A pragmatic model of student satisfaction: a viewpoint of private higher education

Abstract

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.

The Relationship of Good University Governance and Student Satisfaction

“…Students have high expectation on the quality of teaching lecturers so that they can improve their learning result Students will be more enthusiastic in lectures and completion of studies. The results of the study supported the results of previous studies which found a positive and significant effect on student satisfaction (Butt & Rehman, 2010;Carter & Yeo, 2016;Fernandes et al, 2013;Isnaini et al, 2015;Martirosyan, 2015;Osman & Saputra, 2019;Putri, 2018;Rahmawati, 2013;Sabihaini & Satoto, 2016).…”

“…Fernandes, Ross, & Meraj (2013) found that the quality of lecturers became the main reason of student satisfaction. Osman & Saputra (2019) confirmed that the teaching method used by lecturers can be seen as an indicator of program quality in which it has a significant effect on student satisfaction. Teaching staff with a higher level of commitment to the student learning experience proved to have a significant influence on student satisfaction (Poon & Brownlow, 2015).…”

“…Their findings can be summarized as sstudent's satisfaction is highly determined by the service quality which in turn will affect students' loyalty. However, some did not find direct effect of service quality with student satisfaction (Osman & Saputra, 2019).…”

“…These results of a process are not restricted to particular factors or to a specific situation. They are diverse in nature therefore applicability of the Equity Theory is universal in explaining customer behavior and satisfaction (Osman & Saputra, 2019).…”

Postgraduate Distance Education in University of Cape Coast, Ghana: Students’ Perspectives

“…Competition for students among the many higher educational institutions has made customer satisfaction a paramount concept in the field of education (Osman & Saputra, 2019), and customer satisfaction is said to be a strategic tool towards achieving customer retention and loyalty (Agyei & Kilika, 2013;Zhen, Cao, & Tang, 2018). Kaur and Bhalla (2018) argued that students are the internal customers of educational institutions and as such, policymakers should yearn to satisfy their students since dissatisfaction ranks among the causes for high attrition rate among distance students (Jan, 2015).…”