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Service quality and student satisfaction: A case study on private universities in

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International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences
2013; 1(3): 128-135
Published online May 30, 2013 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/ijefm)
doi: 10.11648/j.ijefm.20130103.11

Service quality and student satisfaction: a case study on

private universities in Bangladesh
1 2 2
Asaduzzaman , Moyazzem Hossain , Mahabubur Rahman
1
Department of Management, BUBT, Dhaka, Bangladesh
2
Department of Statistics, IU, Kushtia, Bangladesh

Email address:
[email protected](Asaduzzaman), [email protected](M. Hossain), [email protected](M. Rahman)

To cite this article:

Asaduzzaman, Moyazzem Hossain, Mahabubur Rahman. Service Quality and Student Satisfaction: A Case Study on Private
Universities in Bangladesh, International Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences. Vol. 1, No. 3, 2013, pp. 128-135.
doi: 10.11648/j.ijefm.20130103.11

Abstract: With an ever growing assortment of educational options, students seek institutions that will provide for them
a unique educational experience that they will remember for a life time. In addition, the present student is a customer
seeking an educational program that will prepare him/her for a successful career and gainful employment. Since
institutional budgets are developed based upon projected enrolments, it is becoming crucial for private institutions to retain
the students they recruit. This situation has created a need for continued research in the area of student satisfaction and
student retention. A reduction in student numbers, therefore, leads to a reduction in budgeted funds available to operate,
maintain, and grow a private insti- tution. This study attempts to examine the relationship between service quality
dimensions and overall service quality (tan- gibility, responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy) and students
satisfaction. Furthermore, this study is also ex- amining critical factors in service quality dimensions (tangibility,
responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy) that contribute most to the satisfaction of the students. This study was
conducted using a set of questionnaire to 550 Business students from Private University institutions, Dhaka City,
Bangladesh. Among the respondents, male respondents were 411, thus representing 75% of the total population, whereas
the female respondents were 139 and thus representing 25% of the total population. All the respondents are undergraduate
students. Majority of the Student population were between 18 to 24 years of age group. There is a significant correlation
among all the constructs with student satisfaction. Factor 1 is by far the most important, accounting for the largest
proportion of the variance (34 per cent), with eigenvalues greater than 3.00 (10.596). This factor includes a group of
statements related to environment and facilities of the university, and is labeled here
‘tangibles’.
Keywords: Service Quality, Student Satisfaction, Private University,
Bangladesh

government (see Teo, C. L., [50]).

1. Introduction Student satisfaction has become a major challenge for the
In today's competitive academic environment where stu- universities and it has been recognized that student satis-
dents have many options available to them, factors that faction is the major source of competitive advantage and
enable educational institutions to attract and retain students this satisfaction also leads towards student retention,
should be seriously studied. Higher education institutions, attraction for new students and positive word of mouth
which want to gain competitive edge in the future, may need communication, as well (Arambewela & Hall [8]). It has
to begin searching for effective and creative ways to attract, been recognized and reported in earlier studies that long
retain and foster stronger relationships with students. As a term survival and suc- cess of the universities depending
private organization, it has to depend on the interaction and upon the quality of ser- vices and the effort made by them
mechanism of the market. As a result, competition to woo as to achieve that distin- guishes one university from other
many students as possible or so-called “potential customer” universities (Aly and Akpovi [5]; Kanji et al., [30]). In some
may become more and more intense. To make the matter earlier studies it had been reported that universities were
harder, as a private institution, it does not have the also implementing quality management principles and used
“privilege” to receive any subsidies or financial these principles as a strategic tool to gain competitive edge
assistances from the (Montano and Utter [34]; Swift [49]) and improved
performance (Kanji and
129 International
AsaduzzamanJournal
et al.:
of Economics,
Service quality
Finance
andand
student
Management
satisfaction:
Sciences
a case2013;
study 1(3):
on private
128-135 129
1291 universities in Bangladesh 1291

