A conceptual model for passenger service systems adoption: An interdisciplinary perspective

Since the mid-2000s, air carriers have implemented passenger service systems (PSS) as software used in common with their partners. However, the cases of PSS adoption in airlines have been understudied from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. Research in the information systems discipline considers PSS as a type of inter-organizational systems (IOS), and recent work on international business asserts that multinational services firms tend towards a home-region orientation (HRO), which refers to the propensity of multinationals to expand within a home region. This paper aims to present a conceptual model for PSS adoption; through the theoretical lens of IOS and HRO, transactional cost theory and neo-institutional theory are applied on a technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework to conceptualize the research model incorporating causal factors and outcomes. An explanatory in-depth case study under a positivist paradigm will be carried out to analyze qualitative data bearing cause-effect relationships as well as to explain why airlines adopt PSS and how context-specific factors affect PSS adoption; to test the TOE-based conceptual model and causal factors, multiple industry reports and interview data from key informants with an Asian airline will be employed. The original research model in a nonlinear causation will be useful to see why and how airlines adopt PSS as multilateral common-use applications. Empirical findings will confirm the usefulness of the TOE contexts in qualitative case study on PSS adoption. This study will contribute to bridging the gap in the theory of IOS adoption from the interdisciplinary perspective and in offering practical insights for practitioners.