Student perceived value towards universities high quality program in vietnam

ABSTRACT This study empirically examines the effects of perceived service quality, perceived price, perceived performance risk on the emotional value of students towards the high-quality

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business -

Đoàn Hồng Phát

STUDENT PERCEIVED VALUE TOWARDS UNIVERSITIES’ HIGH QUALITY PROGRAM

IN VIETNAM

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2015

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

International School of Business -

MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours)

Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2015

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The completion of this research represents a milestone in my life It has been a long time and required a great amount of time and effort There used to be so many challenges and barriers that made me down and flinch However, with the great support from my beloved family, my dear friends and my kind colleagues, I was added with strength and continued my steps to complete this thesis Therefore, from deep of my heart, I would like

to say thank you to all of supporters who did not mind spending precious time for helping

me during a long journey Especially, I wish to express my deeply gratitude to Assoc Prof.,

Dr Pham Ngoc Thuy who has patiently instructed and shared with me her precious experiences It was her who maintained my belief and led me forward on the right decisions

To me, not only is this a thesis, but this is also a journey for me to grow and become more matured At this moment, I feel confident in myself than ever Academic knowledge and experiences I have accumulated for more than 2 years at International School of Business will definitely be my firm preparation for my next move

Once again, thank you for transferring me knowledge, strength and courage!

STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION

(Candidate Certificate)

I certify that the work in the thesis entitled “Student perceived value towards universities’ high quality programs in Vietnam” is the result of my own research and has not been submitted for a higher degree to any university or institution other than International School of Business (ISB)

I also certify that the thesis has been written by me Any help and assistance that I have received in my thesis have been appropriately acknowledged

Ho Chi Minh, 21 December, 2015 Doan Hong Phat

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEGEMENT iii

STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

LIST OF TABLES ix

ABSTRACT x

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Research problem 3

1.3 Research objectives 4

1.4 Scope of the research 5

1.5 Research significance 5

1.6 Research method 5

1.7 Research structure 6

Chapter 2: Literature review 7

2.1 Literature review 7

2.1.1 Student perceived value 7

2.1.2 Perceived risk 9

2.1.3 Perceived service quality 11

2.1.4 Perceived price 11

2.1.5 Perceived service quality and emotional value 12

2.1.6 Perceived performance risk and emotional value 13

2.1.7 Perceived price and emotional value 13

2.1.8 Perceived price and perceived service quality 14

2.1.9 Perceived service quality and perceived performance risk 14

2.1.10 Perceived price and perceived performance risk 15

2.2 Research model 15

Chapter 3: Research methodology 18

3.1 Research process 18

3.2 Preliminary survey 21

3.3 Measurement scales 22

3.4 Questionnaire design 24

3.5 Sample size 24

3.6 Sampling 25

3.7 Data analysis 26

Chapter 4: Data analysis 29

4.1 Sample characteristic 29

4.2 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) 31

4.2.1 Composite reliability and variance extracted 36

4.2.2 Convergent validity test 37

4.2.3 Discriminant validity test 37

4.3 Research model test 39

4.3.1 Theoretical model test by using SEM approach 39

4.3.2 Testing hypotheses 42

4.3.3 Theoretical model estimation by BOOTSTRAP 45

4.4 Discussion 46

Chapter 5: Conclusion, implications and limitations 48

5.1 Main findings 48

5.2 Managerial Implications 49

5.3 Contribution of the study 51

5.4 Limitations and direction for future research 51

References 53

Appendices 60

Appendix A: Questionnaire (English version) 60

Appendix B: Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) 62

Appendix C: Descriptive statistics 64

Appendix D: Bootstrap distribution (Default model) 67

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CFI Comparative Fit Index

GFI Goodness of Fit index

TFI Tucker & Lewis Index

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: The proposed research model 16

Figure 3.1: Research process 19

Figure 4.1: The first CFA result 32

Figure 4.2: The second CFA result 33

Figure 4.3: Measurement Model 35

Figure 4.4: SEM analysis result for Structural Model 40

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Hypotheses in the model 18

Table 3.1: Scale of Perceived service quality 22

Table 3.2: Scale of Perceived price 23

Table 3.3: Scale of Perceived performance risk 23

Table 3.4: Scale of Student emotional value 24

Table 3.5: Summary of goodness fit indices 27

Table 4.1: Descriptive statistics of the data 30

Table 4.2: Model Fit Summary – Comparison 36

Table 4.3: The results of reliability and variance extracted test 37

Table 4.4: Regression weights and Standardized regression weights summary 38

Table 4.5: Testing the discriminant validity 39

Table 4.6: Regression Weights – Theoretical Model 41

Table 4.7: Standardized Regression Weights of Theoretical Model 41

Table 4.8: Squared Multiple Correlation 42

Table 4.9: Results of testing the hypotheses 44

Table 4.10: Standardized Regression Weights (Theoretical Model) 45

Table 4.11: Bootstrap results (N = 1000) 45

ABSTRACT

This study empirically examines the effects of perceived service quality, perceived price, perceived performance risk on the emotional value of students towards the high-quality program in universities in Vietnam Structural equation modeling was used to test these impacts, utilizing a sample of 277 students in three public universities in Ho Chi Minh City, including Foreign Trade University, University of Economics and Banking University

The results show that among three determinants, only perceived service quality was found to affect student emotional value towards the high-quality program Although perceived price was found not to have an impact on student emotional value but it had a significant and positive effect on perceived service quality Moreover, the study also reveals that perceived service quality had a significant and negative influence on perceived performance risk These findings imply that managers of the high-quality program in universities should pay attention to improving the perception of service quality in order to enhance student emotional value The research findings also engage with some limitations

in the strength of measurement scale and the sampling method Besides, it is lack of investigating the moderating effect of demographic variables on relationships They lead to valuable directions for further researches in future

