Students satisfaction on service quality provided by the colleges of thai nguyen university a proposed formation program

LIST OF TABLES 1 Distribution of the Sample size According to Population …… 31 2 Distribution of the Respondents by Colleges ……… 32 3 Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Responden

STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION ON SERVICE QUALITY PROVIDED BY

THE COLLEGES OF THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY:

A PROPOSED FORMATION PROGRAM

_

A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School Southern Luzon State University, Lucban, Quezon, Philippines

in Collaboration with Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Vietnam

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The researcher wishes to convey his gratitude to the following persons who wholeheartedly devoted and helped make this piece of work a reality:

DR WALBERTO A MACARAAN, his adviser for the supervision, guidance,

suggestions and precious time in enthusiastically reading and checking the manuscript, providing the researcher with useful materials;

DR CECILIA N GASCON, President of the Southern Luzon State University in the

Republic of the Philippines, for her invaluable contribution and support to the Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management program in Thai Nguyen University;

DR DANG KIM VUI, President of the Thai Nguyen University in the Socialist

Republic of Vietnam for his continuous and constant contribution and support

to the Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Management program in cooperation with the Southern Luzon State University, Republic of the Philippines;

DR NGUYEN THE HUNG, Director of the International Training Center, Thai

Nguyen University of Socialist Republic of Vietnam for his enormous pursuit

to provide the Vietnamese people an opportunity to grow through education ;

The faculty and research staff of the colleges of Thai Nguyen University and the

respondents of the study for their active involvement and cooperation which

made the conduct of the study possible;

His family and friends, for the love and support in one way or another and to all

who have contributed to make this study a success

NTT

DEDICATION

This research is wholeheartedly dedicated to my family and to all my relatives, colleagues and friends, and classmates in Thai Nguyen University for giving the researcher endless support, guidance and inspiration

NTT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE

TITLE PAGE ……… i

APPROVAL SHEET ……… ii

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY ……… iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENT ……… iv

DEDICATION ……… v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ……… vi

LIST OF TABLES ……… viii

LIST OF FIGURES……… x

LIST OF APPENDICES ……… xi

ABSTRACT ……… xii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ……… 1

Background of the Study ……….………… 3

Objectives of the Study ……….…… 5

Hypotheses ……… 6

Significance of the Study ……… 6

Scope and Limitation of the Study ……….… 8

Definition of Terms ……… 8

II REVIEW OF LITERATURE ……….……… 13

Research Paradigm ……… ….……… 29

III METHODOLOGY ……… 30

Locale of the Study ……….……… 30

Research Design ……….……… 30

Population and Sampling ……….… ………… 31

Instrumentation ……… ………… …….… 33

Data Gathering Procedure ……… 34

Statistical Treatment …….……… 35

IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS ……….… 38

Demographic Profile of the Students ……… 38

EDUSERVQUAL Analysis and Identification of Areas for Improvement ……… 39

Correlation of Demographic Factors to EDUSERVQUAL Dimensions ……… 52

Proposed Formation Program ……… 77

V SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Summary ……… ……… 87

Findings ……….……… ……….… 88

Conclusions ……….… 89

Recommendations ……… …… 90

REFERENCES ……… 91

APPENDICES ……… 96

CURRICULUM VITAE ……… 121

LIST OF TABLES

1 Distribution of the Sample size According to Population …… 31

2 Distribution of the Respondents by Colleges ……… 32

3 Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents’

Demographic Profile as to Gender, Age, Origin, and Family

4 Mean Scores and T-test Results for the Students’

Perceptions and Expectations in term of Instructional,

Auxiliary and Ancillary Service, and Learning support Facility

5 Mean Scores and T-test Results for the Students’

Perceptions and Expectations in term of Tangibles,

Responsiveness, Reliability, Assurance and Empathy

6 Overall Mean Scores and T-test Results for the Students’

Perceptions and Expectations EDUSERVQUAL Dimensions 47

7.1 Correlation of the Students’ Responses on the Instructional

Service Quality with their Demographic Profile ……… 52 7.2 Correlation of Students’ Responses on Auxiliary Service

Quality with their Demographic Profile ……… 53

7.3 Correlation of the Students’ Responses on the Ancillary

Service Quality with their Demographic Profile ……… 54

7.4 Correlation of the Students’ Responses on the Learning

Support Facilities Service Quality with their Demographic

7.5 Correlation of the Students’ Responses on the Tangibles

Service Quality with their Demographic Profile ……… 56

7.6 Correlation of the Students’ Responses on the

Responsiveness Service Quality with their Demographic

7.7 Correlation of the Students’ Responses on the Reliability

Service Quality with their Demographic Profile ……… 58

7.8 Correlation of the Students’ Responses on the Assurance

Service Quality with their Demographic Profile ……… 59

TABLE PAGE

7.9 Correlation of the Students’ Responses on the Empathy

Service Quality with their Demographic Profile ……… 60

8 Anova Result in Student’s Perception by Group of

9.1 Post Hoc Multiple Analyses of Students’ Perception of One

College with Other Eight Colleges in terms of Instructional

9.2 Post Hoc Multiple Analyses of Student’s Perception of One

College with Other Eight Colleges in terms of Auxiliary

9.3 Post Hoc Multiple Analyses of Student’s Perception of One

College with other Eight Colleges in terms of Ancillary

9.4 Post Hoc Multiple Analyses of Student’s Perception of one

College with Other Eight Colleges in terms of Learning

Support Facilities (LE) Dimension ……… 67

9.5 Post Hoc Multiple Analyses of Student’s Perception of One

College with Other Eight Colleges in terms of Tangibles (TA)

