An effectiveness evaluation model for the web-based marketing of the airline industry

In the air transportation industry the web-based marketing has already been widely applied to service the frequent customers as well as to attract new customers. For it, normally the airlines must invest amount of enterprise resources to develop the information technology (IT) platforms and maintain the operations mechanism so that the effectiveness issue should be well considered. In this paper an integrated model for evaluating airlines' websites effectiveness is proposed. This model is based on the perspectives of ''marketing mix 4Ps'' and ''website quality'', in which the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is used to analyze the relationship among criteria, and then the Analytic Network Process (ANP) is applied to compute the weight of each criterion, finally the modified VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method is used to rank the performance. The proposed model is applied to analyze the websites of five air transportation companies in Taiwan. Its result show that the Taiwanese airlines do not fully capitalize on the Web's marketing potential, and the weight-variance analysis suggests several managerial actions for achieving an ideal web-based marketing.

[1]  Da Ruan,et al.  Evaluating e‐learning web site quality in a fuzzy environment , 2007, Int. J. Intell. Syst..

[2]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. , 1988 .

[3]  Minjoon Jun,et al.  Customers' perceptions of online retailing service quality and their satisfaction , 2004 .

[4]  Stuart J. Barnes,et al.  Evaluating Website Quality in the Airline Industry , 2004, J. Comput. Inf. Syst..

[5]  Ş. Baloğlu,et al.  The website design and Internet site marketing practices of upscale and luxury hotels in Turkey , 2006 .

[6]  C. Grönroos.  Keynote paper From marketing mix to relationship marketing ‐ towards a paradigm shift in marketing , 1994 .

[7]  S. M. Seyed Hosseini,et al.  Reprioritization of failures in a system failure mode and effects analysis by decision making trial and evaluation laboratory technique , 2006, Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf..

[8]  Thompson S. H. Teo,et al.  Meeting the Challenges in Globalizing Electronic Commerce at United Airlines , 2003 .

[9]  Alastair G. Smith,et al.  Applying evaluation criteria to New Zealand government websites , 2001, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[10]  Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng,et al.  Multicriteria Planning of Post‐Earthquake Sustainable Reconstruction , 2002 .

[11]  G. Tzeng,et al.  Marketing strategy based on customer behaviour for the LCD-TV , 2006 .

[12]  Prashant C. Palvia,et al.  Developing and validating an instrument for measuring user-perceived web quality , 2002, Inf. Manag..

[13]  A. Ant Ozok,et al.  Development of a web-based mobile airline ticketing model with usability features , 2005, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[14]  Wen-Hsien Tsai,et al.  An integrated approach for selecting corporate social responsibility programs and costs evaluation in the international tourist hotel , 2010 .

[15]  V. Zeithaml.  Service excellence in electronic channels , 2002 .

[16]  Juline E. Mills,et al.  Zero acquaintance benchmarking at travel destination websites: what is the first impression that national tourism organizations try to make? , 2006 .

[17]  W. Hsu,et al.  The sustainability balanced scorecard as a framework for selecting socially responsible investment: an effective MCDM model , 2009, J. Oper. Res. Soc..

[18]  Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng,et al.  Multicriteria analysis of environmental quality in Taipei: public preferences and improvement strategies. , 2002, Journal of environmental management.

[19]  Christian N. Madu,et al.  Dimensions of e‐quality , 2002 .

[20]  William Golden,et al.  The Internet, A Creator of Electronic Markets for Airline Tickets? , 2003 .

[21]  Zhongsheng Hua,et al.  A note on group decision-making based on concepts of ideal and anti-ideal points in a fuzzy environment , 2007, Math. Comput. Model..

[22]  Kirthi Kalyanam,et al.  The e-marketing mix: A contribution of the e-tailing wars , 2002 .

[23]  Shubin Yu.  Price perception of online airline ticket shoppers , 2008 .

[24]  Da Ruan,et al.  Evaluating Government Websites Based on a Fuzzy Multiple Criteria Decision-Making Approach , 2007, Int. J. Uncertain. Fuzziness Knowl. Based Syst..

[25]  Yujiro Shimizu,et al.  Designing methods of human interface for supervisory control systems , 1998 .

[26]  Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng,et al.  Extended VIKOR method in comparison with outranking methods , 2007, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[27]  Ephraim R. McLean,et al.  Measuring e-Commerce Success: Applying the DeLone & McLean Information Systems Success Model , 2004, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[28]  Ephraim R. McLean,et al.  The DeLone and McLean Model of Information Systems Success: A Ten-Year Update , 2003, J. Manag. Inf. Syst..

[29]  Rob Law,et al.  A Study of Airlines’ Online Reservation Services on the Internet , 2000 .

[30]  Wen-Hsien Tsai,et al.  Corporate social responsibility programs choice and costs assessment in the airline industry - A hybrid model , 2008 .

[31]  Wei-Wen Wu,et al.  Developing global managers' competencies using the fuzzy DEMATEL method , 2007, Expert Syst. Appl..

[32]  C. Wan,et al.  The web sites of international tourist hotels and tour wholesalers in Taiwan , 2002 .

[33]  Chin-Tsai Lin,et al.  Evaluating digital video recorder systems using analytic hierarchy and analytic network processes , 2007, Inf. Sci..

