Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between service quality, program quality, institutional image and student satisfaction in the context of higher education. Additionally, the study attempts to describe the mediating impact of institutional image between service quality, program quality and student satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach-The structural equation modeling was used to analyze the influence of mediating variable and hypotheses testing. The population of this study was fourth-year business students of nine "grade one" private universities in Bangladesh. Data (n = 310) were gathered from students pursuing studies at different private universities in Bangladesh. Findings-The findings of this study revealed that image occupied full mediation role between service quality and student satisfaction. Furthermore, it also disclosed that the direct path of service quality and student satisfaction was not statistically significant. Practical implications-These unique findings imply that academic authorities should nurture the institutional image and program quality rigorously to enhance student satisfaction. The findings of this study would benefit both practitioners and academics, especially in the perspective of Bangladesh private higher education. Originality/value-Past researchers have examined the direct affiliation between service quality and student satisfaction. Hence, there is a deficiency of indirect link between service quality and student satisfaction. This study has incorporated image as a mediating variable to fulfill the deficiency in higher education.

This study investigates the variables affecting the adoption of blockchain technology (BT) among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with the application of artificial intelligence (AI) via the mediating lens of risk-taking behavior. As an initial sample, 150 owners/top managers from 150 SMEs (one informant from each) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, were chosen. A stratified random sample was employed for this cross-sectional study. Applying structural equation modeling, the combined influence of internal and external variables influencing the intention to adopt BT is explored. Results show that: (1) knowledge of artificial intelligence has a positive and significant effect on the adoption of blockchain technology; (2) the relevant advantage of artificial intelligence has a positive and significant effect on the adoption of blockchain technology; (3) perceived ease of use of artificial intelligence has a positive and significant effect on the adoption of blockchain technology; (4) risk-taking behavior mediates the relationship between knowledge of artificial intelligence and adoption of blockchain technology; (5) risk-taking behavior does not mediate the relationship between relevant advantage and perceived ease of use of artificial intelligence with the adoption of blockchain technology. The current study is one of the few empirical investigations relating to SMEs using artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies for business operations. The study’s limitations are the small sample size and use of a single informant. However, the findings on the adoption of blockchain technology have applications for boosting the competitiveness of SMEs. This study’s originality stems from two factors: the novelty of blockchain technology and its potential to upend SMEs’ conventional mode of operation. It highlights the need to consider the key variables affecting SMEs’ adoption of blockchain technology with artificial intelligence.

The prime objective of this paper is to identify the factors that influence service quality of education mediating by institutional image in higher education perspective. To this aim, the Nordic model was used as a theoretical base of the study. Program quality as a technical quality as well as industrial link and student satisfaction as functional quality were postulated to positively influence image toward the service quality education. Data (n=294) were collected from foreign students studying at University Utara Malaysia located in northern Malaysia through convenient sampling procedure. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized for analyzing the data. Analysis of the data indicates that image has a full mediating role in the relationship between industrial link and service quality education. To uphold service quality in education, the academic authorities need to nurture earnestly industrial link and image of the institution because image occupied full mediation role between industrial link and service quality of education. Moreover, program quality and student satisfaction have shown direct significant impact on image and service quality of education and can be regarded as critical factors for certifying image and service quality in higher education. The conceptual model of this study would give more recognition if any tertiary level institution addresses this in order to increase their image and overall ranking. This study incorporated institutional image as a mediating variable, which is an exceptional endeavor in tertiary level education for enriching existing body of literature in perspective of international students.

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This study examines service climate and service quality through the mediating impact of job satisfaction within a tertiary education level in Bangladesh. The sample size of the study consisted of 140 faculty-members from four different private universities of Dhaka city and a structured questionnaire was designed to assess the service quality of higher education. Several statistical methods such as t-test, correlations and multiple-regression were used to analyze the data. The study discloses that the overall service climate has a significant positive impact on service quality. Finally, the study reveals that job satisfaction is partially mediating between service climate and service quality. This paper makes an outstanding empirical contribution by incorporating service climate and job satisfaction and exploring their relationships with service quality in the context of higher education. The overall results of this study would be International Journal of Learning and Development ISSN 2164-4063 2017 http://ijld.macrothink.org 49 valuable to the planners to formulate the pragmatic strategies for ensuring service quality through service climate and job satisfaction of faculty-members in the private tertiary level institutions. This is one of the rare empirical studies in this sector, and thus represents a unique contribution to the literature.