9.6 Post Hoc Multiple Analyses of Student’s Perception of one

College with Other Eight Colleges in terms of

9.7 Post Hoc Multiple Analyses of Student’s Perception of one

College with Other Eight Colleges in terms of Reliability (R)

9.8 Post Hoc Multiple Analyses of Student’s Perception of One

College with Other Eight Colleges in terms of Assurance (A)

9.9 Post Hoc Multiple Analyses of Student’s Perception of One

College with Other Eight Colleges in terms of Empathy (EM)

10 Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents’

Demographic Profile as to Colleges ……… 74

LIST OF FIGURE

1 Schematic Diagram of the Independent and Dependent

LIST OF APPENDICES

A Questionnaire for the Survey of Students’ Satisfaction

on the Service Quality Provided by Colleges of

Thai Nguyen University ……… 97

B Reports of Computations ……… 102

ABSTRACT

Title of Research : STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION ON SERVICE

QUALITY PROVIDED BY THE COLLEGES OF THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY: A PROPOSED FORMATION PROGRAM

Degree Conferred : DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATIONAL

MANAGEMENT Name and Address

of Institution

: Southern Luzon State University Lucban, Quezon, Philippines and Thai Nguyen University, Socialist Republic of Vietnam

This study sought to find out the students’ satisfaction on the service

quality provided by different colleges of the Thai Nguyen University for school year 2012-2013 Specifically, it aimed to identify the respondents’ profile in

terms of gender, age, origin, and monthly family income; determine the level

of students’ satisfaction on service quality of the Colleges as to instructional,

auxiliary, ancillary services and learning support facilities; find out the level of students’ satisfaction on service quality in colleges with respect to tangibles,

responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy; find out if there is any significant difference considering students’ profile in their perceptions of the service quality of different colleges of TNU; correlate students’ satisfaction in

service quality of the different colleges of TNU to their demographic profiles; and propose a formation program to improve the service quality This study used descriptive design in analyzing the investigated variables 382 students were requested to answer the checklist questionnaire The EDUSERVQUAL

tool is designed to measure gap between perceptions and expectations to service quality Thus, it was found out that most respondents are females (59%), 21 years old (66%), live in the village (48%), and have monthly family income from 2,000,000 VND and below (44%) Students identify that the significant gaps between perceived importance of service quality and their actual experience are lower than expected Largest gaps are reported in the areas of “wifi network and internet service quality” (-0.95); “soft skills equipped for the students” (-0.87); “audio visual/media center functions well” (-0.86);

“sincerity and interest of college to solve students’ problems” (-0.84);

“college giving individual attention” (-0.83); “food services guaranteed by food safety standards” (-0.82); “available book store and market” (-0.8); “college integrity to what is promised” (-0.8) Gender and monthly family income have significant correlation with that of students’ perceptions There are significant differences in student’s perception of nine colleges on instructional (IN) and

ancillary services (AN), learning support facilities (LE), tangibles (TA), responsiveness (RE), reliability (R), assurance (A), and empathy (EM) Moreover, the results also indicated that among the analyzed samples, 88.4%

of the DTE’s respondents were agree and strongly agree with their college’s services, following by DTS’s respondents (87.2%), then DTU’s respondents (82.5%), DTZ’s respondents (78%), DTK’s respondents (70.7%), DTN’s respondents (66.6%), DTK’s respondents (66.0%), DTC’s respondents (58.8%) and DTF’s respondents (36.8%) A formation program has been

proposed to improve the service quality Hence, it is recommended that similar studies may be conducted across public and private institutions of higher education in the country to establish competitive benchmarks, to track

poor service delivery and promote students’ satisfaction on service quality

measurement in all colleges/universities in Vietnam The EDUSERVQUAL tool may be used to further investigate perceptions and expectations held by administrative staff, faculty, and students’ families in colleges

Chapter I

INTRODUCTION

Education sector is becoming a service for people in which global and local levels combine, thus standardized offer is modified by local specificities Service quality is put forward as the critical determinant of competitiveness (Lewis, 2009) Most people often hear poor client service experience than good ones, and negative word-of-mouth can have a devastating effect on an organization’s efforts to attract new clients Those clients who experienced poor service will often reveal their experience to other people, therefore this may lead to reduction in potential and permanent clients Thus, good service quality is more likely to attract new as well as maintain regular clients

In colleges, students are considered as the “short-duration clients” and they are the clients of education service They play an active role in helping the college identify the providers and improve service quality Identifying the determinants of service quality from the perception of the students being the major clients is important, and one of a primary goal of higher education (HE) that should be done is

to develop the satisfaction of students (Al-alak, 2009)

