Student Satisfaction and Retention: Impact of Service Quality and Digital Transformation

Abstract

A country’s economic and technological development in the twenty-first century depends heavily on higher education. Similar to other countries, the majority of higher education institutions in Bangladesh are private universities that offer educational services alongside public (government-funded) universities. This study aims to investigate how service quality dimensions and digital transformation influence student satisfaction and student retention in private universities in Bangladesh. Data were acquired from a convenient sample, including students from the top five private universities in Bangladesh, through a self-administered questionnaire survey. The questionnaire was completed by 210 of the 235 students who were asked to participate. Each questionnaire was carefully examined. 200 were determined to be appropriate for this study. A conceptual model of eight factors, including the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL model, digital transformation, student satisfaction, and student retention, was framed and tested. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), multiple regression, and bivariate regression analyses were conducted using SPSS 26.0 to test the hypothesized relations. According to the findings of descriptive data, students are satisfied with the quality of private university services and digital transformation activities. This study reveals that all the service quality dimensions positively and significantly impact student satisfaction except the empathy dimension. It is also found that digital transformation substantially influences student satisfaction. Furthermore, student satisfaction has a positive and significant influence on student retention. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first initiative to investigate the impact of service quality dimensions and digital transformation on student satisfaction and student retention in the context of private universities in Bangladesh. This study contributes to higher education institutions for the improvement of service quality dimensions and the digital transformation to obtain student satisfaction and student retention in highly competitive educational sectors. Finally, this work argues that digital transformation in higher education is necessary for survival and growth in the twenty-first century.