Recommend or not? The influence of emotions on passengers’ intention of airline recommendation during COVID-19

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline industry has undoubtedly suffered serious losses. Investigation of passenger's intention to recommend an airline is urgently needed for airline companies to formulate specific retention strategies and revitalize the industry. Therefore, this study mainly sought to identify the latent factors that determine airline passenger's recommendation intention during the COVID-19 period, and investigate how the emotions expressed in passenger reviews affect their intention to recommend an airline. From the period between January 2020 and October 2021, 6798 online reviews were collected and analyzed. The results indicate that four out of eight emotional dimensions, including joy, trust, anger, and disgust, significantly influence passengers' intention to recommend. This study not only extended the applications of the expectancy-disconfirmation theory and Plutchik's emotional theory but also provided instructive suggestions for airline businesses that need to formulate marketing strategies, especially during the COVID-19 period.