This study analyzes the trends in aviation management research by examining marketing-related papers published in the Journal of Aviation Management Society of Korea over the past 20 years. Utilizing semantic network analysis techniques, the study com...
This study analyzes the trends in aviation management research by examining marketing-related papers published in the Journal of Aviation Management Society of Korea over the past 20 years. Utilizing semantic network analysis techniques, the study comprehensively reviews 71 papers from 2003 to 2023, capturing the evolving paradigms of aviation management research. The study analyzes the annual trends of paper publication, changes in research fields, dynamics of keywords, methodologies applied, patterns of variable usage, and the most frequently referenced papers to present the current state and future directions of aviation marketing research.
The findings indicate that the year 2019 saw the highest number of publications, reflecting vigorous research activities in the aviation industry. However, the decrease in the number of research papers in 2021 reflects the stagnation of the aviation industry and the contraction of research activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the emergence of new trends such as increased revenue in non-face-to-face services and air transport during the pandemic, research in these areas has not met expectations, suggesting a need for expansion and development of new research topics. Trend analysis of research topics revealed that service quality, branding and marketing strategies, and customer satisfaction have been consistently researched as major themes. While research related to service quality has been steady, studies related to customers have shown a declining trend. This underscores the necessity for research in relatively underexplored areas such as digital marketing strategies, sustainable marketing strategies, customer behavior analysis, and data-based predictive modeling. In terms of research methodology, structural equation modeling was the most employed, along with a variety of statistical and qualitative analyses. This indicates that aviation management research comprehensively addresses a wide range of issues. Future research should diversify analysis methods by incorporating new techniques such as machine learning and AI-based analysis and by combining multiple methods within a single study to deepen research and enhance methodological diversity through collaboration among researchers with varied expertise. Frequency analysis results show that ‘customer experience’ is a predominant research theme, supported by frequent mentions of terms such as ‘customer,’ ‘service,’ ‘consumer,’ ‘relationship,’ ‘satisfaction,’ and ‘value.’ Marketing terms like ‘brand,’ ‘strategy,’ and ‘market’ were also prominently mentioned, and the emergence of ‘mobile’ underscores the importance of digital engagement and mobile platforms. However, research related to ‘sustainability’ was relatively scarce, indicating a need for an increase in studies related to ESG management in future research. Through N-gram and CONCOR analyses, the study attempted to cluster research topics, identifying key research clusters such as marketing strategies, digital services, airline branding, and mileage programs. In-depth research on the interactions and impacts between these clusters is required. Lastly, QAP correlation analysis confirmed that despite the pandemic, the research themes and interests of the aviation management field have not significantly changed. This suggests that aviation management research maintains certain core themes over time but also indicates the need for a flexible response to rapidly changing external environments. This study provides important directional insights to researchers and strategic insights for the sustainable growth and competitive enhancement of the aviation industry by systematically analyzing the trends in aviation management research.