Tambi [29]). Now the concept of quality and customer sa- satisfaction.
tisfaction had been evolved in educational sector and got
considerable attentions (Ana Brochado [6]). These trends
have also been seen in the developing countries like Ban- 2. Background of the Private Higher
gladesh. Education in Bangladesh
The higher education sector in Bangladesh has undergone
enormous growth in recent years and it is widely believed In the 1990s the government realized the need for setting
that future success in a globalize world economy belongs to up private universities as it was clear that the public uni-
those firms that go the extra distance in providing versities in Bangladesh would not be able to meet the in-
customers with world-class customer service. Universities creasing demand for higher education. The government
must con- tinually assess their service. Outstanding service recognized and appreciated the initiatives taken, in the early
quality as perceived by the customer, can give any nineties by a group of educationists to establish private
organization a competitive advantage (Albrecht [3]). universities. After due examination of their proposals, the
Therefore, perceived service quality could be the product of government felt the necessity of enacting the legal frame-
the evaluations of a number of service encounters and in work under which private universities could work. As a
this case, of a student, these could range from encounters result the National Parliament passed the Private University
with office staff, to en- counters with tutors, lecturers, the Act-1992. It was a milestone in the history of higher educa-
head of departments, etc (Hill [27]). As a result, if an tion in Bangladesh. With the ratification of this Act, the
organization regularly provides service at a level that government lost the monopoly of providing higher educa-
exceeds customer expectations, the service will be tion. The first government approved private university was
evaluated as high quality. In contrast, if an organization established in 1992 quickly followed by several others. In
fails to meet customer expectations, the service will be 1998, the private university Act was amended to remove
judge as poor quality (Zammuto et al., [51]). some inadequacies and prevent misuse of privileges granted
Generally, students have three main criteria that need to by the Act. At present, we have 70 private universities in
be satisfied with services. These has been labeled as Requi- Bangladesh. Of the 70 private universities most are located
site encounters which essentially enable students to fulfill in Dhaka. The total number of students enrolled in these
their study obligations; Acceptable encounters which stu- universities is more than 280822. This number is increasing
dents acknowledge as being desirable but not essential yearly by 20 percent compared to 5 percent yearly increase
during their course of study and Functional, an encounter of in the public universities (Annual report of UGC: 2011).
a practical or utilitarian nature (Oldfield and Baron [37])
According to Lassar, Manolis and Winsor [32]), two most 3. Literature Review
prevalent and widely accepted perspectives on service
quality include the SERVQUAL model and the Technic- The services literature focuses on perceived quality,
al/Functional Quality framework. Gronroos [22]) held that which results from the comparison of customer service
service quality is made up of three dimensions "the expectations versus perceptions of actual performance
technical quality of the outcome", "the functional quality of (Zeithaml, [52]). Quality as relating to how good a service
the en- counter" and “the company corporate image”. He is, and not necessarily how large or extensive. The
argued that in examining the determinants of quality, it is recipients of a service therefore must experience quality,
necessary to differentiate between quality associated with which may also be a property of the service itself and the
the process of service delivery and quality associated with client, and not necessarily of the provider. Quality can also
the outcome of service, judged by the consumer after the be seen as re- lating to the fitness of a service or product to
