Antecedents and consequences of service quality in a higher education context

Abstract

The study aims to explore the perception of students with regard to critical antecedents, dimensions and outcomes of service quality in the context of a university in Australia. The study used qualitative research method to derive a theoretical model. Three focus group discussions with nineteen students were conducted at the main campus of Central Queensland University (CQUni), Australia. The focus group findings show that the critical antecedents to perceived service quality are information and past experience. Students perceive service quality as a set of attributes and that they evaluate it cognitively. Satisfaction and trust are found to have direct and positive relationships with service quality as consequences. As revealed from focus group discussions, all of the interrelationships among the themes developed are positive. There are several practical implications of this study. Higher education managers should pay particular attention to develop a concrete information structure for potential students through promise and information structure. The authority should also develop and maintain good relationships with present and previous students, local and regional school authorities, and other stakeholders. They should continuously upgrade the performance of the service attributes in order to improve students' experience, spread word-of-mouth, provide satisfaction, and build trust. This study shows that there are two streams to study service quality, antecedent approach and dimensional approach. This study develops a theoretical model, which is the first of its kind, in higher education marketing literature. This research considered three focus group discussions and a single university. Future studies should expand the scope of the research.

Antecedents Brand Trust and Private Universities Reputation

“…9, No. 8; market, the arena of satisfaction will increase market share (Sultan & Wong, 2013). Bahari (2016) concludes that there is a significant positive effect of customer satisfaction on brand trust, customer satisfaction with brand loyalty and brand trust towards brand loyalty.…”

“…The students have a very positive perception when they see the professional appearance of staff and when they see their personal information is handled safely. (Le Roux & Van Rensburg, 2014) Universities in increasing the number of students each year must regularly monitor the extent to which service performance, student satisfaction and their beliefs and student behavior intentions can in turn improve university brand performance and improve marketing at the University (Sultan & Wong, 2013) Assessment of the quality of educational services is required to provide feedback to students (Shah, 2013) The student's decision to apply depends on services related to supporting facilities and infrastructure (Prakash & Muhammed, 2016). …”

“…Students consider that Brand University is their success rate in getting a job and salary level after graduation (Sultan & Wong, 2013). The touch point prior to student acceptance needs to be enhanced through effective communication in the media, especially at the social media level, where the use of alumni and students to spread brand value with a major emphasis on campus placement and infrastructure can build positive perceptions and expectations about Education brands (Khanna, Jacob, & Yadav, 2014).…”

Dimensions driving business student satisfaction in higher education

“…According to Alves and Raposo (2010), perceived quality develops a favourable image in the minds of students which subsequently leads them to satisfaction. Sultan (2013) suggests there are three core aspects of service quality evaluation namely: academic, administrative, and facilities in the context of sample institutions.…”

Students' perceptions of service quality at a Greek higher education institute

“…Next, language adjustment was made and questions were checked as to whether they fit to the case of TEICM. According to Sultan and Wong (2010), the HEdPERF scale can further be strengthened by ensuring content and face validity of some of the items. For instance, TEICM does not offer hostel services.…”