improving public approval for business jets

Business Jet Approval 1

Running Head: BUSINESS JET APPROVAL

Improving Public Approval for Business Jets

Mark Boone

Stephen Burton

Eliot Goode

Adam Reffert

Mark Whatley

University of South Carolina Beaufort

BBAD Y396 Business Research Methods


Executive Summary

This project reports the results of an experiment testing one method proposed to

help the business aviation industry manage its image. Beginning in late 2008 and

continuing into 2009, news coverage projected a less than favorable view of the

industry. This attention peaked when Detroit's 'Big Three' automotive companies

traveled to Washington, D.C, each in separate private jets, to meet with Congress and

negotiate a bailout. The aviation industry reacted slowly to the negative media coverage

and experienced a compromised reputation.

The industry responded by using websites and brochures. This research study

tests whether informing the public of the industry's benefits to the economy leads to

improved public perception and whether better perception will gain the industry higher

public approval.

The experiment tested two sample populations. The project team surveyed the

first sample population to obtain a baseline perception of public opinion concerning the

business jet industry. A second sample population of equal size received a fact sheet that

provided information highlighting business aviation's impact on the economy. After

reading the industry provided information, the participants in the second population

completed the same questionnaire taken by the first group. After aggregating the

responses, the experiment compared the difference in opinion between the two groups

to determine whether positive information can affect the opinion of the public towards

the business jet industry.

The experiment supported two hypotheses significant for the industry. First, the

business jet industry can improve its image by providing the public with industry


information. Throughout the survey, the respondents who read the fact sheet supporting

the business jet industry information reported responses more favorable for industry.

This demonstrates that if the industry can find a reliable way to get a positive message to

the public, the public will have a better view of the industry.

The second hypothesis proposed that improved public perception leads to greater

industry approval. The sample group that read the fact sheet reported higher approval of

the industry than the sample group that only completed the survey.

The research experiment indicates the business jet industry can take action to

successfully manage its public image. This report details the significance of these trends

in the 'Results' section of this document.

Based on the results, the project team notes the need for additional research to

identify the target audience, the message to be delivered, and the most effective means

of communication. To manage this effort, the project team recommends development of

an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program to capture these

requirements and provide the public information that enhances and sustains a positive

image of the business jet industry.


Introduction

A need exists for action in the business aviation community. Media scrutiny of

business jet owners and operators has compromised the industry's reputation and

image. After executives from General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler flew in separate

private jets to Congressional bailout hearings, the media equated business aviation to

corporate greed, recklessness, and arrogance.

The business jet has opened remote corners of North America and the world to

business and trade. Operators of business aircraft and employees of the business

aviation industry realize that private aircraft are business tools that provide executives

with speed, safety, and efficiency.

A disconnect remains between what the industry offers and the public concept of

business jets. News pundits attempting to assign blame for the current state of the

economy readily target business aviation as the symbol of greed and avarice.

The controversy over business jet usage radiates throughout the industry.

Companies now reduce aircraft flights, eliminate support staff, and sell their aircraft for

fear of media scrutiny. As a result, corporate aircraft orders declined and companies

providing support for operations (such as flight line service facilities and

maintenance/overhaul shops) endure economic hardship. Solon (2009) reports Teal

Group reduced its 10-year forecast of new business aircraft deliveries by 31% from

2008's forecast. Several factors contribute to the sharp reduction, including slowing

economic growth, but public scrutiny of business jet usage adds to the difficulties. The

business jet industry must take action to ensure it can recover from the economic and

public relations crises it faces.


Our research proposes that by supplying facts about business jets, public

perception of the industry may become more positive. Research by Murphy and

Alexander (2004) demonstrated that after providing information regarding a subject to

a group, the group’s knowledge and opinion changed, at least for a time. This research

study adapts this method by administering a survey to two different groups of equal size.

The first sample group took the survey without any supporting information enabling the

project team to establish a baseline for opinions. The second sample group then read a

sheet supporting business aviation prior to taking the same survey. The research team

then compared how opinions differed between the two groups.

This research seeks to determine if distributing printed information (i.e., fact

sheets or brochures) effectively changes public perception of the industry. In this

research project, we recognized two research questions.

Research Question 1 (RQ1): Will public perception of business jets improve if public

understands industry benefits?

Research Question 2 (RQ2): Will improved perception increase support for business

jets?

From these two research questions, the team developed a research model as

shown in Exhibit A-1. The project team then proposed two hypotheses for testing.