service is per- formed. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry its intended purpose or use, subject to the expectations of
[43] however listed ten determinants of service quality that the customer, user or public. Quality, therefore, must be in
can be gene- ralized to any type of service. The ten conformity with the customer's requirements or needs. This
dimensions include tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, means that the quality of a service can be a definition of the
competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, customer's perception of what is good or bad, acceptable or
security and under- standing. In addition, these ten not ac- ceptable service (Babbar, [10]). Customers are likely
dimensions were then re- grouped in the well-known five to be satisfied when their perception on services provided
dimensions in the SERV- QUAL model (Parasuraman et exceeds their expectations. Service quality in educational
al., [41]) which include as- surance, empathy, reliability, industry is defined on the basis of students overall
responsiveness and tangibility. Ijaz et al. [1] used a evaluation on the services they received which is part of
modified SERVQUAL instrument to evaluate the service their educational experience. This covers a variety of
quality of four business schools working under public sector educational activities both inside and outside the classroom
universities based on student perceptions. Based upon the such as classroom based activities, faculty member/student
present context of service quality in the higher education interactions, edu- cational facilities, and contacts with the
sector of Bangladesh, the main objectives of this paper is to staff of the institu- tion.
examine the relationship between service quality
dimensions (tangibility, responsiveness, reliability,
assurance, empathy and overall service quality) and students
3.1. Service Quality a person who has experienced performance or an outcome
that fulfill his or her expectation. Satisfaction is a function
The concept of quality had been evolved from
of relative level of expectations and it perceives
“excellence” to “value”, to “conformance to
performance. Satisfaction is also perceived as the
specification”, and to “meeting and exceeding customer
intentional performance which results in one’s contentment
expectations” (Reeves and Bendnar [46]). The service
(Malik, Danish and Usman [33]). According to Sapri and
quality in the field of edu- cation and higher learning
Finch [48]), customers are the lifeblood of any
particularly is not only essential and important, but it is also
organization, whether private or public enterprise sectors.
an important parameter of edu- cational excellence. It has
The satisfaction concept has also been prolonged recently
been found that positive percep- tions of service quality has
to the context of higher education and is focused on among
a significant influence on student satisfaction and thus
the community of students. As referred to Oliver and
satisfied student would attract more students through
DeSarbo [38], it is define that student satisfaction is “the
word-of-mouth communications (Alves and Raposo [4]).
favorability of a student’s subjective assessment of the
The students can be motivated or inspired from both
numerous outcomes and experiences re- lated with
academic performance as well as the administra- tive
education and being shaped continually and re- peated
efficiency of their institution. Ahmed et al. [2] men-
experiences in campus life”. Elliott and Shin [18] also
tioned that service quality is a key performance measure in
mention that student satisfaction gives a positive effect on
educational excellence and is a main strategic variable for
fundraising and student motivation in higher education. On
universities to create a strong perception in consumer’s
the other hand, according to Elliot and Healy [17] the term
mind. Similarly, Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry [42] also
student satisfaction is mainly about a short term atti- tude
con- cluded that consumer perceptions of service quality
that results from the evaluation of their experience with the
result from comparing expectations prior to receiving the
education service received. It is merely a conceptualized
service, and their actual experience of the service. Perceived
