Purchase and Market in the Airline Industry facing an uncertain society : An exploratory research through a multimethod study

Background: Several crises have passed and today, the world is witnessing the pandemic Covid-19. As a consequence, society is affected at large where new insights and attitudes are born. Existing literature suggests that a crisis may be a crucial determinant in shaping one’s attitudes and actions, and therefore marketing needs to adapt to these new attitudes and expectations. Involving consumers' perception of this issue, together with companies’ views within the industry, lies the foundation for this research to investigate any changing consumer attitudes towards the airline industry during Covid-19. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how consumer attitudes have changed within the airline industry in Sweden due to the Covid-19 pandemic, applying both consumers’ and companies’ perspectives to provide managerial implications for marketers. Method: With an interpretive nature, the study is qualitative added by quantitative measures, hence stated as multi-method. Primary data is collected through an analytical survey and four semi-structured interviews. Findings: Investigating attitudes from economic, social and environmental perspectives, the study concludes that consumer attitudes have changed in several perspectives while some attitudes stay consistent with pre-crisis attitudes, hence not directly affected by the crisis. The empirical findings are coherent with the conceptual framework, explaining the complexity of the tourism airline industry and how new attitudes that arise from the Covid-19 pandemic is a predictor of future behavior during the crisis, which may be useful for future crises to come