FLIGHT-TO-NOWHERE SERVICE: INVESTIGATING FACTORS INFLUENCING THE REPURCHASE INTENTION

Abstract

Revenge vacation, or an individual’s strong desire to go on vacation to make up for missed opportunities to travel and escape the stresses of daily life, can take the form of purchasing a flight-to-nowhere service. Although the COVID-19 pandemic is not over, travel restrictions are gradually being relaxed, emphasising the need to investigate the long-term viability of this unique service. This research aims to investigate factors influencing the repurchase intention of the flight-to-nowhere service. Four variables of interest have been identified in this research, namely escapism, aesthetics, temporal illusion and repurchase intention. Purposive sampling yields 126 passengers of flight-to-nowhere service. To analyse the data, this research employs Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using SPSS and AMOS software. The results suggest that escapism and aesthetics are positive predictors of repurchase intention. Meanwhile, temporal illusion moderates the relationship between aesthetics and repurchase intention, such that high temporal illusion (vs low) weakens the relationship between the two variables. Practical suggestions and future research opportunities are detailed at the end of the paper.