Edu-tourist’s perceived service quality and perception – the mediating role of satisfaction from foreign students’ perspectives

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to test a conceptual model that takes into account both edu-tourists’ perception and perceived service quality in explaining purchase intention of academic degrees from the foreign universities. Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on an empirical examination with applying multivariate data analysis. The data were collected through survey questionnaires and analysed by using structural equation modelling procedure. FindingsThe survey result discovered that the relationship between perceived service quality and edu-tourist’s satisfaction was significant and positive. The relationship between edu-tourist’s satisfaction and intention to purchase was also significant and positive. Meanwhile, edu-tourist’s satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between their perceived service quality and intention to purchase. Nevertheless, this research also explored that the edu-tourist’s satisfaction plays a significant mediating effect in between the relationship of perception and intention to purchase. Research limitations/implicationsThis empirical study will contribute in understanding the behaviour of international students to construct the theoretical knowledge on the edu-tourism industry, which has been neglected in tourism research. Originality/valueThe paper will be of use to the management and policymakers in the higher education sector in understanding the customer’s expectation for the edu-tourism destination. This study contributes to the growing literature on education travel destination, where the researchers investigated the role of tourist’s satisfaction by using perception and perceived service quality towards their intention to visit a destination for education tourism. In addition, understanding the role satisfaction on the relationship between perception and perceived service quality towards the purchase intention will make both scientific and practical contributions for the decision-makers.

A conceptual model development of the impact of higher education service quality in guaranteeing edu‐tourists' satisfaction and behavioral intentions

“…It is believed that students consider service quality in their decision making for selecting a university. This supports that service quality in an educational tourism context is essential, and institutions should take advantage of the competitive nature of absorbing edutourists and evaluating service quality (Rahman, Hassan, Osman-Gani, Abdel Fattah, & Anwar, 2017).…”

The Mediation Effects of Customer Satisfaction on the Relations Between Product Price, Service Quality and Purchasing Decision

“…Customer satisfaction is a customer's feelings about the quality of the product/service in accord with their expectation (Parasuraman et al, 1994;Rahman et al, 2017). Therefore, customer satisfaction is an important indicator to determine the success of product/service in the market (Famiyehet al, 2018), leading to enhance customer loyalty (Martín-Consuegra et al, 2007).…”

Understanding E-Commerce Market Using Cluster Analysis: A Case Study of the CRM Programs of Online Shopper

“…Whereas the student satisfaction varies in Pakistan across most of the universities, the student expectations towards university facilities are low in Pakistan. Results indicate that the student satisfaction towards university facilities in Malaysia has a direct high impact, whereas the students in Pakistan the university facilities impact is lesser (Rahman et al, 2017) The results indicate that there was a significant difference was found in university facilities provided in Malaysia universities than universities in Pakistan. Malaysian students are more satisfied with the facilities provided by universities.…”