Besides, during the last over two decades, measuring service quality in HE has become increasingly important for attracting and retaining the tuition-based returns (Angell et al., 2008) Therefore, it is vital for HE institutions to actively monitor service quality and safeguard the interests of stakeholders through the fulfilment of their real needs and wants In order to attract the students, serve their needs and retain them, Zeshan (2010) suggested that the service providers and researchers are

actively involved in understanding students’ expectations and perceptions of service quality

In the current economic climate, education field is expanding rapidly all over the world HE is being driven toward the commercial competition by the development

of global education markets Many HE institutions are giving serious thought to the issue of service and performing some identifications of the service quality of education that provided to the students, as well as the assessment of students’ satisfaction Aside from that, universities/colleges are increasingly involved in a ranking criteria (Al-alak, 2009) These rankings are increasingly disseminated with great detail about the different components of overall score, and the issues that frequently accompany the presentation of overall position of an institution often refer

to general climate on campus and level of students’ satisfaction

In the context of Vietnam, Vietnam HE institutions cover undergraduate and postgraduate studies (Vietnamese Education Law, 2012) Thai Nguyen University, being one of the leading HE institution, is mandated to pursue the following: training

a high quality human resource, conducting researches on scientific technologies and management, verifying and proposing solutions and sustainable development policies, and contributing to the socio-economic development of the region towards industrialization and modernization To become a world class university within Vietnam and the Southeast Asia in providing HE in agriculture and forestry, education, technology, economics, business administration, information and communication technology, foreign languages, and medicine and pharmacy among others The study of students’ satisfaction on service quality provided by colleges of TNU will help provide valuable information to present and future students in determining where to study as well as administrators on how to improve the colleges service quality

Background of the Study

The important role of service industries is increasing in line with the development of economy in many countries (Pham Ngoc Thuy & Le Nguyen Hau, 2010) In the last two decades, Vietnam has been trying to integrate into the world The only way to develop and prosper for Vietnam is to be open to the world, and education is no exception Hence, the country’s HE institutions have to address teaching effectiveness, facilities, relevance of coursework, curriculum and the general learning environment of the universities/colleges which can be valuable benchmarks for decision-makers about how to improve the quality of the institutions and training programs

However, in Vietnam there are still many barriers on the educational development (MOET, 2005; Ngo, 2006): lack of financial resources, very high level of centralization, and concentration of enrolment in only few academic disciplines due to limited provision and the student/teacher ratio (30:1)

TNU is not standing apart from the context of its country because there are still challenges facing TNU As observed by the researcher, there are currently many factors that crucially affect the quality of education, such as a passive teaching method, shortage of teaching staff, poor teaching materials, inadequate infrastructure, and lack of experience in education management Large class sizes likewise create challenges for teachers as well as for the management to update and innovate methods of teaching, counseling, skills training and teamwork Laboratory, library, classrooms and playgrounds are not appropriately invested The soft skills training as well as practice activities have not been given due attention Curricula are less suitable for professional demanding practice These limitations can be a major influence on the student satisfaction of services and quality of training as well as college's reputation

The lack of student feedback survey yearly suggests that the colleges are less concerned with responding to student needs At colleges of TNU, an annual overall statistical analysis of student performance and satisfaction is seldom done, and no tool was developed to determine student’s perceptions on service quality provided corresponding to their expectation and needs on learning and teaching, support facilities (library, computer units and laboratory facilities), learning environment (rooms of lectures, laboratories, social space), support facilities (health facilities, refectories, student accommodation, student services) and other external aspects (such as finance, transportation) It has become necessary to invest in a tool that will measure the students’ learning experience in order to maintain or improve the service quality provision in the colleges, to attract and sustain good students and maintain their commitment and reputation of the colleges

Aiming at the holistic growth of colleges, service quality improvement of colleges would likely satisfy students’ demands As a result, the assessment of students’ satisfaction on service quality in HE may provide contribution that may be useful for management, faculty and staff members of TNU and other colleges in the region to continuously improve quality of education imposed and required by quality standards

Cognizance of the present condition of TNU including its strengths and weaknesses, the researcher was prompted to conduct a study on students’ satisfaction on service quality provided by colleges of Thai Nguyen University with an end-view of proposing a formation program

Objectives of the Study

This study sought to find out the students’ satisfaction on the service quality provided by different colleges of the Thai Nguyen University

Specifically, it is aimed to:

1 Identify the profile of the respondents in terms of the following:

1.1 Gender;

1.2 Age;

1.3 Origin; and

1.4 Monthly Family Income

2 Determine the level of students’ satisfaction on the service quality of the Colleges

in terms of:

2.1 Instructional Services;

2.2 Auxiliary Services;

2.3 Ancillary Services; and

2.4 Learning Support Facilities

3 Find out the extent of students’ satisfaction on the service quality in colleges in terms of the following:

4 Find out if there is any significant difference considering students’ profile in their perceptions of the service quality of different colleges of TNU

5 Correlate students’ satisfaction in service quality of the different colleges of TNU to their demographic profiles

6 Propose a formation program to improve the service quality

Significance of the Study

This study attempted to determine students’ satisfaction on the service quality

of different colleges of TNU and findings would help TNU understand service quality components The study also made students as the first beneficiary of my study because they are the first group to be benefited It would particularly be beneficial to the following:

Administrators It is hoped that the study may contribute in giving new

dimension in administration and supervision of colleges to improve students’ satisfaction on service quality The study would provide administrators with a clear idea on how beneficial is improving the service quality such as learning environment which includes good infrastructure, instructional, auxiliary and ancillary services, and learning support facilities It would help administrators answer the questions on how

to improve service quality in their colleges In the same manner, its position and prestige could be improved in the society and make TNU globally competitive as to its services

Teachers The outcome of this research is a great help to the teachers

because it is not only necessary to be good at theory but also have suitable skill to the teaching practice Good teaching and learning environment and the service quality will provide good conditions for teachers to approach modern technology, to update teaching methods in the classroom as to group work, role playing, and outdoor activities, to help students to be more creative

Students They would be benefited through this study since they are main

concerns of educators and any wholesome environment and relationship could create positive effect to the teaching and learning process In this way, achievements

of students may be improved and safe, orderly and conducive environment may be maintained The students may develop their knowledge, skills, attitudes and other soft skills during their study

Parents The study could make parents know more about the colleges where

their children will choose and enroll in the future The trust of parents with the college could be built through the college’s reputation

Government It is hoped that the government could change the educational

policies to meet and fit the requirements and expectations of the learners and the society, specially in rural and remote areas

Future Researcher Using EDUSERVQUAL tool to reveal perceptions and

expectations held by the administrative staff, faculty, students’ families in colleges of

Thai Nguyen University Formulating social policies, encouraging individuals and

organizations to invest and support the training process in the colleges may also be

part of their future and parallel studies

Scope and Limitation

The primary intent of this study was to investigate students’ satisfaction on service quality provided by the different colleges of TNU year 2012 -2013 There were 382 third year college students used as respondents of the study

The study focused on services provided in colleges of TNU in terms of instructional, auxiliary and ancillary services, and learning support facilities Students’ satisfaction dimensions concentrated on tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy Moreover, the study aimed at revealing any significant difference considering the students’ profile in their perceptions of the service quality

of different colleges of TNU and correlating the students’ satisfaction in service quality of different colleges of TNU to their demographic profiles to propose formation program for the improvement of service quality

Measurement of TNU colleges’ service quality was limited to the use of descriptive method and checklist questionnaire Data gathered were analyzed using statistical tools such as frequency and percentage, weighted mean and chi-square The time frame of this study was from March 2013 to May 2014

Definition of Terms

For clarity and better understanding of the study, the following terms are defined both conceptually and operationally

Age refers to one of the demographic profile dimensions which classifies the

students-respondents into 21 to 25 years old

Assurance (A) is defined as employees’ knowledge and courtesy and the ability of

firm and its employees to inspire trust and confidence It refers to the service quality parameters which entail university to build trust and loyalty between

college faculty and employees and individual students (Parasuraman et al.,

2008)

College pertains to one of the departments in Thai Nguyen University which caters

various courses In this study, there are nine colleges subjected for evaluating the service quality

Dimension is one of the aspects, attributes, elements, or factors that make up an

(http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/dimension.html#ixzz3BMeFFP29)

DTC is College of Information and Communication Technology

DTE is College of Economic and Business Administration

DTF is College of Foreign Languages

DTK is College of Engineering and Technology

DTN is College of Agriculture and Forestry

DTU is College of Economics and Techniques

DTS is College of Education

DTY is College of Medicine and Pharmacy

DTZ is College of Sciences and Humanity

Eduservqual (short form of Educational Service Quality) is the tool to measure

Educational Service Quality Dimensions in this study

Empathy (EM) is defined as caring, individualized attention that the firm provides to

its students This service quality dimension suggests that the students need

to feel understood by, and important to, institutions that provide service to them (Parasuraman, et al., 2008)

Family income is another demographic profile dimension which refers to the total

compensation received by all family members living in the same household Compensation may include wages, pensions, capital gains, remunerations and dividends (Wikipedia, 2013)

Formation Program is a type of activity like seminar-workshop or prototype to

further uplift the service quality of college administrators, faculty and staff It would be the material/program to be produced based on the result of the study to improve the service quality in colleges of TNU

Gender refers to another demographic profile which pertains to the physical, mental,

and behavioral characteristics as to masculinity and femininity Depending on the context, the term may refer to biological sex (i.e the state of being male, female or inter-sex), sex-based social structures (including gender and other social roles), gender identity (Wikipedia, free encyclopedia)

Higher Education is a stage of learning that occurs at universities, colleges,

academies, seminaries, and institutes of technology HE also includes certain college-level institutions, such as the vocational schools, trade schools, and career colleges that award the academic degrees and

professional certifications (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Instructional Services (IN) are designed instruction and accommodations by the

special education instructional personnel to the eligible individuals The instructional services is dedicated to helping under-prepared prepare, prepared advance, and advanced excel (http://usu.edu/teachall/text/iep

/IEPglos.htm)

Origin refers to the beginning of something's existence or the person's social

background or ancestry In this study, it is the type of locality where the students come from – such as city, town, village or mountainous area

Quality is defined as ‘conforming to the requirements’ (Crosby, 2004), ‘fitness for

use’ (Juran, 2002), ‘global judgment or attitude to overall superiority of the

service’ (Parasuraman, et al., 2008), ‘the extent to which service, and

organization can satisfy user’s expectations (Kasper et al., 2009)