[34]  Ali F. Emdad,et al.  An analysis of the virtual value chain in electronic commerce , 2001 .

[35]  Gülçin Büyüközkan,et al.  Evaluating e-learning web site quality in a fuzzy environment: Research Articles , 2007 .

[36]  R. Chu.  What online Hong Kong travelers look for on airline/travel websites? , 2001 .

[37]  Chi-Jen Lin,et al.  A causal analytical method for group decision-making under fuzzy environment , 2008, Expert Syst. Appl..

[38]  Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng,et al.  Fuzzy Multicriteria Model for Postearthquake Land-Use Planning , 2003 .

[39]  Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng,et al.  Compromise solution by MCDM methods: A comparative analysis of VIKOR and TOPSIS , 2004, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[40]  Hsien-Tang Tsai,et al.  Emerging e-commerce development model for Taiwanese travel agencies , 2005 .

[41]  Easwar A. Nyshadham.  Privacy policies of air travel web sites: a survey and analysis , 2000 .

[42]  Serafim Pricovic,et al.  Multi‐criteria model for post‐earthquake land‐use planning , 2002 .

[43]  D. Jarach.  THE DIGITALISATION OF MARKET RELATIONSHIPS IN THE AIRLINE BUSINESS: THE IMPACT AND PROSPECTS OF E-BUSINESS , 2002 .

[44]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research , 1985 .

[45]  Verena Blum,et al.  Welsh Visitor Attraction Web Sites: Multipurpose Tools or Technological Tokenism? , 2001, J. Inf. Technol. Tour..

[46]  John A. Martilla,et al.  Importance-Performance Analysis , 1977 .

[47]  Claudia Löbbecke,et al.  Emerging Pricing Strategies on the Web: Lessons from the Airline Industry , 2003, Electron. Mark..

[48]  Cheng-Wei Lin,et al.  Multi-criteria analysis of alternative-fuel buses for public transportation , 2005 .

[49]  Cristiane Pizzutti Dos Santos,et al.  The characteristics of hotel websites and their implications for website effectiveness , 2008 .

[50]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Service quality delivery through web sites: A critical review of extant knowledge , 2002, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.

[51]  T. L. Saaty,et al.  Decision making with dependence and feedback , 2001 .

[52]  Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng,et al.  Evaluating intertwined effects in e-learning programs: A novel hybrid MCDM model based on factor analysis and DEMATEL , 2007, Expert Syst. Appl..

[53]  Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng,et al.  Airline safety measurement using a hybrid model , 2007 .

[54]  C. Grönroos.  From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing , 2012 .

[55]  Michael J. Shaw,et al.  A MCDM approach for sourcing strategy mix decision in IT projects , 2010, Expert Syst. Appl..

[56]  Soumitra Dutta,et al.  Business Transformation on the Internet:: Results from the 2000 Study , 2001 .

[57]  Yi-Shun Wang.  Assessing e‐commerce systems success: a respecification and validation of the DeLone and McLean model of IS success , 2008, Inf. Syst. J..

[58]  Chaang-Iuan Ho,et al.  The development of an e-travel service quality scale , 2007 .

[59]  Wen-Hsien Tsai,et al.  A novel hybrid model based on DEMATEL and ANP for selecting cost of quality model development , 2010 .

[60]  Lee-Ing Tong,et al.  Optimization of multi-response processes using the VIKOR method , 2007 .

[61]  Ravi Shankar,et al.  Selection of logistics service provider: An analytic network process (ANP) approach , 2007 .

[62]  Ingoo Han,et al.  The impact of Web quality and playfulness on user acceptance of online retailing , 2007, Inf. Manag..

[63]  R. Caminal,et al.  Are Loyalty-Rewarding Pricing Schemes Anti-Competitive? , 2005 .

[64]  Younghwa Lee,et al.  Investigating the effect of website quality on e-business success: An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach , 2006, Decis. Support Syst..

[65]  Thomas L. Saaty,et al.  Decision making with dependence and feedback : the analytic network process : the organization and prioritization of complexity , 1996 .

[66]  Gwo-Hshiung Tzeng,et al.  A VIKOR-Based Multiple Criteria Decision Method for Improving Information Security Risk , 2009, Int. J. Inf. Technol. Decis. Mak..

[67]  W. Tsai,et al.  AN EFFECTIVE EVALUATION MODEL AND IMPROVEMENT ANALYSIS FOR NATIONAL PARK WEBSITES: A CASE STUDY OF TAIWAN , 2010 .

[68]  Minjoon Jun,et al.  Consumer Perception of E-Service Quality: From Internet Purchaser and Non-Purchaser Perspectives , 1970, Journal of Business Strategies.

[69]  Steven Furnell,et al.  A practical evaluation of Web analytics , 2004, Internet Res..

[70]  Wen-Hsien Tsai,et al.  Selecting management systems for sustainable development in SMEs: A novel hybrid model based on DEMATEL, ANP, and ZOGP , 2009, Expert Syst. Appl..

[71]  Terry Ryan,et al.  Quality and effectiveness in Web-based customer support systems , 2003, Inf. Manag..

[72]  Francisco Javier Miranda González,et al.  Quantitative evaluation of commercial web sites: : an empirical study of Spanish firms , 2004, Int. J. Inf. Manag..