identification according to Bhattacharya et al. [12] as a de-
quality is also seen as a form of attitude, related to, but not
gree to which an organization such as the university and the
the same as satisfaction, and resulting from a comparison of
organizational members in this case referring to the gra-
expecta- tions with perceptions of performance (Rowley
duates exchanging attributes and values in return, an
[47]).
attempt to satisfy one or more personal needs among
Quality issues related to measure the quality of services
themselves. Despite to the various definitions, student
was a subject to a large number of investigation by the
satisfaction is also considered as an effective reaction in a
practitioners and academicians over past 25 years due to its
time referred to Beerli et al. [13] resulting from the
intangible and complex nature (Prabha et al., [45]). Prabha
assessment of the teaching services and study support
et al., [45] further explored that studies on measuring the
offered to the student by the university. Furthermore, it is
ser- vice quality of educational institutions had also been
also viewed by Astin [9] as a broad construct covering
the focus of increased attentions during the last couple of
student’s subjective experience and perceptions of the
years due the tough competition among the educational
value experience consequently re- sulted as a key outcome
institu- tions and the demand for excellence in education.
in higher education. Harvey, Plimmer, Moon, and Geall
Due to the abstract nature of services as compared to
[25] also indicate that student satisfaction is a quality
products, mea- surement of service quality and to its
enhancement tool which is designed to improve the quality
characteristics was also difficult and complicated task for
of student experience. In addition, Bailey, Bauman and
the academicians and practitioners (Parasuraman et al.,
Lata [11] study shows that student satisfaction can be
[42]; Carman [14]). Still there is no precise definition of
viewed in a way of associating various multiple factors
service quality in educa- tional point of view however,
such as campus community, advertising services, and
according to O’Neill and Palmer [39]), service quality in
faculty in the educational environment ac- counted for
educational setup had been defined as “the difference
the variance in students ’satisfaction.
between what a student expects to receive and his/her
Gold [21] reported that students are the key customers of
perceptions of actual delivery”.
academic institutions. Illias, Hasan, Rahman, and Yasoa
To measure the quality of services on a university
[28] proposed that student satisfaction has been built conti-
campus is one thing; to measure the quality of
nuously with experiences on campus during the college
manufactured goods is another matter. Fitzgerald [19] takes
years. Word-of-mouth communication from satisfied
this further and says that "a service ... cannot be objectively
stu- dents to their friends, acquaintances, and relatives can
measured." Such frustration stems from the difference
help many academic institutions to attract new students.
between services and goods. For example, educational
These satisfied students could go back to their previous
services are intangible and cannot be packaged, displayed
academic institutions to study further or take other courses
or inspected fully by pros- pective students. Services also
(Helgesen and Nesset [26]; Gruber, Fub, Voss, and Glaser-
have a perishability problem because they cannot be stored
Zikuda [23]. Every academic institution must make every
for future delivery: when a student cut class, the
effort toward meeting and exceeding student’s
professor’s time is wasted (DiDome- nico & Bonnici, [16]).
expectation in order to ensure their sustainable operation
3.2. Student Satisfaction and development (An- derson et al., [7]). Student
satisfaction plays an important role in determining
Kotler and Clarke [31] define satisfaction as a state felt by accuracy and authenticity of the system
131 International
AsaduzzamanJournal
et al.:
of Economics,
Service quality
Finance
andand
student
Management
satisfaction:
Sciences
a case2013;
study 1(3):
on private
128-135 131
1311 universities in Bangladesh 1311