Key words: the high-quality program, student emotional value, perceived service

quality, perceived performance risk, perceived price

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research background

Upon Vietnam’s deeper and deeper integration into the global economy, the labor quality is one of the big challenges to Vietnam (Van Anh, 2015) Despite the advantage of cheap labor cost, the competitiveness of Vietnam human resources is considered to be low compared to that of other ASEAN countries Nguyen Tuyen (2014) claims that Vietnamese labors are lack of the expertise and skills they are equipped at universities are not suitable with the reality demand Therefore, there is a huge shortage of high skilled managers that the society and the economy are demanding The rooted cause of this situation is because the quality of training programs in Vietnam is still limited and has not met the society’s demand, leading to low competitiveness of Vietnamese labor force (Nguyen Tuyen, 2014) Surveys conducted by government-linked organizations reveal that 50 percent of Vietnamese university graduates cannot find jobs in their area of specialization and 25 percent of undergraduate curricula are filled with political indoctrination (Higher Education Overview, n.d.) Originating from this reality, Vietnam has made a great effort to improve university education programs throughout the country One of the most outstanding education events is the approval of the proposal named Vietnam University Education Reform of The Government dated 2 November, 2005 The main purpose of this proposal is

to enhance the education quality and help Vietnam education system to access the advanced level in the world Accordingly, a variety of abroad advanced programs have been adopted and implemented in Vietnam such as the advanced program, the talented engineer program, the high-quality engineer program, the special training program and the high-quality program Among these, the most outstanding and popular one in universities these days is the high-quality program using English as a formal language in teaching

Since its appearance, this program has received a great attention of the society as well as learners due to its prominent characteristics over the massive training program According to the Regulation of high quality training for the undergraduate issued by Ministry of Education and Training (2014), the massive training program (MTP) is the one

training the undergraduate and legally carried out in educational institutions This program has the ceiling level of tuition fee in accordance with the existing regulation of the Government Meanwhile, the high-quality program (HQP) is understood as the one aiming

to explore and train good students through the preference of teaching and learning facilities, experienced lecturer crew as well as qualified teaching method adapted from advanced universities in the area and around the world Especially, this program has conditions to ensure its quality and higher output standards compared to the MTP There are some distinctive aspects making the HQP more outstanding than the MTP, including the output standards, lecturer crew, the curricula, material facilities, organization and training administration (Ministry of Education and Training, 2014)

In terms of the output standards, the standards of HQP must be higher than that of MTP relating to professional knowledge, foreign language ability, the capability of applying information technology, leadership ability and teamwork ability In particular, the foreign language competence must reach 4 out of 6 based on the six-level frame of foreign language competence used in Vietnam or equivalence (Ministry of Education and Training, 2014)

In regard with lecturers, the condition for teachers attending to give lecture is much stricter In detail, only lecturers who have master level or above are selected to attend HQP

To professional subjects taught in English, lecturers’ English ability must reach the level 5 out of 6 in accordance with the six-level frame used in Vietnam or lecturers took a full time course of bachelor or above overseas (Ministry of Education and Training, 2014)

In association with the training curricula, the curricula of HQP is built and developed based on the curricula of MTP However, it is guaranteed to have reference with the curricula of oversea programs (Ministry of Education and Training, 2014)

In terms of material facilities serving for the training and scientific research, HQP must ensure to have private rooms equipped with the internet and devices supporting for teaching and learning Moreover, each student of the program has self-study place at school

In addition, schools must have sufficient reference materials and library serving for lecturers and students (Ministry of Education and Training, 2014)

In regard with organization and training administration, the program is required to invite foreign lecturers to give lecture to create a positive training environment In particular, students will have opportunities to have filed trips and internship at companies, local and international corporates (Ministry of Education and Training, 2014)

From the above mentioned distinctive features, it can be said that HQP potentially provides learners with the superior quality and learning environment compared to the MTP

1.2 Research problem

Since the Ministry of Education and Training allowed universities to implement the HQP in 2010, many universities throughout the country have opened this program with various majors such as business administration, banking finance, international relation and external economics, etc The main purpose of these programs is to increase the training quality and to meet increasingly demand for well-educated workforce of the labor market However, in the reality, each institution has a different way of executing (Vu Tho, 2013) Several examples can be listed such as the different input requirement of English, the number of students distributed in a class, the tuition fee, the curricula and even the proportion of English used in the course It is this difference in implementation that leads to the difference in training quality among universities As a consequence, the program quality has become a prime concern of learners and the society The reality shows that most universities provide learners with the program of inappropriate quality with the tuition fee they paid (Baomoi, 2014) Many opinions claim that the HQP is not far distinguished from the MTP (SinhvienVietnam, 2014) More importantly, the graduates from this program also have not yet met requirements of employers (Baomoi, 2014) All these outcomes seem to back-pedal on the initial goals of universities Therefore, it is necessary for universities to assess their offerings to give appropriate plans to improve the program Moreover, schools also should know how learners perceive their program This is significant because the value perception of students have an influence on their choice of particular school as well as program (Schmidt, 2002) Moreover, the assessment of the value of the educational service can provide educators with opportunities to tailor their offerings to enhance the perception

of learners (Hannaford et al., as cited in Lai, To, Lung & Lai, 2012)