Reliability (R) refers to the service quality which relates to the ability to perform the

promised service dependably and accurately This means that the organization delivers on its promises regarding service provision, and

problem resolution (Parasuraman et al., 2008)

Responsiveness (RE) is defined as willingness or readiness of employees to help

customers and provide prompt service This service quality dimension stresses attentiveness in dealing with the clients’ requests, questions,

complaints, and problems (Parasuraman et al., 2008)

experience (process and outcome) It is an affective (emotion) state of feeling reaction in which consumer’s needs, desires and expectations during the course of service experiences have been met or exceeded” (Hunt, 2007) Zeithaml et al (2010) defined satisfaction as an overall judgment, perception

or attitude on superiority of service It is based on discrepancy between clients’ expectations and actual experiences

Service is defined as “the production of essentially intangible benefit, either in its

right or as significant element of tangible products, which through some form

of exchange, satisfies an identified need.” (Palmer, 2011)

Service Quality is the extent to which the service, the service process and

organization can satisfy the expectations of user (Kasper et al., 2009)

Student Satisfaction is a short-term attitude, derived from the evaluation of the

received education service (Elloit & Healy, 2001)

Tangibles (TA) are defined as the appearance of the physical evidence of service

(e.g physical facilities, appearance of personnel, or tool or equipment used to

provide service; Parasuraman et al., 2008)

Chapter II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

This chapter presents excerpts from literature that have been gathered and reviewed based on its relevance with the present study It also serves as basis in constructing his conceptual framework and research paradigm

Service Quality

The following literature focuses on the perceived service quality which results from comparison of service expectations versus perceptions of actual performance (Zeithaml, 2000) In the present study, service quality is defined on the basis of students’ overall evaluation on services they received which include the educational

facilities and experiences, faculty members/student’s interactions, and contacts with the staff of higher education

Service Quality Measurement

Service quality became a focus of research management through the 1980s and early 1990s Service quality can be defined as the extent to which service meets clients’ needs or expectations based on his/her requirements Measuring service

quality is a complicated and difficult task (Parasuraman et al., 2008; Carman, 2000)

The service quality construction is measured either as a gap expectation/perception

of service or just as a perceived performance alone (Hurley & Estalami, 2008) Furthermore, service quality dimensions are seen as the criteria to assess service

quality (Parasuraman et al., 2005)

The SERVQUAL scale is a principal instrument in service marketing literature

for assessing quality (Parasuraman et al., 2008) This instrument has been widely used by both the managers (Parasuraman et al., 2001) and the academics (Babakus

& Boller, 2002; Crompton & MacKa, 2009; Webster, 2009) to assess customer perceptions of service quality for variety of services (e.g banks, credit card companies, repair and maintenance companies)

The original SERVQUAL comprised of ten service dimensions which following extensive statistical analysis in 1988 revealed significant correlations between

several factors as service factors collapsed into five (Parasuraman et al., 2008) The

followings are five well-known service quality dimensions: 1) tangibles; 2) responsiveness; 3) reliability; 4) assurance, and 5) empathy

Using SERVQUAL scale, researchers can measure the gap between customers’ expectations of service and their perceived service experiences In short,

the SERVQUAL instrument based on the gap theory (Parasuraman et al., 2005) and

suggests that a consumer’s perception of service quality is a function of the

difference between one’s expectations about the performance of a general class of

service providers and one’s assessment of the actual performance of specific firm

within that class (Cronin & Taylor, 2002) In other word, service quality involves a

comparison of customer expectations with customer perceptions of actual service

performance

As above mentioned, expectation (E) and perception (P) statements that

represent the five service quality dimensions The gap for each statement is

calculated as the perception score minus the expectation score (P - E) The positive

gap score implies that the expectations have been met the perception and negative

score implied that expectations have not been met perception Gap score can be

analyzed for an individual statement and can be gathered to give an overall gap

score for each dimension (Parasuraman et al., 2008)

The former research suggested that using the performance perceptions alone

to measure the service quality For instance, Joseph and Steven (2004) argued that

service quality is directly influenced only by the perceptions of the performance In

general, much research has agreed that service quality is in fact the perceived quality

by the customers (Parasuraman, 2000) In the same opinion, Teas (2004) also

questioned the SERVQUAL and argued that there are a number of problems

concerning perceptual and operational definitions of expectation Perceived service

quality Gronroos (2004) introduced concept of perceived service quality in the

development of his widely cited model of service quality Babakus and Boller (2002)

have found that service quality, as measured in SERVQUAL scale, relies more

significantly on perceptions score than on the expectations, while Kasper et al

(2009) saw the disadvantages of the SERVQUAL scale as that the questionnaire is

too lengthy Kilbourne et al (2004) have argued that “SERVQUAL has potential as

reliable measurement instrument and perception sub-scale as robust measure of

service quality” In similar vein, Bennett and Barkensjo (2005:102) stated that “the SERVQUAL instrument, although without an expectation dimension generated reasonably robust outcomes”

