Airport Shopping: Practices and Motivations of Transit Passengers at Addis Ababa Bole International AirPort, Ethiopia
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Date
2021-07
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The number of passengers carried by Ethiopian Airline has climbed to roughly 12 million, with 8
million or 70% of these being transit passengers. These promising numbers of travelers provide a
huge opportunity for airport shopping tourism. However, it is neglected by researchers, hence; the
purpose of this study was focused on the motivation, practice and the influence of socio-demographic
characteristics of transit passengers on their shopping behaviors at Bole International Airport. A
cross-sectional design and mixed method approach (both qualitative and quantitative) descriptive
surveys were utilized in a research. Data was collected from 18 interviews and 387 questionnaires of
transit passengers using convenience sampling. Qualitative data were analyzed using thematic
analysis and social practice theory framework and inferential statistics for analyzing quantitative data
processed via using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).more specifically, quantitative data
were analyzed via Kruskal Wallis Test, Independent sample Mann Whitney U-Test and Chi-square test
of independence. The findings revealed that the practice of transit passenger shopping practice
consists of three interconnected elements: material, competences, and meaning. The most frequently
mentioned material aspects include the cosmetics, perfumes, duty-free liquors, chocolates, and
souvenirs. Furthermore, the study also reveal that five shopping motive factors of transit passengers,
such as “Airport associated motivation “and “Hedonic motivation”, accomplishment motivation,
utilitarian motivation, and “social motivation” were identified using principal component analysis
(PCA). In addition, socio-demographic factor such as age, gender and marital status have significant
influence on shopping motivation at the airport. In conclusion, retailers and airport shopping area
management should place a high priority on these characteristics in order to maximize their
effectiveness of transit passenger shopping practice. Hence; airport management should plan
renovations on shopping design, number of shops and variety.
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Keywords
Airport shopping, Transit passenger, motivation theory, social practice theory.