In the literature, a number of researches have been conducted on student perceived value in education setting (Cheng, 2014; Lai et al., 2012; LeBlanc & Nguyen, 1999) Most

of these studies focus on examining the relationship between consumption values of the program and student’s overall perception of value In the research of students’ perception of value towards short-term study abroad programs in Hong Kong, Cheng (2014) has showed that personal development rather than academic and professional enhancement affects student perceived value Lai et al (2012) have investigated how different consumption values impact students’ satisfaction with their educational experience In addition, in the study of perceived service value among business college students in Canada, LeBlanc and Nguyen (1999) have indicated that functional value in the form of the price/quality ratio has the most important influence on students’ overall evaluation of service value However, regardless of above listed researches in terms of perceived value, there is little empirical studies developed to identify determinants of education service value such as perceived price, perceived risk and perceived quality In Vietnam, to the best of our knowledge, there

is also no research conducted on this issue, especially towards the high-quality program for the undergraduate The reason is that this program is rather new and very few studies conducted on it such as the research of Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (2012) about enhancing the training quality towards the high-quality program at Foreign Trade University Nevertheless, it focuses on other aspect of this program

Therefore, to fulfill the gap, this study aims to explore the impact of perceived price, perceived performance risk and perceived service quality on student emotional value towards the HQP in the education context of Vietnam

1.3 Research objectives

This study is aimed to:

− Develop a model researching on student emotional value towards the high quality program

− Test relationships among perceived service quality, perceived performance risk, perceived price and student emotional value

− Give recommendations to program managers to enhance student emotional value

1.4 Scope of the research

This study is conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, one of the big education centers in Vietnam In order to explore the perception of students towards the HQP, this study focuses

on third year and last year students who are attending the program The reason is to make sure they have experienced the performance of the program Three public universities are selected for investigation, including Foreign Trade University HCM City, University of Economics HCM City, HCM City Banking University

1.5 Research significance

The research results will be beneficial to managers who are in charge of the organization and quality guarantee of the HQP and prospectus students who have the intention of enrolling in the program The detailed contribution can be seen as following:

− The research findings are references for program managers to get deep understanding about determinants of student emotional value Then, they can make appropriate plans to improve the program

− The research findings also help prospective students to know emotional value which prior students had towards the program Based on this, they can make a decision easily

1.6 Research method

This research was undertaken in two phases, a pilot study and a main survey, and was conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, the principal education center of Vietnam The pilot study involved qualitative research In this phase, a series of in-depth interviews were conducted

to modify and refine scale items, as well as amend draft questionnaire before the official version was launched Next, the main study was carried out by using convenient sampling Questionnaires were directly distributed to targeted students After questionnaires were completed, interviewers were accountable for checking and collecting them The aim of the main survey was to assess the scales and test the models Therefore, a series of tools were used to analyze the collected data At first, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was

utilized to assess the reliability, the unidimensionality, the validity of constructs in the model and the goodness of fit of the model Next, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to test the theoretical model and hypotheses

− Chapter 2: Literature Review

This chapter screens the literature of constructs relating to the theoretical model such

as student perceived value, perceived performance risk, perceived price and perceived service quality

− Chapter 3: Research methodology

This chapter presents methods used to carry out the study, comprising of three sections Firstly, measuring scale with items for each factor is provided Secondly, sample and data collection are explained specifically Finally, the process and analytical techniques used for data analysis are described in this chapter

− Chapter 4: Data analysis

This chapter presents the findings of data analysis process and confirms the value of hypotheses mentioned in Chapter 2 and relationship among factors

− Chapter 5: Conclusion, implications and limitations

This chapter discusses the research results derived from the study, putting the foundation for suggesting several implications in the reality Moreover, this chapter also mentions limitations of the study and suggestions for future research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, some literatures relating to factors which have an impact on customer perceived value in service industry, especially in Vietnam university education context are reviewed Furthermore, this chapter also presents the relationship between emotional value and relating factors, including: perceived price, perceived performance risk and perceived service quality Finally, the research model and hypotheses are developed

2.1 Literature review

2.1.1 Student perceived value

In marketing literature, customer perceived value has been discussed for a long time (Beneke, Flynn, Greig & Mukaiwa, 2013) There are a variety of terms researchers use to name this concept such as perceived value (Chang & Wildt, 1994), customer value (Oh, 2003), value for the customer (Reichheld, 1996) and buyer value (Slater & Narver, 2000) Because all above-mentioned concepts concentrate on certain similarities, these terms are used interchangeably This study follows the meaning of customer perceived value

Originating from equity theory, perceived value is proposed as the trade-off between the quality received by customers and the costs such as financial, energy, time and mental transaction costs customers incur by assessing, getting and using a product (Oliver & DeSarbo, 1988) Nevertheless, this definition has been criticized for ignoring several significant constructs that may misdirect the measurement of customer perceived value (Sinha & DeSarbo, 1988) Zeithaml (1988) defines customer perceived value as the customer’s overall evaluation of the usefulness of a product or a service based on perceptions of what is received and what is sacrificed Butz and Goodstein (1997) conceptualize it as the emotional bond established between a customer and a producer after the customer has consumed a service produced by that supplier

Woodruff (1997, p.142) expands the concept as “a customer’s perceived preference for and evaluation of those product attributes, attribute performance, and consequences arising from use that facilitate (or block) achieving the customer’s goal and purpose in use situations’’ In this way of defining, Woodruff stresses that consumers’ perception of value

is different in different phases of consumption He believes that customer perceived value is highly subjective and produced by consumers based on the product attribute, performance and outcomes during the consumption process (Shiau, 2014)

Sheth, Newman and Gross (1991) approaches customer perceived value from a broader perspective through his theory of consumption values With the purpose of explaining why consumers buy what they do, Sheth et al (1991) suggests five main dimensions of consumption values – namely, functional value, social value, emotional value, epistemic value and condition value Specifically, functional value is related to the perceived utility – normally economic benefits connected with consuming a service In university education setting, some examples are guaranteed future employment, a good salary and promotions (LeBlanc & Nguyen, 1999) Social value concerns the perceived utility derived from customers’ association with a special social group such as learners can make friends in classes or through social activities when they attend the course (LeBlanc & Nguyen, 1999) Emotional value is described as the ability of a service to arouse feelings or affective states In the context of education, whether learners are glad to choose the course and whether they find the course interesting are considered as examples of emotional value (LeBlanc & Nguyen, 1999) Epistemic value includes the ability of a service to provide novelty and satisfy customers’ desire for knowledge such as learners’ judgments on the course contents (LeBlanc & Nguyen, 1999) Finally, conditional value refers to the set of situations that customers face when making a choice For example, the size of department and the number of students in a class are situational variables that can affect the value of the educational experience (LeBlanc & Nguyen, 1999)

