University Service Quality Research Articles

Comparing Service Quality in Public vs Private Distance Education Institutions: Evidence Based on Malaysia

Assessment of the quality of distance education institutions has become an important issue that needs to be addressed to ensure program survival. This study uses SERVPERF model to identify the differences that exists in students’ perception of service quality in public and private universities in Malaysia that offer distance education. Our study confirms that this model is valid and reliable. We find that the students’ overall perception of service quality is lower in all five dimensions of service quality for the private universities. The dimensions that influence overall service quality are noticeably different for public and private universities. This suggests that private universities need to improve their service provision in order to remain competitive. Managerial implications of the major findings are discussed.

Análise e proposta de melhorias para a satisfação dos discentes em relação aos momentos verdade em uma universidade pública

O setor de prestação de serviços está fortemente presente no dia a dia dos usuários, tendo uma significativa participação na economia do país. As universidades possuem papel fundamental para o desenvolvimento socioeconômico, já que são responsáveis pela formação de novos profissionais e, por isso, necessitam ter qualidade em relação aos serviços prestados pelos envolvidos (docentes, técnicos e gestores), e entender a percepção da qualidade dos serviços por parte dos clientes (discentes). Dessa forma, o trabalho objetivou avaliar a qualidade dos serviços prestados pelo campus de uma universidade pública, a partir do nível de satisfação dos clientes, em relação aos momentos verdade identificados. O estudo apresentado tem uma abordagem qualitativa, utilizando como método de pesquisa o estudo de caso. Após a análise dos resultados, identificou-se que a maioria das insatisfações dos alunos está relacionada aos bens facilitadores de serviços, como disponibilidade de livros e internet. A pesquisa proporcionou conhecimento sobre as causas das insatisfações dos alunos e oportunidades de melhoria, para garantir a qualidade dos serviços prestados. Também contribuiu para preencher uma lacuna da literatura sobre o uso dos momentos verdade na avaliação da qualidade dos serviços em universidades.

The Influence of Good University Governance on Human Capital

Objective - This paper examines the influence of Good University Governance ('GUG') on Human Capital ('HC') and Quality, as well as the influence of CUG on HC through the use of Quality . Methodology/Technique - This research uses an explanatory survey design. The data was collected by visiting state and private universities in Indonesia that offer an S1 Accounting Study Program. Twenty cities were covered and responses to 70 questionnaires were processed. The influence of GUG on HC was analysed using a Structural Equation Model (SEM). Findings - The study found that GUG has a significant positive effect on Quality and GUG has a significant positive effect on HC. However, the influence of Quality on HC and the indirect influence of GUG on HC through Quality were negatively significant. Overall, the total influence of GUG on HC was positively significant. Novelty - This study suggests that GUG improves HC and the Quality of services in Indonesian universities. However, improved quality of HC seems to lead to a deterioration in the quality of university services. Further, quality of services fails to mediate the influence of GUG on HC. Type of Paper: Empirical Keywords: Good University Governance; Human Capital; Quality; S1 Accounting Study Program; Universities; Indonesia. JEL Classification: O15, I23, J24.

University Service Quality in the Community Service and Continuing Education Center at Sultan Qaboos University: An Empirical Study Using SERVQUAL Scale

The study aimed to define strategies to achieve university service quality in the Community Service and Continuing Education Center (CSCEC) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) using the SERVQUAL scale. The scale examines the gap between expectations and perceptions. The researchers translated the scale and rephrased some of its items in a way that was suitable the study population. The instrument was administered to a random sample of SQU academics, and the CSCEC employers and trainees. Descriptive analysis methods were used in the study in addition to a group of appropriate statistical procedures. The results revealed a high level of quality services that the center provides or plans to povide. The results also indicated that there were no significant differences regarding the demographical variables of type, job and age in all of the service quality dimensions. In addition, the study suggests some strategies to achieve university service quality in the community service and continuing education center at Sultan Qaboos University.

