed correlational research design. The population of the study comprised all domestic airline passengers in the south-south geo-political zone. The researcher conveniently and purposively selected 40 air-passengers of different airlines in the five airports in the geo-political zone to respond to the copies of the questionnaire that were administered. The sum total was 200 copies of structured questionnaire that were administered and subsequently used for analyses. This study adopted face and content validity. The researcher subjected the instrument of the study to test-retest method by administering some copies of the questionnaire to some groups. The study results showed that customer complaint management has a positive and strong relationship with domestic airlines referral in South-South Geo-Political zone of Nigeria. It was also revealed that a strong, positive and highly significant relationship exists between service recovery speed and domestic airlines retention in South-South Geo-Political zone of Nigeria. The study also revealed that rebooking flight has a positive and strong relationship with domestic airlines loyalty in South-South Geo-Political zone of Nigeria. Based on the study findings, it was recommended that airlines in the South-South Geo-Political zone of Nigeria should ensure that they have service recovery strategies in place, as service failures are very likely to occur in the airline industry. By failing to adequately address service failures, airlines may damage their relationships with their customers, possibly leading to customers defecting to competitor airlines. This could potentially result in customers never flying with the airline again, or at best flying with the airline less frequently than before experiencing the service failure. In conclusion, service recovery strategies and customers’ patronage of domestic airlines in the south-south geo-political zones of Nigeria are positively correlated.