In this research, customer perceived value is understood as student perceived value because students are considered as principal customers of universities (Sirvanci, 1996) Although customer perceived value are extended with five dimensions by Sheth et al (1991), not all these dimensions have equal significance at any time (Wang, Lo, Chi & Yang, 2004) In this study, social value and conditional value are excluded because these two dimensions are less important when considering the perceived value towards the HQP Moreover, since the surveyed subjects in this research are third-year and final year students

who have not yet graduated and officially worked in companies, they are unable to evaluate career opportunities as well as promotions which the HQP brings to the graduates Therefore, functional value is not applicable in this study Besides, the content of the course

is almost the same with the MTP As a result, this study will ignore epistemic value Meanwhile, emotion plays an important role in assessing the program’s value because it is the only factor condensed in students’ mind after they finish their classes In addition, the HQP is a kind of distinctive service compared to normal services because it lasts for a long time (about four years) During the course, students have a chance to continuously interact with the program manager through evaluation surveys Therefore, if students have negative feelings during their learning experience, they can give immediate feedbacks to the manager Thank to these comments, the manager is able to adjust and improve the program

in time On the other hand, when students have positive feelings during their learning experience, they will become more satisfied with the program (Lee, Yoon & Lee, 2007) As

a consequence, they will give a high recommendation to their acquaintances (Lee et al., 2007) In contrast, if they do not like their learning experience, they will have impressions

on what they paid as being higher than it is and feel that they did not get good value (Kiefer

& Kelly, 1995) Therefore, in this study, we will concentrate on emotional value dimension

of student perceived value to assess the value of the HQP Based on the general definition, emotional value towards the HQP in Vietnam universities is described as the affective states students have towards the program through their learning experience

2.1.2 Perceived risk

Perceived risk is initially introduced to marketing literature by Bauer in the 1960s (Snoj, Aleksandra & Mumel, 2004) Bauer defines perceived risk as a two-dimensional construct, including the uncertainty involved in a purchase decision and the possibility of negative consequences (Dowling, 1986) In addition, Jasper and Ouellette (1994) conceptualize perceived risk as customers’ feeling of uncertainty about loss or gain in a particular transaction Sweeney, Soutar and Johnson (1999, p.81) state that perceived risk is

“the subjective expectation of a loss” In other word, perceived risk is a personal assessment

of customers in relation to possible consequences of wrong decisions such as the possibility that a service does not offer all expected benefits

In the marketing literature, perceived risk is divided into six different types The first five dimensions identified by Jacoby and Kaplan (as cited inBeneke et al., 2013) include:

- Financial risk: refers customers’ loss of money because the product does not satisfy their anticipation

- Performance risk: a product will not work as customers expect

- Physical risk: refers the one that consumers harm themselves or others while using a product

- Social risk: refers a change in consumers’ status in the society when they choose a product

- Psychological risk: refers a negative impact on customers’ ego when they choose the wrong product

The sixth dimension is time risk identified by Roselius (as cited in Mohamed, Hassan

& Spencer, 2011) This risk involves the possible loss of time that customers spend searching for a service if this service does not meet their expectation Mohamed et al (2011) claims that perceived risk is a context-dependent variable In different situations, the importance of each perceived risk dimension is various Based on the definition of each dimension and the context of researching on HQP in universities, all three kinds of risk, comprising of physical risk, social risk and psychological risk are not applicable in this situation The reason is that students’ participation in HQP is unable to physically harm themselves as well as negatively affect their social status and their ego because HQP is the one designed for training excellent students Therefore, if students’ social status and their ego were changed, they would be influenced positively other than negatively such as they will feel proud and honored when being a member of this class In other words, students will not be afraid of social risk and psychological risk when enrolling the HQP In addition, the expenses for attending the course are not as high as international study programs Hence, the financial risk that the HQP may bring to students can be ignored Meanwhile, what they are concerned about is the risk of the program’s performance In reality, many programs

with similar names such as the special program, the advanced program or the talent undergraduate program, etc are born but have the quality inappropriate with their name, making students afraid of the program performance Hence, when students enroll in the HQP, they highly expect that the quality of the program will be correct with its name As a consequence, in this study, we concentrate on the performance risk when investigating students’ perception of risk towards the HQP Based on the general definition of this dimension, performance risk in this research is conceptualized as students’ concerns about whether the program performs as desired or delivers promise benefits

2.1.3 Perceived service quality

Perceived quality is defined as customers’ evaluation of overall excellence or superiority of a product or a service (Zeithaml, 1988) Since the high-quality program mentioned in this research is a kind of service, the definition of perceived quality used in this study will be based on the service quality literature Accordingly, Jiang and Wang (2006) define perceived service quality as customers’ assessment of the service performance received and how it compared to their expectation In other words, perceived service quality

is the difference between customers’ anticipation of a service and their perception of its performance (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1985) If the customer’s perception of service performance is higher than their expectation, the service quality perceived is higher (Parasuraman et al., 1985) In contrast, if the perception of service performance is lower than their anticipation, the service quality perceived is lower

From previous description, in this research, perceived service quality is conceptualized as students’ perception of the performance of the HQP compared to their expectation Specifically, in the scope of this study, the service quality concentrates on the quality of the lecturer crew, the training program, practical activities with entrepreneurs, facilities and other administrative supports

