Safety Perception of Turkish and European Passengers in Turkish Airports: A Cross-National Comparison

Abstract

This research primarily aimed to illustrate the national differences of passengers regarding their perceptions of Turkish airport safety. Secondly, airport safety perceptions by some other consumer characteristics such as demographics, flight characteristics, fairness perception and satisfaction from airport services were tried to be revealed. The research had a between-groups comparison design of data obtained in a one time measurement of the field. The predictions were tested in a sample of 911 Turkish and, 595 European passengers in Turkish airports. Data collecting method used in the study was 7-point Likert type self-report questionnaire filled by the respondents on voluntary basis in a categorical and random sampling. Independent sample t-tests, one-way Analysis of Variance ANOVA were used to reveal group differences in safety perceptions by nationalities and some other consumer characteristics. Significant differences among nationalities were found regarding safety perceptions. Meaningful differences were found by flight frequency, fairness perception and satisfaction degree from the services at airport. Study gains importance as being of the first time investigation of the differences between European and Turkish passengers about Turkish airports regarding safety perception. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]