Initial assessment of two questionnaires for measuring service quality in the Hong Kong post‐secondary education context

Abstract

Purpose -The SERVPERF (for Service Performance) and the HEdPERF (for Higher Education Performance) are two questionnaires for collecting customer/student feedback on service quality that have been tested and used mainly in non-Chinese contexts. The purpose of this paper is to adapt and initially validate a Chinese translation of these two instruments for application in the context of post-secondary education in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach -Given that a Chinese translation of the two questionnaires concerned has not been tested in this new response-context, an exploratory approach was adopted by examining the psychometric properties of the SERVPERF scales and the HEdPERF scales via scale alpha, item-correlation analysis and exploratory factor analysis using valid responses collected from 271 students. Findings -The alpha values of both the SERVPERF scales and the HEdPERF scales are good or acceptable, with the latter better than the former in general. In the present study, the validity of employing the SERVPERF in the targeted response-context is supported as all the five SERVERF dimensions have been cleanly identified in the exploratory factor analysis. However, only three out of the five HEdPERF dimensions were identified in the present study, and two of the identified dimensions are complex concepts with each of them exhibited as two factors in the exploratory factor analysis, casting doubt on the appropriateness of the direct employment of the HEdPERF in the targeted response-context for the measurement of service quality.Research limitations/implications -The students who participated in the present study were pursuing Project Yi Jin, which was a special one-year post-secondary programme in Hong Kong. Originality/value -Taking both reliability and validity issues into consideration, this initial investigation indicates that the SERVPERF may be a more appropriate instrument than the HEdPERF for supporting quality assurance in the context of Hong Kong post-secondary education, especially when multiple questionnaires will be used for collecting students' feedback on their various experiences at different levels, where it is important for these questionnaires to be, as much as possible, simple and non-overlapping.

A confirmatory factor analysis for SERVPERF instrument based on a sample of students from Syrian universities

“…These results contradict previous studies that reported five (Abdullah et al, 2012;Adil et al, 2013;Law, 2013) or four (Arora et al, 2011;Brochado, 2009) dimensions of service quality. The results, however, are unsurprising bearing in mind the industry, the culture, and the economic environment in each study (Al-Khalil and Mahmoud, 2012;Arora et al, 2011).…”

“…This is supported by the calls for modified versions of SERVQUAL with instrument items drawn from other literatures on quality indicators or student satisfaction (Kwan and Ng, 1999;Tan and Kek, 2004). On the other hand, other researchers (Abdulla, 2005;Brochado, 2009;Law, 2013;Sultan and Wong, 2012) chose the adapted version of SERVPERF.…”

Opening up a road to somewhere: development of associate degree students in Hong Kong

“…While this study extended our understanding of the impact colleges have had on Hong Kong students, it used self-reported gains (students reported their estimates of gain or change on an attribute at one time point) as a measurement, raising questions about its validity (Bowman, 2010;Pascarella, 2001). Recently, Law (2013) validated two quality assurance instruments, SERVPERF (for Service Performance) and HEdPERF (Higher Education Performance), by tapping students' perceptions of service in a self-financed institute in Hong Kong. While his results suggested that the two instruments yield good psychometric properties for adoption in the local educational context, the items are summative in nature, and therefore may not be best suited for longitudinal tracking of students' development.…”

The Influence of Quality Academic Service on Student Satisfaction (Empiric Study on Bidikmisi Scholarship Students Regional Office of Universitas Terbuka at Pangkalpinang, Indonesia)

“…For a company marketing activities are central to the achievement of goals, because marketing activities are directed to create an exchange that enables a company to make a profit. To achieve that goal the company must be able to analyze the demand factors that could affect the sales (Law, 2013). The demand factor consists of uncontrollable factors and controllable factors.…”