University Service Quality in the Community Service and Continuing Education Center at Sultan Qaboos University: An Empirical Study Using SERVQUAL Scale

The study aimed to define strategies to achieve university service quality in the Community Service and Continuing Education Center (CSCEC) at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) using the SERVQUAL scale. The scale examines the gap between expectations and perceptions. The researchers translated the scale and rephrased some of its items in a way that was suitable the study population. The instrument was administered to a random sample of SQU academics, and the CSCEC employers and trainees. Descriptive analysis methods were used in the study in addition to a group of appropriate statistical procedures. The results revealed a high level of quality services that the center provides or plans to povide. The results also indicated that there were no significant differences regarding the demographical variables of type, job and age in all of the service quality dimensions. In addition, the study suggests some strategies to achieve university service quality in the community service and continuing education center at Sultan Qaboos University.

The influence of the evaluation of university education service quality on student satisfaction with the service, and willingness to engage in a specific behavior

The influence of the evaluation of university education service quality on student satisfaction with the service, and willingness to engage in a specific behavior

Kajian Kritis Keputusan Mahasiswa Studi S-1 Fakultas Ekonomi Reguler Sore Usm

<p>Higher education is a continuation of secondary education held to prepare learners to become members of the community who have academic and / or professional skills who can apply, develop and or create science of technology and or art. This research is designed as a qualitative research by using phenomenalisis and grounded approach. So that the phenomenon can be used as a study material on the factors that give rise to the interest and quality of service and the decision to choose the study program. As for the research partner as many as eight students active class regular afternoon. The results of this study resulted in two propositions of interest in continuing studies in universities and service quality in universities. Each proposition comes with a picture of the theory building. Which ultimately led to the theoretical model of the decision to continue the study which is a study for further empirical research.</p>

Analysis of SERVQUAL Application to Service Quality Measurement and Its Impact on Loyalty in Ghanaian Private Universities

The purpose of this research is to use an adapted SERVQUAL method to measure service quality in Ghanaian Private Universities. The study use graphical technique for data presentation.The methodological approach follows the traditional SERVQUAL method of service quality perception and expectation as well as the difference scores determination. This approach is intended to improve SERVQUAL method analysis to achieve quality decision making based on graphical view of different relationships among the concepts used in the method. The study is on 321 students’ perception and expectations of five different Private Universities in Ghana.The study finds that students’ perception on Private Universities’ performance predict their loyalty better than the expectations. Managerial action can be better taken on service quality variables when the difference scores are used as percentage on perception. However, different service quality measurement methods such as SERVPERF and HEdPERF should be used and compared the results with this modified SERVQUAL method in Ghanaian Private Universities.This research finding has the strength to equip marketing professionals and researchers to increase SERVQUAL method adoption among different academic institutions.The value in this study is found in highlighting the importance of difference scores and the graphical demonstration of relationships among service quality perception and expectation as well as loyalty constructs in Ghanaian Private Universities.

Evaluating service quality in the higher education sector in Iran: an examination of students’ perspective

PurposeEducation is a human right and access to high quality education is key to sustainable socioeconomic development. Improving the quality of higher education institutes is essential for generating the productive human resources. Assessing the quality of higher education from the students’ perspective can be considered a crucial factor in the monitoring of service quality in universities. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of educational services in a higher education institute, the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), in the west of Iran.Design/methodology/approachA multistage sampling method was used to select 346 students from the KUMS, who were enrolled in the second semester of the academic year 2015-2016. The SERVQUAL questionnaire was used to gather data on students’ perceptions and their expectations about the quality of educational services. The authors used a statistical significance level of 0.05 to examine the gap between the students’ expectations and their perceptions of service quality in five dimensions, namely tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, empathy and assurance.FindingsThe results showed that there was a negative service quality gap in all five dimensions. The overall mean score of students’ expectations and their perceptions was 3.19±0.44 and 2.4±0.45, respectively. The score gap between the overall mean score of perceptions and expectations of students was −0.79, which was statistically significant (p<0.0001). The highest and lowest quality gaps were related to the assurance (−0.84) and tangible (−0.70) dimensions, respectively.Originality/valueThe study indicated that the quality of educational services provided in the KUMS did not meet students’ expectations in five dimensions of service quality. Thus, it warrants further investigations to determine how to improve the quality of educational services in higher education institutes such as the KUMS.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION SERVICE QUALITY IN UNIVERSITIES BASED ON SERVQUAL MODEL