2.1.4 Perceived price

From the consumer’s perspective, price is what customers give up or sacrifice to get certain kinds of products or services (Zeithaml, 1988) According to Jacoby and Olson (as cited in Dodds, Monroe & Grewal, 1991), there are two kinds of price, including: objective

price which reflects the actual cost of a service and perceived price which relates to the one encoded by consumers Since consumers do not always remember the actual price of services, but they encode prices in ways meaningful to them instead (Dickson & Sawyer, as cited in Zeithaml, 1988) Therefore, to customers, perceived price becomes more meaningful than objective monetary price As a consequence, perceived price is proposed to

be utilized (Chen et al., 1994) Bei and Chiao (2001) conceptualize perceived price as the consumer’s perception of what is sacrificed to get a service Full price model in economics shows that monetary price is not the mere sacrifice customers make to get services (Zeithaml, 1988) In addition to monetary price, time costs, search costs and psychic costs are all included in their perception of sacrifice

In this study, student perceived price is understood as something that must be given

up by students to obtain education services from universities In the scope of this research, perceived price is only approached under monetary aspect such as tuition fee, expenses for learning materials and other fees

Together with perceived quality, perceived price is a significant factor to determine customer satisfaction (Bei & Chiao, 2001) If customers consider the price reasonable, they will become more satisfied In contrast, if they find the price unreasonable, they become dissatisfied

2.1.5 Perceived service quality and emotional value

According to Davidow (as cited in Sweeney et al., 1999), service quality plays an important role to the corporate survival because when premium quality is added, it helps to enhance the utility or value to consumers In other words, customers’ perception of service quality have a direct influence on the value customers receive and the higher perceived quality will lead to the higher perceived value (Choi & Kim, 2013) In the research of Choi and Kim (2013), they found that the perceived quality of social enterprise services have a positive effect on perceived value Moreover, the relationship between perceived quality and perceived value are also tested by many other studies (Sweeney et al., 1999; Teas & Agarwal, 2000) Since emotional value is one of five dimensions of student perceived value,

it is positively influenced by perceived service quality In the context of this research, what

students concern the most is the quality of the program When the program is perceived to have good quality, it will generate positive feelings for students towards the program In contrast, if the program quality is perceived to be low, it will cause students to have negative feelings Therefore, we hypothesize that:

H1 There is a positive relationship between perceived service quality and emotional

value

2.1.6 Perceived performance risk and emotional value

According to Sweeney et al (1999), when buying a product or a service, consumers are concerned about losses which may happen by virtue of the item failure Therefore, a service with relatively high possibility of malfunction will be perceived lower value by customers (Tam, 2012) On the other hand, earlier studies indicate that when the risks relating to the purchase are lower, customers’ perception of value is greater (Agarwal & Teas, 2001) In the context of mobile phone service, Snoj et al (2004) proved that the perceived risks of a mobile phone have a negative impact on the perceived value Moreover, this relationship was also tested by many other studies in retail setting (Sweeney et al., 1999; Agarwal & Teas, 2004)

In this study, we would like to test this relationship in the context of university education in Viet Nam However, we will deeply focus on the considered-typical dimension

of each concept These are perceived performance risk and emotional value When students are less nervous about the performance of the program, they will have higher perception of emotional value Therefore, we assume the hypothesis as following:

H2 There is a negative relationship between perceived performance risk and

emotional value

2.1.7 Perceived price and emotional value

A large number of evidences from theoretical and empirical studies show that consumers use price as an extrinsic product-quality cue (Dodds et al., 1991, Zeithaml, 1988) because it provides customers with crucial information of the product or the service in order for them to make a purchase decision Shiv and Ariley (2005) showed that products or services with higher perceived price can be perceived to perform better or in other words,

they have a better quality On the other hand, a service which is perceived to have higher quality is believed to enhance the value to customers (Davidow, as cited in Sweeney et al., 1999) Therefore, when perceived price increases, it will assist in enhancing customers’ perception of value of a service As previous analysis, a significant dimension of perceived value can be considered as emotional value In the context of university education, this research attempts to test the relationship between perceived price and emotional value towards the high-quality program The hypothesis is proposed as following:

H3 There is a positive relationship between perceived price and emotional value

2.1.8 Perceived price and perceived service quality

Not only is price an indicator of the amount of money that customers has to sacrifice

to buy services, it is a signal of quality as well (Dodds et al., 1991) Higher prices indicate higher quality customers perceive of the service, leading to an increase in perceived utility and vice versa (Dodds et al., 1991) Rao and Monroe (1989) conclude that price and perceived quality are positively related Moreover, Shiv and Ariley (2005) showed that products with higher prices can be perceived to perform better, even though their actual performance may be equivalent to items with lower prices

In this study, we would like to test this relationship towards the education service, especially in university education context in Vietnam Therefore, we formulate the following hypothesis:

H4 There is a positive relationship between perceived price and perceived service

quality

2.1.9 Perceived service quality and perceived performance risk

Beside the influence on perceived value, perceived quality is also a determinant of perceived risk When perceived service quality rises, the uncertainty that customers perceive

in association with the performance of product will decrease (Chen & Dubinsky, 2003) Moreover, customers base their judgments about potential risks on their perceptions of quality (Bearden & Shimp, 1982; Sweeney et al., 1999) Shimp and Bearden (1982) showed that higher perceived quality may help to reduce the risk that may happen to the product’s intended function Previous researches proved that perceived risk is negatively influenced

by the perceived service quality (Clow, Baack & Fogliasso, 1998; Chen & Chang, 2005)

By virtue of a dimension of perceived risk, perceived performance risk is also negatively impacted by perceived service quality When the service quality is perceived to increase, students are less nervous about the risks the program may bring to them and vice versa