A study by O’Neill, et al (2001) indicated some benefits of using the SERVQUAL approach such as its ability to make a clear indication of how well the company performs to meet the customer’s requirement according to the customer’s perception Besides, SERVQUAL also helps company to prioritize customer needs, wants and expectations based on clients; opinion Further, SERVQUAL allows the organization to make the standards that can meet the quality requirement issued by clients and other stakeholders

LaBay and Comm (2003) developed a number of measures to evaluate student expectations and perceptions concerning their tutor using a sample of

undergraduate and distance learning students Similarly, Slade et al (2000) adapted

the SERVQUAL to assess and compare the perceptions of service quality of undergraduate students who leave their university before completing their studies and those who remain in the educational system Even though some items were modified to fit educational setting, the five original service quality dimensions were used as a basis for their analysis Rigotti and Pitt (202) also used a modified version

of the SERVQUAL, this time to measure service quality of MBA and executive development programs at a business college Results showed that even though SERVQUAL needed modifications, its use within education industry was acceptable

In another study, Hampton (1993) used a 45-item survey containing statements similar to those found in the SERVQUAL instrument to measure the service quality in

a HE education professional service His results supported the gap analysis use, as presented in Parasuraman et al.’s (2005) model of service quality, for identifying relevant service shortfalls in HE In similar vein, LeBlanc and Nguyen (2007) analyzed the concept of service quality in business education, based on focus groups

and on review of relevant research, developed a 38-item questionnaire They took in

to consideration Carman’s (2000) remarks and designed a survey to capture both expectations and perceptions of the business school service and their exploratory study identified seven (7) factors, namely contact personnel/ faculty, reputation, physical evidence, curriculum, responsiveness; the contact personnel/ administration, and access to facilities that influence the students’ evaluations of service quality, with reputation being the most important

In short, clients’ expectations and perceptions are always important for service providers to determine possible sources of service quality problems

Service Quality in Higher Education

Service quality in HE is the relative concept given a number of various stakeholders involved (Tam, 2001) which ranges from the single student as a primary customer (Hill, 2005) to the whole of the society (students, parents, staff, employees, business and legislators; Rowley, 2007) To attract students, universities are looking

to enhance overall educational quality in general and service quality in particular Hence, every university all over the world tries to become a world-ranked university

Nowadays, the HE institutions are being considered as part of service industry and put greater emphasis on the students’ satisfaction as they face several competitive pressures In competitive environment, HE has not only become a major industry and needed of the days but it is also an investment by the parents for their children Currently, the service quality in HE is a vital important factor that is considered for attracting and retaining the students who wants to get HE

Likewise, Crawford and Shutler (2009) also examined service quality as one

of key elements for HE institution to achieve success in competitive market However, service quality can be poor in HE due to weak students (poor input), lack of

focus in teaching system (poor delivery service), lack of attention paid to performance standards and measurement, unmotivated staff (poor internal evaluation), and neglect of students’ skills To overcome these problems HE management, administrators, lecturers and staff should commit to quality improvement in quality services (both academic and administration)

Ford, et al (2009) also suggested that the institutions need to better understand the nature and quality of the service offered, because of the high competitive intensity surrounding business-related courses As Oldfield and Baron (2000) claimed, “institutions should address issue of quality, not only through the traditional routes of the accreditation and course review, students’ feedback questionnaires on quality of course delivery and teaching, but also through evaluating what students themselves consider or need to be elements in service quality”

In order to improve service quality, the earlier researchers in HE often emphasized academic more than administration, concentrating on an effective course delivery mechanism and the quality of courses and teaching (Griemel-Fuhrmann & Geyer, 2003) However, there are also an attempt to look upon administrative side of HE like the study by Kamal and Ramzi (2002), which attempt to measure student perception of registration and academic advising across different faculties and other administrative services to assure positive service quality that compliments the academic Ford et al (2009) also found out attributes that contribute towards an excellent university Some important factors are: reputation, career opportunities, program issue, physical aspects, and location and become basis where universities have to focus on efforts

Sproule (2000) found the teachers’ ability, excellence, coordination and responsibility greatly influence students’ class performance Sigala and Baum (2003) mentioned that it becomes even more difficult to attract students, since the new

generation students have more influence and greater awareness as consumers, becoming more interactive and selective as regards their future

Vidal et al (2003) found out that “guidance services”, in “professional”,

“academic” and “personal” matters play integral part of the education process, while Adee (2007) suggested that several university characteristics can help to explain perceived quality among the students, like competent teaching, the availability of the staff for the students’ consultation, library services, computer facilities, recreational activities, class sizes, level and difficulty of the subject content, and students’ workload

Mahiah, S et al (2006) confirmed Parasuraman, et al (2005) and they suggested that increasing the sophistication of reliability, empathy, tangibles, responsiveness and assurance can increase a customer satisfaction towards services rendered by Human Resource department Ilias, Hasan, Rahman & Yasoa (2008) identified that the main factors that could affect the level of the students’ satisfaction were: students’ perception on the learning and teaching, support facilities for teaching and learning such as (libraries, computer and lab facilities), learning environment (rooms of lectures, laboratories, social space and university buildings), support facilities (health facilities, refectory, student accommodation, student services) and external aspects of being a student (finance, transportation) They believed that, with all these capabilities, an institution will meet student expectations and compete competitively

