Indirect Effect on Trust on Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty Relationship in Malaysian Airline Industry

This research aims to find out the main factors that affect customer loyalty in the airline industry in Malaysia because customer loyalty is regarded as the ultimate goal for the marketing behavior (Heskett, 2002; McMullan & Gilmore, 2008). Gaining customer loyalty and maintaining brand loyalty with customers is critical for the company to survive in a competitive environment (Heskett, 2002). It would contribute and assist airline industry in developing future strategies on how to enhance customer loyalty. In this study, researcher focus on two main factors (customer satisfaction and trust) influence on customer loyalty in direct or indirect pathways. Quantitative research design has been used, and convenience sampling has been chosen to collect data from airline passengers. The findings of this research recommended that customer satisfaction and trust are positively and significantly influence on customer loyalty in the airline industry in Malaysia. Besides, trust was found to have positive and significant mediating effect on the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in Malaysian airline industry.