Service failure and complaints management in higher education institutions

Steven Kayambazinthu Msosa

doi:10.20525/ijrbs.v10i3.1098

Abstract

The higher education sector has evolved over the past decade due to the ever-changing needs of students who are its primary customers. As a result, most students have to deal with unmet expectations which subsequently lead to service failure. Even though service failure cannot be eliminated, higher education institutions are expected to provide an effective complaints management system to resolve student problems and service failure incidents. This study analyzed service failure and complaints management in higher education institutions. A quantitative, descriptive, and cross-sectional study was undertaken using 430 full-time students across three public universities in South Africa. The findings of this study showed that students encounter various forms of service failures in institutions of higher learning with the majority experiencing service failures in respect of funding and academic registration. Also, most of the students were generally satisfied with the complaints management system. Thus, this study can help institutional managers to understand service failure incidents confronting the sector. Furthermore, the study provides an opportunity for institutional managers to assess the effectiveness of the complaints management system and make improvements to ensure a better student experience

Highlights

Complaints handling is an integral part of the service recovery process and essential to addressing service failure. Chahal and Devi (2015) observe that few cases of service failures or complaints are reported and registered because people don’t know where to complain and there is limited time to complain
A descriptive analysis of demographic information, causes of service failure, the nature of service failure experienced by students and the complaints management system utilised in higher education institution was performed
Service failures are a common phenomenon in the service sector, in higher education institutions

Summary

Introduction

Complaints handling is an integral part of the service recovery process and essential to addressing service failure. Chahal and Devi (2015) observe that few cases of service failures or complaints are reported and registered because people don’t know where to complain and there is limited time to complain. Complaints handling is an integral part of the service recovery process and essential to addressing service failure. Chahal and Devi (2015) observe that few cases of service failures or complaints are reported and registered because people don’t know where to complain and there is limited time to complain. Poor service encounters or being assisted by non-responsive service providers may lead to customers believing that registering complaints is an exercise in futility because nobody will attend to the complaint or they will be ignored. Customer complaints may arise because of a service or product that is defective, unfulfilled customer expectation or a broken promise. A poorly executed service, unreliable service and failure to meet commitments may all lead to customer complaints (Chan et al, 2016). There is a wrong belief among service employees that low complaints represent good performance to the extent that they do not value complaints (Tan et al, 2014)

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Conclusion