Hypothesis 1 (H1)

Public perception of the business aviation industry will improve if the public is educated


about the benefits of the industry.

Hypothesis 2 (H2)

An improved perception of business aviation will increase public support for business

aviation.

Research Methods

Sample

This research project tested two propositions. First, could a fact sheet improve

the public’s perception of business jets, and would an improvement in perception

increase public approval for business jets?

The 150 surveys completed were spread across a broad area to generate reliable

data. The project team sampled five locations within the Low Country area of South

Carolina and Georgia as shown in Exhibit A-2.

At each location sampled, the team administered half of the surveys without any

provided information to establish the baseline for public opinion. The team handed a

fact sheet of industry provided information to the other half of respondents to read prior

to taking the survey. Each respondent then completed a demographic information

section. (Refer to Exhibit A-5 for demographic results).

Fifty-five percent of the completed surveys were from female respondents. The

majority of respondents (28%) ranged from 25 to 34 years of age; followed by the 35 to

44 year old group (26%). The largest portion of the sample (41%) described themselves

as having some college education; the next largest portion (32%) had a college degree.


In this research, the research team felt that it would be prudent to account for

local bias in population, due to the presence of Gulfstream Aerospace Company, the

area’s largest employer. The demographics results indicate approximately 51 percent of

respondents indicated that he or she knew someone employed in the business aviation

industry, and 48 percent indicated that they did not know anyone employed in the

business jet industry.

Measures

The team designed the survey using five-point Likert scales (1=Strongly Agree; 5=

Strongly Disagree). Pairs of statements included one assertion worded in a positive

manner, and a corresponding second assertion worded negatively to validate the

magnitude of the responses. A total of 16 statements were assembled to gage respondent

perception and approval as shown in Table 1. Considering the recommendations made

by Perreault (1975), the team redistributed the statements to control order effect bias

and to maintain interest in answering the survey. To provide the respondents an

example of the proper ways to indicate answers, the survey included a simple, general

example for each section. Exhibit A-3 presents the survey showing the order of

statements and the demographic questionnaire presented to all respondents. Exhibit A-

4 contains the industry information fact sheet presented to half of the respondents.


Results

The project team entered the data collected from the survey forms into a

Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Project team members utilized the data sorting and basic

statistical capabilities within Microsoft Excel to assemble, then graphically display the

results.

The first series of results produced the demographic histograms in Exhibit A-5.

The team aggregated the demographic results due to time constraints for delivery of this

project. However, the project team qualitatively assessed the range of data for gender,

age groups, education, annual income and familiarity as representative of a normal

population distribution with no outliers. Lack of easily accessible standardized

metropolitan statistical census data limited the comparisons of demographics for

marital status and occupation, but the most recent data provided by the United States

Census Bureau (2007) estimates married persons comprise 36% of the Savannah GA

metropolitan area, and 59% for both the Bryan County, Georgia and the Beaufort –

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina area. The survey sampling totals reported a 50%

married response, within the bounds of the census estimates.

The project team proceeded to analyze the Excel data while noting the inherent

limitations in extrapolating the experimental results gathered by the convenience

sampling method to a target population. The battery of statements measuring H1

perception produced a series of charts arranged by pairs, available for viewing in Exhibit

A-6. The team, seeking a quantitative measure for movement in perception, converted

the primary pair statements from a histogram into a smooth curve. The team adjusted

and scaled the axes, then superimposed the two curves for responses with no


information sheet and responses after reading the information sheet. The team used the

spreadsheet to calculate the arithmetic mean for each set of responses.

The results indicate the introduction of the industry information fact sheet,

representing the independent variable, moved the mean according to the polarity of the

paired statements for H1 perception. For example, in the positive pair statement 1a,

“Business jets increase productivity for American businesses”, the arithmetic mean

moved to the right on the five-point scale, from a value of 3.17 for responses without the

information sheet to 3.55 for respondents who read the information sheet first.

Conversely, on the negative pair statement 1b, “Business jets waste company

resources”, the mean shifted to the left, moving from 3.07 to 2.77, indicating increasing

disagreement by the respondents after reading the information sheet.

Qualitatively, the results on the remaining H1 perception paired statements

display mixed agreement with the hypothesis. The project team surmised the lower

clarity of the remaining H1 perception statements dispersed the tendencies observed in

the first pairing.

