Exploring Chinese passenger switching intentions toward airline self-service technology from a push–pull–mooring perspective

Purpose Airline self-service technology (SST) has attracted attention from both the academic and aviation sectors. As the use of SST can reduce airlines’ operating costs, investigating SST usage at airports is particularly important for the aviation sector. The extant literature has explored users’ SST usage intention, but users’ switching intentions from traditional manual counter services to SST is still limited. Therefore, to address this issue, we used the push–pull–mooring (PPM) theoretical framework to develop a research model to explore user switching intention. Design/methodology/approach We utilized a mixed-methods approach. A qualitative approach (i.e., semistructured interviews) was first employed to recognize and choose the candidate factors. Then, we collected 450 valid responses through an online survey to test the model. The partial least squares method was used for data analysis. Findings We found that several push (perceived dissatisfaction and perceived inconvenience), pull (perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and service process fit), and mooring (personal innovativeness and inertia) factors significantly influence switching intention. Additionally, mooring factors exert contextual effects on the relationships between push and switching intentions and between pull factors and switching intentions. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by further increasing our understanding of user switching intentions regarding SSTs from the PPM perspective and offering guidance for the aviation sector to attract and retain customers.