Abstract

In the education environment Students’ Perceived Service Quality (SQ), Satisfaction (SAT) and students’ favourable or unfavourable behaviour can be considered as significant factors of students’ retention and accomplishment of registered programmes with in their stipulated time. The Open Distance Learning (ODL) is widely spread and established flexible pedagogy system with the fast-growing technological enhancement. Year by Year the student population has been drastically increased but completion rate has uncovered a very challenging situation. The service quality concepts which were limited only for customer-based criteria have originated various service quality significant factors and models in education field also. The purpose of this paper is to find out the significant service quality factors by using the modified SERVQUAL dimensions and the relationship between PSQ, SAT and Behavioural Intention (BI). For this study independent variables are Assurance, Empathy, Reliability, Responsiveness, and Website Content and dependent variables are Students’ PSQ, SAT and BI. The population was undergraduate students who have registered for academic year 2013/2014. The valid sample consisted with 744 students. Data collection were done by using a self-administered questionnaire and survey method. The significant relationships revealed; PSQ with Reliability, Responsiveness and Website Content. Further Students’ PSQ with SAT, PSQ with BI and SAT with BI. It is concluded that there is a strong relationship between PSQ and SAT in the ODL environment and a mediated relationship. The variance extracted from the PSQ and SAT were 26% and BI was 43%. It is recommended to select more SQ variables and should increase the sample size for more accuracy in future study as longitudinal. The implications will contribute theoretically and managerially to formulate practical guidelines and necessary strategies to improve the students’ favorable behaviour mediated by the Students’ SAT and PSQ.

Highlights

  • The assess of mediation role of Students’ satisfaction between PSQ and Behavioural Intention (BI) is very important to deliver a consistent quality service for the students to complete their goals [1, 2, 3] and their retntion

  • In 1997, Athiyaman empirically tested the linkage between student satisfaction and service quality perceptions for the university education and the results revealed that “perceived quality is a consequence of consumer satisfaction” and a “function of satisfaction “ [11]

  • Descriptive Statistics The findings of the descriptive statistics revealed that 67% of the respondents agreed with Assurance of the Open Distance Learning (ODL) and 27% of them were disagreed. 48% of them were agreed with the Empathy. 51%, 47%, and 65% of them were agreed with Responsiveness, Reliability and Website Content respectively

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Summary

Introduction

The assess of mediation role of Students’ satisfaction between PSQ and BI is very important to deliver a consistent quality service for the students to complete their goals [1, 2, 3] and their retntion. In 1985, Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry have conceptualised a gap model for SQ with ten number of dimensions and in 1988 and they have introduced five item scale (SERVQUAL) as a instrument for measuring consumer perceptions for perceived service quality. It was consisted with the dimensions of Assurance, Responsiveness, Empathy, Reliability and Tangibility.

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