Educational service quality is determined by investigating the gap between students’ expectations (desired status) and perceptions (status quo). This study aimed at evaluating the quality of entrepreneurship education services in universities of Kermanshah, Iran based on the SERVQUAL model. The present study is practical research in terms of objective and it is a cross-sectional survey in terms of data collection. The study population of 212 involved undergraduate students of an agricultural college who have taken an entrepreneurship course as an elective. Based on the Morgan Table 132 students were randomly investigated. Data were gathered through a standard SERVQUAL questionnaire containing 22 items about 5 dimensions of physical, responsiveness, empathy, reliability, and assurance. The results indicate that the highest service quality gap was in the responsiveness dimension (-1.916), followed by assurance and guarantee (-1.701), empathy (-1.039) and reliability dimensions (-1.015) with the smallest gap in the physical dimension (-0.718).

La calidad de los servicios universitarios: reflexiones a partir del estudio de casos en el contexto latinoamericano

El objetivo de esta investigación fue identificar los factores que determinan la calidad de los servicios académicos en instituciones universitarias, a partir de tres estudios de casos en el contexto latinoamericano (Venezuela, México y Chile). Se usó el modelo de encuesta SERVQUALing, y previa demostración de la adecuación muestral, se empleó la técnica estadística multivariante de Análisis de Factores, donde se identificaron las dimensiones que subyacen la calidad de los servicios, según las percepciones de los estudiantes, destacándose la Seguridad, la Capacidad de Respuesta y la Empatía, como elementos clave y comunes. La encuesta usada resultó fiable y válida, según lo evidencian las pruebas estadísticas realizadas (significativas al 5%). Los resultados confirman el carácter dinámico y multidimensional de la calidad de los servicios académicos, lo que permite presentar algunas reflexiones para el debate.

مستوى جودة الخدمات التعليمية في الجامعات الحكومية والخاصة في الجمهورية اليمنية دراسة تقويمية لجامعتي ذمار والحكمة اليمانية

مستوى جودة الخدمات التعليمية في الجامعات الحكومية والخاصة في الجمهورية اليمنية دراسة تقويمية لجامعتي ذمار والحكمة اليمانية

The massification of higher education in the UK: Aspects of service quality

This article explores several aspects of service quality for the provision of higher education. Alongside the trend of the massification of higher education over the past two decades, higher education institutions are required to review quality across a range of outputs, besides teaching and learning. The study was undertaken within the undergraduate placement programme of a UK higher education institution and investigated aspects of service quality through students’ surveys conducted over a five-year period and staff questionnaires and interviews. The findings of the study point out that, amongst other factors, the increase in student numbers implies a deterioration of higher education service quality. Based on the findings, several areas that can potentially improve the quality of higher education services in modern universities are identified.

Assessing Quality of Educational Service by the Servqual Model: Viewpoints of Hotel Management Undergraduate Students at Manipal University in India