In this study, we would like to test the correlation between perceived service quality and perceived performance risk in university education setting Hence, we hypothesize that:

H5 There is a negative relationship between perceived service quality and perceived

performance risk

2.1.10 Perceived price and perceived performance risk

A number of empirical researches prove that perceived price is positively related to customers’ perception of service quality (Rao & Monroe, 1989; Shiv & Ariley, 2005) It means that when customers perceive the price they pay for using a service high, they will equate with the service’s high quality performance On the other hand, when the service quality is perceived to be high, customers will consider it as a cue for low risk that the service may bring to them Accordingly, when perceived price increases, it helps to mitigate customer’s perception of risk

As previous analysis, performance risk is considered to be most concerned by students when enrolling the course Therefore, in this research, we attempt to test the relationship between perceived price and perceived performance risk Based on the above analysis, we formulate the hypothesis as follow:

H6 There is a negative relationship between perceived price and perceived performance risk

2.2 Research model

The model of research is built on the literature review The following proposed model has four constructs, including: perceived performance risk, perceived price, perceived service quality and emotional value Among these, perceived service quality, perceived risk and emotional value are classified in endogenous construct group and perceived price is categorized in exogenous construct group The proposed research model and all hypotheses tested in the context of Vietnam university education are outlined as follow:

H4 (+)

H2 (-)

H3 (+) H4(-) H6 (-)

Figure 2.1: The proposed research model

All hypotheses in the hypothesized model are stated as shown in table 2.1:

Table 2.1: Hypotheses in the model

H1 There is a positive relationship between perceived service quality and emotional value

H2 There is a negative relationship between perceived performance risk and emotional value

H3 There is a positive relationship between perceived price and emotional value

H4 There is a positive relationship between perceived price and perceived service quality

H5 There is a negative relationship between perceived service quality and perceived performance

Student Emotional Value Perceived

Performance Risk

In summary, this chapter presents the theoretical foundation of four constructs constituted of the research model, including: student emotional value, perceived service quality, perceived price and perceived performance risk Based on these literature reviews, hypotheses reflecting the relationship among constructs are stated Specifically, emotional value is positively affected by perceived service quality and perceived price Simultaneously, emotional value is negatively influenced by perceived performance risk Moreover, this chapter also points out the negative impact of perceived price and perceived service quality on perceived performance risk Also, perceived service quality is positively affected by perceived price Finally, the research model is proposed based on these six hypotheses

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this chapter is to illustrate the methodology employed in this research Specifically, this chapter will present in detail the research process, research method, sampling design, data collection and the technique of data analysis Moreover, in this chapter, measurement scales of each construct and the preliminary research result are also displayed

3.1 Research process

After the research problem was recognized and the research objectives were defined, the literature review related to constructs was conducted and the relationships among constructs were hypothesized Based on this, the theoretical model was proposed for the HQP in Vietnam universities The draft questionnaire was then developed based on the measurement scales consolidated from previous researches in the literature In the stage of research design, the research was divided into two phases: preliminary research and main research

− The preliminary research was conducted with two rounds:

 The first round: a series of in-depth interviews were carried out on ten

students from two universities, including FTU HCMC and UEH to refine the scale items as well as to check wording to every statement in the questionnaire All the comments from the students were collected with the purpose of adjusting the measurement scales Based on their recommendations, the survey questionnaire was revised in the direction of being clearer and more understandable to surveyed students

 The second round: after the questionnaire had been revised, a series of

face-to-face interviews were carried out again on another 30 interviewees to check their understanding

− In the main research phase, after the final questionnaire was fixed, it was

launched in mass to collect data The surveys were carried out by directly distributing the questionnaire to students in their relaxing hour It took two weeks to collect data from all three universities in HCMC, comprising of FTU HCMC, UEH and BU HCMC

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM)

Theoretical model test and hypotheses test

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

The specific research process was illustrated in Figure 3.1

Figure 3.1 Research process

Based on the Figure 3.1, the process of the research contained eight steps:

Step 1: Literature review

In this step, the theories of relevant constructs in the research model such as perceived service quality, perceived price, perceived performance risk and student emotional value were presented After showing the existence of relationships between constructs in theory based on previous researches, the proposed theoretical research model was displayed

Step 2: Draft measurement scales

Based on previous studies, the measurement scale of each construct was selected and translated into the context of the study In detail, the scale of perceived service quality was adapted from Jo (2007), perceived price was adapted from Salvador, Rebolloso, Fernández-Ramírez & María del (2007), perceived performance risk was adapted from Keh & Pang (2010) and student emotional value was adapted from Wang, Chi & Yang (2004)

Step 3: In-depth interviews

A series of in-depth interviews were carried out to evaluate the relevance and sufficiency of measures Moreover, a check of students’ understanding towards each statement in the draft questionnaire was also performed in this step Based on responses of students, the measurement scales were revised After the first revision, another set of face-to-face interviews were executed with 30 students to check again whether items of scales really became easy to understand to students It was lucky for all items at this time to be clear and no need to adjust any more

Step 4: Official measurement scales

After the preliminary research, the measurement scales of constructs became official and the questionnaire was built based on these official scales

Step 5: Main survey

The questionnaires were launched in mass to students to collect data Questionnaires were directly delivered to students in universities

Step 6: Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

Confirmatory Factor Analysis was utilized to assess the unidimensionality, the reliability, the discriminant validity and the convergent validity of constructs in the research model Moreover, results from CFA were also used to evaluate the fit of the model

Step 7: Structural Equation Model (SEM)

After the validity of constructs was confirmed by CFA, SEM was employed to test the theoretical model and hypotheses

Step 8: Conclusion and implications

Based on the results of data analysis, some implications of emotional value were recommended for program managers so that they can improve the program and increase student emotional value consequently

