THE EFFECT OF SERVICE QUALITY ON SATISFACTION LEVELS OF GENERATION X AND GENERATION Y CUSTOMERS: A GENERATION BASED RESEARCH IN THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY

The airline industry is one of the fastest growing industries in our country and worldwide and is one of the industries that make significant contributions to the global economy as well as to tourism and the Gross Domestic Product of the countries. In recent years, there has been an improvement over the estimates of international organizations. This situation has made it mandatory for firms, which want to survive in a highly competitive environment and obtain sustainable competitive advantage, to offer high-quality services and retain existing customers and attract potential customers. However, customer’s perceptions of service quality can affect their level of satisfaction. In addition, customer characteristics, life experiences, consumption behaviors and habits can affect their perceptions of service. For this reason, in this study it was aimed to investigate the effect of Generation X and Generation Y customers’perceived level of service quality on their satisfaction levels. Independent-Samples T Test and Multiple Regression Analysis were performed in the study. As a result, it was found that perceptions of the Generation Y about the dimension of “Reliability” and the perceptions of the Generation X about the dimension of “Physical Appearance” had a statistically significant and positive effect (biggest impact) on their satisfaction level