Considerations and thoughts on how students perceive or expect quality of educational services, contributes to a great deal in improving the quality of educational and academic services in Universities and Institutions across the world. Defining the probable gaps between the expectations and perceptions of students will enable educational service providers to embark on necessary actions to augment the quality of educational services provided by a university particularly offering a hospitality management degree. The aim of this study is to use the SERVQUAL instrument to measure and identify any actual or perceived gaps between student's expectations and perceptions of the educational services of their University. Particularly aimed at determining the quality gap in educational services provided to the Undergraduate Hotel Management students of the Manipal University - India in December 2013.The students participating in the study are pursuing a 4 year Bachelor Degree in Hotel Management. The study will also provide insights to the University on the improvements needed for future student satisfaction on educational services and quality improvements. The SERVQUAL metric was adapted for the measurement of service quality in the higher education of hotel management course at Manipal University and conducted on an entire population of students. The proposed instrument is tested only in one University in India with an entire population (170 students) of two years of study. This research paper presents an approach to using SERVQUAL for measuring student's expectations and perceptions. The adapted factors concerning student services at a University from the standard SERVQUAL instrument are questioned using the SERVQUAL methodology. The detailed statistical analysis reduced to meaningful statements are usable by the management of university's as an effective easy to apply quality measurement tool. The outcomes of the study resulted in a negative quality gap in all five dimensions of quality educational services: Tangible (physical environments) Reliability (trustworthiness) Responsiveness (Sensitivity) Assurance (guarantee) Empathy (Understanding). The maximum and minimum mean of quality gap observed was -0.48 in the dimension of Tangibles and -0.11 in the dimension of assurance respectively. It is significant to note that the perceptive gap of the female students were higher than the perceptive gap of the male students in all 5 dimensions. Female rated reliability with high mean and the male students rated tangibles with a high mean. It was also observed that the P value of female scores on the dimension off reliability 0.033 and responsive 0.031 and is statistically relevant as it is less than 0.05.

The Effect of Gender and Nationality on Service Quality in Malaysian Higher Education

Competition is becoming increasingly intense among service organizations, and one of the most profitable service sectors of Malaysia is the higher education sector. This stiff competition requires tertiary institutions to satisfy their clients. Hence, measuring students’ satisfaction becomes essential. Accordingly, this study measures the effect of gender and nationality on service quality in Malaysian private universities using the SERVQUAL instrument. The level of students’ satisfaction is evaluated based on the gap found between their perceptions and expectations towards five dimensions of service quality, namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, based on their gender and nationality. Thus, a 22-item Likert-type questionnaire was administered among 250 students from both genders and different nationalities. Based on the results obtained, there is no sufficient evidence concerning the effect of gender on service quality in higher education institutions. However, nationality has a slight effect on the responsiveness dimension of service quality. Then, the research addresses policy implications on the importance of the education system in a country, and some implications for universities to improve their offered services. Finally, in the two last sections, the researchers address limitations of the study and future research directions.

A phenomenology of university service quality experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the complex nature of perceived quality by employing a phenomenological study to understand the meaning of University Service Quality (USQ) as experienced by the business undergraduate students. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a phenomenological study to understand the meaning of USQ from the undergraduate students’ perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 business undergraduates from public universities, local private universities and a foreign branch campus in Malaysia. Data gathered were analysed using the procedure suggested by Colaizzi (1978) for descriptive phenomenological analysis. Findings – From the qualitative data, the essential structure of the USQ experience was constructed based on five major themes which are “USQ as a luxury”, “USQ as citizenship rights”, “USQ as nurturing apprentices”, “USQ as administrative relief” and “USQ as utility consumption”. The findings suggest that students’ service quality experiences could be understood as a multi-faceted phenomenon with students expressing context-dependent service expectations and outcomes. Practical implications – The outcome of the paper highlights the nature of students’ expectations which may vary according to service contexts, and their perception of self. Therefore, an integrated effort in various service domains is necessary to enhance service quality experience in higher education. Originality/value – Although previously explored by Dabholkar et al. (1996) in the retail services, the phenomenological-based methodology is rather uncommon in the service quality inquiry, particularly in the higher education context. The insights gathered from the phenomenological study provided access to understanding some persistent issues in USQ such as standards of expectations and perceived role by students in the higher education.