3.2 Preliminary survey

Before conducting on a large scale, a series of individual in-depth interviews were carried out with a number of students The purpose of this phase was to identify factors affecting student emotional value by initially validating some determinants proved by previous studies and exploring new factors in Vietnam environment The pilot study was undertaken in two stages: qualitative study and quantitative study

Firstly, in the qualitative phase, in-depth interviews were conducted on ten students

through whom key insights about the HQP were explored These ten students came from the HQP of three public universities in HCMC, including FTU HCMC (4 students), UEH (3 students), and BU HCMC (3 students) Through these interviews, we could know how much they understood each statement (or observed measures) in the questionnaire and let them show their recommendations to make the statement clearer Simultaneously, students were asked to assess the relevance and sufficiency of measures in the draft questionnaire Discussions were noted and became the basis for the adjustment, addition or removal of observed measures in the scales Specifically, a number of terms in the original scales needed adjusting to ensure the suitability of the scales with the current research context Several terms such as “service”, “promised”, “used well” were suggested replacing with

“the high quality program”, “advertised” and “highly evaluated by recruiters” by students who were attending the HQP and clearly understood issues related to this program

Secondly, the quantitative phase was undertaken through individual face-to-face

interviews with 30 students who were in the third year and final year of the HQP in universities The purpose of this interview was to check students’ understanding on the content of the questionnaire The feedbacks from students in this phase were used to amend the expression of each statement so that we could ensure the statements would become clearer and easier to comprehend, facilitating respondents to answer exactly

To conclude, the findings of the preliminary research were to revise the draft questionnaire to be suitable with the current research context – university education setting and to guarantee the questionnaire to be clearer to respondents Moreover, there was no item added into or removed from the questionnaire due to its irrelevance with the research context

The official questionnaire in English version and in Vietnamese version were displayed in Appendices A and B

3.3 Measurement scales

Based on the results of preliminary research, the final scales for four constructs, comprising of perceived service quality (PSQ), perceived price (PP), perceived performance risk (PPRI) and student emotional value (EV) were presented as following This research used 5-point Likert scale which anchored from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree)

Perceived service quality was adapted by Jo (2007) with five items These five

items were interpreted into university education context

Table 3.1: Scale of Perceived service quality

The described above looks to be reliable and

durable

The high-quality program looks to be reliable and durable PSQ01 The described above has excellent quality

features

The high-quality program has excellent quality

The described above has fewer problems The high-quality program has fewer problems PSQ03

The described above will give me excellent

driving experience

The high-quality program will give me excellent learning experience PSQ04 The described above has excellent quality The high-quality program has excellent quality PSQ05

Perceived price was adapted by Salvador, Rebolloso, Fernández-Ramírez and María

del (2007) with four items All these four items were interpreted into university education context

Table 3.2: Scale of Perceived price

The fees set for the service are adequate for the

I don't care about the price The only thing I am

interested in is the quality of the service received

What I care is the quality of the program but the

Perceived performance risk was adapted by Keh and Pang (2010) with three items

All these three items were interpreted into university education context

Table 3.3: Scale of Perceived performance risk

There was a high chance that this service would

not be delivered as promised

There was a high chance that this high-quality program would not be delivered as advertised PPR10

There was a high chance that I would suffer some

loss because this service would not be used well

There was a high chance that I would suffer loss because this high-quality program would not be highly evaluated by recruiters

Student emotional value was adapted by Wang, Chi and Yang (2004) with five

items All these five items were interpreted into university education context

Table 3.4: Scale of Emotion value

The brand/service of this firm is the one that I

would enjoy

The high-quality program of this university is the one that I would enjoy EV13

The brand/service of this firm makes me want to

purchase and use it

The high-quality program of this university makes

me want to register and attend to learn EV14

The brand/service of this firm is the one that I

would feel relaxed about using it

The high-quality program of this university is the one that I would feel relaxed about attending to learn

The questionnaire was constructed based on the scales described above It comprised

of four parts The first part was the introduction which presented the thesis title and the research objectives The second part included some questions with the aim of exploring the general information of students such as which university students were attending, which year they are at school and which major they followed The third part explored students’ assessment of the high-quality program they were attending All items used to measure four constructs were displayed in this section and students were asked to rate their consensus level from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) The final part of the questionnaire required students to report demographic information The questionnaire was originally prepared in English and then translated into Vietnamese because not all targeted students in Vietnam were fluent in English

3.5 Sample size

To determine the sample size depends on several aspects, comprising of the expectation of reliability and the technique of data analysis To Structural Equation Modeling method, Raykov and Widaman (as cited in Nguyen Dinh Tho & Nguyen Thi Mai

Trang, 2007) assumed that this method required a large sample size due to its reliance on the large sample distribution theory However, there was no consensus on how large the sample

size should be so that the sample could represent for the population According to Hair et al

(as cited in Nguyen Dinh Tho, 2011) the minimum sample size was from 100 to 150 if the estimation method was Maximum Likelyhood Additionally, Bollen (1989) also assumed that the minimum sample size equated five elements for one estimated parameter

When using Exploratory Factor Analysis Technique, Hair et al (as cited in Nguyen Dinh Tho, 2011) stated that the minimum sample size equated 50 elements and better was

100 and each parameter needed minimum five elements As a result, the minimum sample size required for EFA was 85 (= 5*17) observations On the other hand, for the regression analysis technique, Harris (1985) emphasized the requirement for the sample size as follow:

n >= 104 +m (m: number of independent variables)

In conclusion, the sample size needed for testing the overall model was 105 However, because this study applied SEM technique, the sample size for this research needed about 200 to ensure the reliability and validity In order to ensure the required size, this study targeted a sample of 400

3.6 Sampling

By virtue of the limit of time and the relationship with universities, this research used convenient sampling technique The targeted respondents of this study were third-year and final-year students attending the high-quality program, regardless of major in universities in

