Towards Service Excellence: The Zone of Tolerance for Hospitality and Tourism Education in Malaysia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between the zone of tolerance and student satisfaction level; it examines desired educational service levels, minimum service levels, and students’ perceptions of actual service. By utilizing an inclusive service quality approach, a conceptual framework for measuring zone of tolerance in higher education services is presented, to examine the delivery of both non-academic and academic service quality for hospitality and tourism education in Malaysia. A self-selection sampling approach is used, with an online questionnaire survey of 300 respondents, to study hospitality and tourism programs in public and private universities across Malaysia. Data are analyzed using descriptive measures, gap analysis, and t-tests. Results reveal that the evaluation of educational services can be scaled according to different types of expectations—desired and adequate—and that students use these two types of expectations as a comparison standard in evaluating higher education services in Malaysia.