Publication Details
Abstract
The study was carried out to determine the relationship between perception and consumer patronage of Ibom Airline Company in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The study was conducted based on 3 objectives, 3 research questions and 3 hypotheses. Cross Sectional Survey research design was adopted for the study.The population of the study was 2 million consumers of Ibom Airlines services under the area os study. The study adopted Taro Yamane ' science formular to obtain a sample size of 400 consumers of which 390 was returned. The researcher's self-made instrument for obtaining data known as consumer perception questionnaire and patronage of Ibom Air company questionnaire was utilized.The overall reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach's Alpha statistics which gave a reliability coefficient of above 87%.
The funding revealed that consumer brand awareness,(xi) accounted for 188 of the variation and a statistically significant unstandadised coefficient of B×1 =0.417 and p-value =0.00.It was revealed that brand image(X2) accounted for 27% of the variation in independent variables and had a statistically significant in standardized coefficient of B×2 =0.539 and p-value =0.000, perceived value accounted for 28% variation which had a statistically significant in standardized coefficient of B×3 =0.539 and o-value =0.000.
Based on the findings,it was concluded that perception plays a critical role in influencing consumer patronage of Ibom Airlines services. It was recommended amongst others that, Ibom Air Company should implement targeted positive brand image by identifying and sponsoring sparkle images that can permanently capture the minds of consumers and her potential customers. This will help increase brand visibility and create a positive relationship between consumers and Ibom Air Company.