The team used the same procedure to convert the first pair statements measuring

H2 approval from a histogram to a smooth curve to graphically illustrate any difference

between the means. The results, shown in Exhibit A-7, for the first positive statement

measuring H2 approval, 6a, “I favor the use of business jets”, indicated presentation of

industry information to the respondents shifted the mean from 3.19 to 3.43. The

negative pair statement, 6b, “I oppose the use of business jets” diminished from a mean

of 2.47 to a mean of 2.21. The team noted the results of introducing the information

sheet parallel the shift in mean revealed in the first pair of H1 perception statements.

As with the H1 perception statements, the project team speculated that the


remaining statements measuring approval introduced increasing levels of confusion as

to the intent or the importance of the statement, dispersing the responses or even

showing agreement regardless of the independent variable.

Nevertheless, the results for the strongest pair statements indicate introducing

industry facts positively increases H1 perception which then increases H2 approval.

Conclusions

The results suggest that providing the public with industry facts will positively

affect their perception of the industry. With careful and strategic design, the survey

results from the sample population captured the two elements of perception and

approval. The following summarizes the results addressing these elements.

Perception

The statement in the survey that best captures the public’s perception, reads

“Business jets increase productivity for American businesses.” Respondents informed of

the industry information prior to taking the survey reported 21.33% less negative and

13.33% more positive than the group without the information. This supports the first

hypothesis (H1): “Public perception of the business aviation industry will improve if the

public is educated about the benefits of the industry.”

Approval

Like perception, the survey measured approval. The primary statement in the

survey that captures the public’s approval of the business-jet industry, reads “I favor the


use of business jets”. Again, respondents informed of the industry information prior to

taking the survey, reported 4% less disapproval and 15% more approval than the group

without the provided information. This supports the second hypothesis (H2): “An

improved perception of business aviation will increase public support for business

aviation.”

Recommendations

Findings from the survey clearly present a significant shift of perception and

approval. Though not all variables were accounted for, we note that the shift occurred in

response to the sole independent variable, the industry information sheet.

The surveys and fact sheets were delivered to the participants selected at random.

More research should be conducted to determine the best target audience for message

delivery. Message delivery could be leveraged by identifying key segments of the

population with a greater likelihood of reception and the ability to influence others.

A second action recommends exploration of different content communicating the

industry's message. The industry should evaluate the most effective content to explain

the value of the business aviation industry to the target audience.

The project team limited the scope of the experiment to the influence of a single

fact sheet delivered by hand to respondents. The industry should evaluate the most

effective vehicle to deliver this message including internet, newspaper, television, radio

or magazine advertisements.

Finally, the project team recommends combining and managing these three

actions by creating an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program. A


carefully executed IMC program can help the industry provide a consistent message and

image to not only the target audience but also owners and regulatory bodies.

Limitations

Though the results seem significant, the project team noted several limitations.

First, the project team did not determine sample size based upon a specified level of

confidence. In addition, the project team did not estimate precision or the amount of

true variability within the data set.

The sampling method presented another limitation to the research. The project

team used personal judgment to select respondents and administer the surveys and fact

sheets. A selection procedure for the respondents based on probability would allow

generalization of the findings to the target population with an acceptable degree of

confidence.

Per instructions, the team did not apply methods to calculate inferential

statistics. Considering the qualitative assessment, the bounds of the quantitative data

and the consistent shift in means observed, the project team believes the limited results

confirm that with more time, the data gathered for the survey could be re-examined

with the proper statistical tests to draw additional meaningful conclusions.


References

Murphy, K. P. & Alexander, P.A. (2004). Persuasion as a Dynamic, Multidimensional

Process: An Investigation of Individual and Intraindividual Differences.

American Educational Research Journal Summer 2004, Vol. 41, No. 2, 337-363.

Perreault, Jr. W. D. (1975). Controlling Order-Effect Bias. The Public Opinion

Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 4 (Winter 1975-1976), 544-551.

Solon, D. (2009, May 11). A Buffeting for Small Jets. The New York Times. Retrieved

from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/business/global/12rbavover.html?

_r=1

United States Census Bureau. (2007). American Fact Finder, 2005-2007 American

Community Survey 3-Year Estimates. Retrieved May 14, 2009, from

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPGeoSearchByListServlet?

ds_name=ACS_2007_3YR_G00_&_lang=en&_ts=260416104522


Appendix

Table 1 Survey Pairs


Exhibit A-1 Research Model

Exhibit A-2 Sampling Locations


Exhibit A-3 Survey Form


Exhibit A-4 Industry Info Sheet


Exhibit A-5 Demographics


Exhibit A-6 Results for H1 Perception


Exhibit A-7 Results for H2 Approval

improving public approval for business jets

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