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam The reason why third-year and final-year students were chosen was because they had been experiencing the course; hence, they could make an exact evaluation about the program Three universities in Ho Chi Minh City were selected for investigation, including: Foreign Trade University, the University of Economics and Banking University All these universities were the leading public ones located in Ho Chi Minh City, the principal education center of Vietnam In order to guarantee the reliability of collected data, we directly came to each class of the high-quality program in each university

to do the survey By this way, every student in the class received the questionnaire and gave response on the spot In case there was any queries from students, we made clear

immediately, increasing the precise in their answers Data collection was conducted during the week from Monday to Friday and finished within ten days

As mentioned above, the minimum sample size needed for testing the overall model was 105 Therefore, total 310 questionnaires were delivered to targeted respondents, including third-year and final-year students who were attending the HQP at three public universities in HCMC, Viet Nam; namely, University of Economics (UEH); Foreign Trade University (FTU) and Banking University (BU) Among 310 questionnaires distributed, 33 were invalid because students marked the only one option for all questions though we had presented the regulation Therefore, the number of usable questionnaires for the data analysis was 277

For unidimensionality evaluation, the purpose of this step was to ensure that a set of items empirically measures a single dimension Steenkamp and Van Trijp (as cited in Nguyen Dinh Tho & Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, 2007) advised that as the goodness of fit was good, then the constructs got unidimensionality except the cases of correlation between errors

Reliability of measures in this thesis was evaluated by means of Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE) According to Hair et al (as cited in Nguyen Nguyen Dinh Tho & Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, 2007), the score of both CR and AVE should be equal to or greater than 0.5

Validity of constructs was assessed through convergent and discriminant validity Convergent validity was the extent to which the latent variable correlated to indicators measuring the same construct (Gerbing & Anderson, as cited in Nguyen Dinh Tho &

Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, 2007) According to Gerbing and Anderson, scales got the convergent validity if they had the standardized loading estimate greater than 0.5 Hair et al (as cited in Nguyen Dinh Tho & Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, 2007) defined discriminant validity as the extent to which a construct was truly distinct from other constructs The correlation between any two constructs could be specified as equal to one If the fit of the two-construct model was significantly different from that of the one-construct model, then discriminant validity was supported

Table 3.5: Summary of goodness fit indices

Name of Index Level of

acceptance

Comments Absolute fit indices

Chi-square (  2

) P < 0.05 This measure was sensitive to large sample size

RMSEA RMSEA< 0.08 A value of 0.0 indicated the exact fit of the model

A value about 0.05 or less indicated a close fit of the model

A value about 0.08 or less indicated an acceptable fit of the model

A value should not greater than 0.1

Incremental fit indices

CFI

TLI

0.9 <= CFI<=1 0.9<= TLI

Value close to 0 indicated a poor fit while value close to 1 indicated a perfect fit

Parimonious fit indices

 2 /df  2 /df < 2 A value close to 1 and not exceeding 3 indicated a good fit

A value less than 1 indicated an over fit of the model

To evaluate the fit of the measurement model, Hair et al (2014, p.584) recommended

to use at least three fit indices by including one in each of categories of model fit Nguyen Dinh Tho and Nguyen Thi Mai Trang (2007, p.42) suggested four fit indices in three categories, including chi-square (2), Goodness of Fit index (GFI), Root Mean Square Error Approximation (RMSEA), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker & Lewis Index (TLI),

2

/df If a model got GFI, TLI, CFI >= 0.9 (Bentler & Bonett, 1980); 2

/df <= 2 (Nguyen Dinh Tho & Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, 2007) In some cases, 2

/df <= 3 (Carmines & McIver,

as cited in Netemeyer, Durvasula & Lichtenstein, 1991) Moreover, RMSEA <= 0.8 (Steiger, as cited in Nguyen Dinh Tho & Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, 2007), then the model was considered to be a good fit model The more details of acceptance level were described below

Secondly, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was employed to assess the fit of the theoretical model with the data and test the hypotheses in the research model Finally, bootstrap was used to re-test the suitability and reliability of the model

In summary, chapter 3 identified details about the research process with two main phases including qualitative and quantitative phases Moreover, this chapter also presented the preliminary survey, the measurement scales, the questionnaire design, sampling design, data collection method and data analysis technique The final sample size of this research was 277 who were the third year and final year students in three public universities in HCMC CFA and SEM were used to test the measurement model and structural model

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS

The main goal of this chapter is to display the findings of data analysis through tools such as: Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and Structural equation model (SEM) Specifically, CFA were firstly employed to test the reliability and validity of the measurement scales Next, SEM was used to investigate the theoretical model and test the research hypotheses Finally, bootstrap was employed to re-test the findings of the research with a larger sample

4.1 Sample characteristics

Total 310 questionnaires were directly delivered to targeted respondents, including third-year and final-year students who were attending the high-quality program at the two leading universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam, namely, University of Economics (UEH) HCMC; Foreign Trade University (FTU), HCMC and Banking University (BU), HCMC Among 310 questionnaires distributed, 33 were invalid because students did not answer fully or they marked the only one option for all questions As a consequence, the number of usable questionnaires for the data analysis was 277 The descriptive statistics of the sample is shown in Table 4.1

Based on table 4.1, it was easily recognized that respondents in this study were diverse by different universities, major, year, gender, doing a part-time job, permanent address and financial support

Among three surveyed universities, the number of students coming from Foreign Trade University, HCMC was dominant compared with that from University of Economics and Banking University Specifically, the number of FTU students taking part in this survey were 197, accounting for 71.1% The number of UEH were 50, seizing 18.1% and the number of BU were 30, making up 10.8% Students who were surveyed had a variety of major, comprising of finance (11.2%), banking (10.5%), auditing (7.2%) and external economics (71.1%)