Tahar (2008) also discovered that the perception on service quality of HE between two nations: USA and New Zealand varies from New Zealand, as students define quality on the following ranking: creating career opportunities, program issues, cost/time, physical aspects, location and others Meanwhile in the USA, they ranked

the academic reputation as first and later followed by cost/ time, program issues, others, physical aspects and choice influences

In the other study, Alves and Raposo (2010) have found that positive perceptions of service quality has significant influence on student satisfaction and thus satisfied student would attract more students through word-of-mouth communications Students can be motivated or inspired from both academic performance as well as the administrative efficiency of their institution Ahmed and Nawaz (2010) mentioned that service quality is key performance measure in educational excellence and is a main strategic variable for the universities to create a strong perception in consumer’s mind

Currently, most of the well-established HE institutions focus highly on strategic issues like providing excellent customer services Thus, they would be able

to make and build good relationships with customers which is actually very important

in determining their future in industry (Malik, Danish, & Usman, 2010) Moreover, measurement of service quality at HE institutes is strongly embedded to matching between students’ expectation and their experience of a particular service (Tahar, 2008) Generally, students evaluate and judge the service quality to be satisfactory

by comparing what they want/ expect against what they are really getting Gruber, Voss, & Glaser-Zikuda (2010) believed that the behaviors and attitudes of the customer contact employees primarily determine customers' perceptions of the service quality provided This means, human interaction element is essential to determine when students consider service delivered satisfactory or not HE institutions need to have appropriate infrastructure too such as the academic buildings, residential halls, catering facilities, sports facilities, and recreations center (Sapri, Kaka, & Finch, 2009) Al-Alak and Alnaser (2012) also showed that the assurance and the reliability dimensions of service quality were two most important dimensions and had significant positive relationship with student satisfaction

According to Sultan and Wong (2010), service quality research in the HE sector is relatively new, at least when compared to that of the commercial sector With significant changes taking place in HE institutions over the last decade, it seems that HE should be regarded as a business-like service industry, which focuses on meeting and exceeding the needs of the students (Gruber et al., 2010) Many HE institutions are beginning to realize this and competing for students, both in the local and international market (Paswan & Ganesh, 2009) Furthermore, with the emergence of many informal platforms for students to post their views on their experiences (e.g The Student Room), HE institutions are increasingly being called to account for quality of education that they provide Accordingly, achieving quality has become important goal for most HE institutions (Abdullah, 2006b) As to the student

as stakeholders, DeShields et al (2005) argue that the HE sector needs to continue

to deliver a high service quality and satisfy students in order to succeed in a competitive service environment Therefore, attempting to evaluate level of service quality and understanding how various factors impact overall service quality is crucial

so that HE institutions can design their service in best possible way (Abdullah, 2006b) Furthermore, knowing strengths and weaknesses of different factors and their relative influence may lead to better allocation of resources, resulting in students being provided with an improved service (Abdullah, 2006b)

Student Satisfaction

Number of definitions about satisfaction exists in service and consumer marketing literature According to Oliver (2007), satisfaction is a pleasurable fulfillment which means that consumption of services are based on customers’ needs and wants and thus fulfillment causes pleasure It may be consumer sense about the consumption of services according to customer parameters against pleasure versus displeasure (Oliver, 2009) Meanwhile, Kotler (2000) defined satisfaction as "a

person's feelings of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing product perceived performance (outcome) in relation to his/her expectations." In the same way, Hansemark and Albinson (2004) show that satisfaction is an "overall customer attitude to service provider, or emotional reaction to difference between what customers anticipate and what they receive, regarding the fulfillment of some needs, goals or desire"

According to Sureshchander et al (2002), in services, because of the

inseparability between the production and consumption of the service, quality consists not only of result, but also of the process The focus is on external customers, and their satisfaction with both result and the process In addition, customer’s expectations towards particular services are also changing with respect to factors like time, increase in number of encounters with a particular service, competitive environment, etc (Seth etal., 2005) Accordingly, there is continuing need to define service quality dimensions in HE and to measure the students’ satisfaction based on the relevant service quality dimensions in order to improve HE

systems (Martin & Palmer, 2004; Van Kemenade et al., 2008) Satisfaction is a

crucial concept of all business sectors and clients, and a corner stone in marketing

literatures, so it often pointed out as basic goal of all organizations (Razavi, et al.,

2012), and customer satisfaction reduces the defection and positively associated with

the retention, purchase intention and loyalty (Cameran, et al., 2010)

The views on student’ satisfaction and their perception of educational experience is very complex and the prior research on the concept of student’s satisfaction is quite diverse Each researcher has his/her own perspective regarding the needs of students in the university Some others support the so called

“managerial dimension” of the student’ satisfaction: they consider the university is an enterprise and their students are the customers

Elliott and Shin (2002), defined student satisfaction as “the favorability of a student’s subjective evaluation of the various outcomes and experiences associated with education Student satisfaction is being continually shaped by repeated experiences in campus life” Therefore, in order to satisfy students, the client approach should be applied in the universities Currently, a student satisfaction is an attractive interest to universities as they seek to continually improve the learning environment for students, meet expectations or needs, and demonstrate their university effectiveness Contrast to service industries, which hold satisfaction as its goal, universities especially perceive satisfaction as a means to an end HE has to care about student satisfaction because of its potential impact on student motivation, retention, and enrolment efforts