Student motivation and the ‘feel good’ factor: an empirical examination of motivational predictors of university service quality evaluation

With the globalisation of the higher education industry, service quality in the higher education services is seen as a vital factor in determining a university's competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to extend current conceptualisation of quality research in higher education by investigating the influence of self-determination and outcome valence in the form of students' feelings towards their academic result, on university service quality (USQ) evaluation. The results highlighted that students who feel good about their academic results are more self-determined and perceive a more favourable USQ experience than others. On the basis of the research findings, this study suggests that the effect of motivational differences and academic outcome valence on USQ evaluation should be taken into account when considering how students' USQ perception is formed. These pertinent issues deserve considerable attention as they have a bearing on important outcomes such as student satisfaction and staff performance appraisal.

"Assessing The Quality Of Higher Education Services Using A Modified Servqual Scale "

The purpose of the study is to assess the service quality in high publiceducation in Albania, using the SERVQUAL approach. Today Albanian public universitiesare facing fierce competition from private universities, so they find imperative focusingfirmly on service quality they offer to students. The paper reports on a modifiedSERVQUAL survey of students from five public universities in Albania. The survey aims tocapture the perceptions and expectations students have about the service they receive inrespective universities, leading to an evaluation of overall perceived service quality basedon gap analysis.The data analysis reveals interesting findings on students‘ perceptions of service quality inhigh education. The universities‘ management would benefit from these findings byknowing which gap should receive the most attention in order to gain competitiveadvantage. An improved service quality will also help them to face the competition fromother high education institutions. The study confirms the SERVQUAL scale as a suitabletool in assessing service quality in public sector, holding the same strengths as in privatesector. The continuous measurement of service quality in universities will help in engagingin a continuous improvement of this quality, creating a good basis for achieving higherobjectives. Service quality measurement will also help in creating a market-orientation forpublic universities, focusing more on the student as a customer.

Measuring university service quality by means of SERVQUAL method

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine university service quality in the International branch of Amirkabir University (Iran).Design/methodology/approachIn this study, a total of 102 students in five courses (Electronic engineering, Civil engineering, Mechanical engineering, Chemical engineering and MBA) in the international branch of Amirkabir University, were asked to complete a SERVQUAL questionnaire. This questionnaire measured students’ perceptions and expectations in five dimensions of service that consists of assurance, responsiveness, empathy, reliability and tangibles. The quality gap of university services was determined based on differences between students’ perceptions and expectations.FindingsThe results demonstrated that in all of the five SERVQUAL dimensions there was a negative quality gap (p&lt;0.05). Also responsiveness is the most important dimension for the students but had the largest gap. So improvements are necessary and the university must pay more attention to the students’ requirements.Research limitations/implicationsThe current research was conducted among international branch of Amirkabir University, so the results are limited to those faculty, not to the whole of the university. Also, there were many questions in the questionnaire, which made the students tired and impatient.Originality/valueThere are limited researches that consider service quality in Iranian higher education. However, for the first time, the service quality of the international branch of Amirkabir University was measured in this research by SERVQUAL. Measuring education service via SERVQUAL in order to determine ways to improve quality is one of the major fields of application of the model. Continuous research in the field will benefit the welfare of the public society.

An empirical investigation of students’ motivational impact upon university service quality perception: a self-determination perspective☆

Based on Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory, this study examines the impact of an individual’s motivation in pursuing higher education towards university service quality perception, with the individual’s learning style posited as the moderator of the proposed relationship. The consequent effects upon satisfaction and behavioural intentions are also assessed. From a large-scale questionnaire survey with a sample of 1919 business undergraduate students in Malaysia, this study found that those who are more self determined to participate in higher education tend to have a more favourable university service quality perception, which then leads to a greater level of satisfaction and student loyalty. The moderating effect of learning style was also found in the interaction between a student’s motivation to participate in higher education and university service quality evaluation. The implication of this study underscores the complexity of the service quality construct as well as the effect of motivational differences and learning style upon university service quality evaluation.