Abstract
The purpose of this research is to develop a model which examines the relationship between adapted dimensions of service quality scale and customer satisfaction and perceived price fairness, building on previous measurement instrument developed by (A. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988b). The research paper investigates the instrument at higher education in Syria. The planned methodology for the research employs a quantitative approach where the service quality instrument developed by (A. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988a) is employed in this research. The sample of the study follows a non-probability sampling approach. The unit of analysis in this research is undergraduate students of private universities in Syria. Online self-administered questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate students in 3 private universities in Syria. The adjusted instrument scale employed a 5 points Likert scale where 1 indicates strongly disagree and 5 strongly agree. The level of analysis investigates reliability and validity tests. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) is employed to measure relationships between measured variables. The exploratory factor analysis produced three dimensions. Cronbach alpha test is employed to measure the internal consistency of the scale. The adapted service quality scale comprises of three dimensions namely institution task orientation, institution relationship orientation and institution tangibles orientation. The instrument consists of 12 items. The research recommends the measurement scale to be applied for service quality in Higher Education environment.
Highlights
Providing service quality has become a priority for service organizations and competitive advantage (Vojtovič & Navickas, 2016; Aleksejeva, 2016; Dobele et al 2016; Prause 2015; Čirjevskis 2015; Dzemyda et al 2015)
A prior study on SERVPERF instrument based on a sample of students from Syrian universities confirms that perceived service quality dimensions is an area of concern and development which requires further investigation and improvement (Mahmoud & Khalifa, 2015)
The results indicates that as service quality dimensions namely task and relationship oriented dimensions increase, students’ satisfaction with decision about the service increases
Summary
Providing service quality has become a priority for service organizations and competitive advantage (Vojtovič & Navickas, 2016; Aleksejeva, 2016; Dobele et al 2016; Prause 2015; Čirjevskis 2015; Dzemyda et al 2015). There are factors that enable educational institutions to attract and retain students including service quality. In today's competitive academic environment where students have many options available to them, factors that enable educational institutions to attract and retain students should be very significant. The study proposed that satisfaction is largely influenced by the value and quality of the services provided to customers. Providing customer satisfaction should assist in the retention of students throughout their studies, but possibly enable the relationship to continue through alumni activity post-graduation. 6. Exploratory Factor Analysis To examine the validity of the applied SERVEPERF service quality scale in the target sample selected from private universities in Syria an exploratory factor analysis is performed. The original scale of SERVQUAL, and SERVPERF produces five dimensions measuring service quality.
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