Hill (2005) suggested that the primary customers of the universities are the students, and therefore HE is increasingly recognizing that it is a service industry and

is placing greater emphasis on meeting the expectations and needs of the students

In similar vein, Elliott and Shin (2002) showed that focusing on student satisfaction not only enables universities to re-engineer their organizations to adapt to student needs or expectations, but also allows them to develop a system for continuous monitoring of how effectively they meet student needs Therefore, focusing on enhancing customer satisfaction at universities is crucial in developing customer value

In context of HE, service performance has become a central construct in marketing research, especially in combination with service quality Service performance which includes implicit quality is especially influenced by the two factors: professors and course content In service context, quality is subjective measurement and depends on the tangible and intangible attributes (Mont & Plepys, 2003; Pariseau & Daniel, 2007) The intangible nature of HE makes it difficult for students to effectively evaluate factors such as quality of teaching and learning, as

well as the quality of student servicing The tangible elements associated with the

“education”- service include educational technology and computers, classrooms, and library facilities

In other study of Mamun and Das (2009), they pointed out factors that would attract the students These included library facilities, laboratory facilities and internship assistance as some of the key factors for student satisfaction HE institutions can attract students designing world class library, classrooms, computer laboratories, and other facilities The students spend a considerable amount of their time using these university facilities, thus they can provide the potential opportunities

to influence student satisfaction

In like manner, Devinder and Datta (2003) argued that the “institutions which want to deliver the quality programs and services to students must be concerned with every aspect of the students’ experience on campus In other words, education quality is not only limited to the lectures and notes received in class or advice and guidance given by lecturers during the consultation hours, but it also includes students’ experience while interacting with various non-academic personnel and components in university, physical infrastructure provided by the university etc.”

Superiority of the service quality is strongly dependent on the customer satisfaction which can be measured from client expectations and perceptions (Christou & Sigala, 2002; Ekinci, 2004) The students are the short-duration customers in an educational institutions and their satisfaction will lead towards loyalty, retention and positive word of mouth (Arambewela & John Hall, 2009; Mavondo et al., 2004; Helgesen & Nesset, 2007)

Palacio, Meneses and Perez (2002) said that the expectation may go as far

as before the students even enter the HE, suggesting that it is important to the researchers to determine first what the students expect before entering the

university, and they believed that the satisfaction actually covers issues of students’ perception and experiences during college years In contrary, Home (2002) opined that student satisfaction studied focus on perspective of clients

According to Marzo-Navarro et al., and Richardson (2005), student

satisfaction is still a complex phenomenon and it has different dimensions Navarro et al, (2005) mentioned that students evaluate the quality of organization on the basis

of tangibility (teachers), reliability and responsiveness (methods of teaching) and management of the institution and these factors have direct influence on the level of students’ satisfaction

Petruzzellis, D’Uggento and Romanazzi (2006) also regarded students as customers of universities and made the conclusion that universities need to adopt a customer central approach They analyzed common factors such as the lecture halls, laboratory, equipment, library, dining hall, dormitories, leisure activities, language courses, scholarships, internet access, exam booking, the internship, counseling, the administrative services, contacts with the teachers, tutoring, international relationship and placement

According to Corneliu et al (2010), student satisfaction is an evaluative

summary of direct educational experience based on the prior expectation and perceived performance Angeelova and Zekiri (2011) believed that satisfaction represents the outcome felt by customers and matched by their expectations A study

done by Haque, et al (2011) identified independent factors that can affect student

satisfaction based on services offered by the universities which include quality of teaching, student research facilities, library book collections and services, canteen facilities, space for group discussions, sport programs, and campus infrastructure, among others

Another study conducted by Wiers-Jenssen, Stensaker and Grogaard (2002) asserts the quality of the university support facilities as very important in achieving students’ satisfaction They see student satisfaction as students’ assessments of services provided by universities and colleges, and broke the concept down into several sub-categories, viz: quality of teaching (academic and pedagogic); quality of supervision and feedback from the academic staff; content and relevance of curriculum; balance between the different forms of teaching activities; quality of support facilities; physical infrastructure; quality and access to leisure activities and social climate

Student’ satisfaction with the university has individual, institutional and social benefits From an institutional point of view, satisfied students are more likely to continue in their studies and succeed academically, and this is likely to enhance the financial position and reputation of the institution Successful universities realize that

it is very important to retain enrolled students rather than concentrate on attracting new ones One reason for this is because the competitive advantage can be gained through the student satisfaction (Elliott & Shin, 2002) and they can be marketed in university’s marketing tools Highly satisfied students “engage in a favorable word-of-mouth publicity.” Word-of-mouth from satisfied students lowers the cost of attracting new customers for the university and enhances the university’s overall reputation, while that of dissatisfied students has the opposite effect (Fornell, 2002)

As mentioned above, literature on students’ satisfaction and perception of academic experience is very complex Two threads of perspectives are apparent: the academic and the social The researchers support one or the other perspective mention the factors that can affect the students’ satisfaction with their university Many researchers underscore the importance of similar factors (for example Harvey,

2005 and Hill, 2005) such as accommodation, library and catering services, course content, teaching quality, and academic workload among others