being used. The expectation of the students may go as far as other universities were about 5% to 9%.
before they even enter and engage in the higher education
(Palacio, Meneses, and Perez [40]). Table 1: Demographics of the Study

Fre- Percen- Institu- Fre- Percen-

4. Methodology Gender
quency tage tion quency tage

This study was adopted from Parasuraman’s Male 411 75% NSU 52 9.5%
SERVQUAL dimensions. The dependent variable in this
Female 139 25% Brac 42 7.6%
study is overall student satisfaction that is measured by the
overall satisfac- tion with the HEIs. The independent Total 550 100% EWU 56 10.2%
variable in this study is service quality in higher education ASA 45 8.2%
that measures the level of satisfaction with service
South
performance. The dimensions in-
cluded in this variable are tangibility, assurance, respon- Age 28 5.1%
East
siveness, reliability, and empathy. The major client group
for
the present research work will be the students of the Private < 18 2 0.4% AIUB 59 10.7%
University of Bangladesh who usually interact with the 18-20 103 18.7% DIU 29 5.3%
faculty offices/classrooms/library with sufficient frequency 20-22 294 53.5% NUB 36 6.5%
and numbers to permit and justify measurements with the
22-24 121 22.0% UIU 40 7.3%
faculty. The student population consists of those who were
enrolled at the Private University of Bangladesh. A 24-26 25 4.5% Green 34 6.2%
sample of 550 students will be chosen on a stratified 26+ 5 0.9% Uttara 29 5.3%
random sam- pling to represent the population in this
Total 550 100.0% ULAB 26 4.7%
present research, based on their respective faculty, level of
study and gender. The researcher will be purposefully Darul
restricted the sample to
34 6.2%
those students who are enrolled at the Private University of Ihusan
Bangladesh after 2008. In this way, it will be more likely Stam-
that the respondents would still remember their previous 40 7.3%
ford
experience at the University. Hence, most of the questions
will be in the 5 point Likert scale format. The consistent Total 550 100.0%
use of the Likert scale format in the questionnaire is a good
way to easily collect and code the data. This study will be Table 2 provides information regarding correlation be-
adopted from Parasuraman’s SERVQUAL dimensions. tween the five service quality dimensions namely;
The dimensions included in this variable are tangibility, tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy
assur- ance, responsiveness, reliability, and empathy. and student satisfaction. Averages of all the constructs were
calculated and then run the correlation among the
5. Results and Discussion constructs representing the independent variables. There is
a significant correlation among all the constructs with
Reliability of the data was checked using Cronbach Alpha student satisfaction and also among each other at 0.01
which provides a value of 0.85 is more than the acceptable significant levels. How- ever, highest correlation between
value of 0.70 (Nunnally [35]; Hair et al., [24]; Zikmund satisfaction and tangibles of the institution which is 54.6%,
[53]) and a value ranges between 0 and 1 and the value close which indicates tangibles of the institution plays a
to 1 provides more reliability (Nunnally and Bernstein [36]). significant role while selecting the institution for study and
As reliability of the data plays a significant role in analyzing it also has a significant impact on student satisfaction. The
the results. weakest correlation among student satisfaction and
Demographics of the data are reported in Table 1. The assurance is 48.4%, however, the correlation is positive
participants of this study are the male and female students. among them and the p-value among the variables
Male respondents were 411, thus representing 75% of the is 0.000 indicating a significant correlation among them at
total population, whereas the female respondents were 139 1%
and thus representing 25% of the total population. All the level of significant. It is also observed that p-value between
respondents are undergraduate students. Majority of the all the variables is 0.000 indicates, and positive correlation
Student population were between 18 to 24 years of age among all the variables exists.
group and only 5% of the population was above 24 years of The most important finding of the research to be reported
age. here was that the factor analysis. Indeed, as set out in Table
Students from fourteen different private universities were 3, five dimensions are identified, and of these, Factor 1 is
selected the highest number of students were 10.7% from by far the most important, accounting for the largest
AIUB, 10.2% from East West University, where as only proportion of the variance (34 per cent), with eigenvalues
4.7% respondents were from ULAB and number of students greater than
from 3.00 (10.596). This factor includes a group of statements
related to environment and facilities of the university, and
is labeled here ‘tangibles’.
Table 2: Correlation among service quality dimensions and student satis- personnel to assist
faction you
Va- Availability of
riabl Mean S.D Tan Rel Res Ass Em teachers to assist .594
es Sat
p you
Tan 4.1036 .563 1 Teacher's have
.722
Rel 4.1291 .551 ** 1 capacity to solve
immediate prob- .511
.629 .655 lems
Res 3.9824 .572 ** ** 1
Staff's have ca-
Ass 4.0916 .554 .620 .665 .679 pacity to solve
** ** ** 1 .630
immediate prob-
Emp 4.0218 .605 .649 .641 .716 .675 lem
** ** ** ** 1
Channels are
Sat 4.1600 .683 .546 .514 .492 .484 .543 available for .617
** ** ** ** ** 1
complains
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). Queries are deal
with efficiently .535
Factor 4: Assurance
Table 3: Results of Factor Analysis
Staffs are friendly .468
Factors Teachers are
friendly .617
1 2 3 4 5
Factor 1: Tangibles Teachers are effi-
cient for research .592
Lighting in class
.591 Staffs has know-
room is very nice
Appearance of ledge of university
rules and respon- .591
building and .648
ground is nice sibility
Overall cleanli- University has .610
.651 enough security
ness
Factor 5: Empathy
Temperature of
University admin-
class room and
.642 istration has stu- .615
study room are
dent based interest
comfortable
Decoration and Computer facility
.580 for students is .627
atmosphere
Appearance of sufficient
.560 Study rooms are
personnel is good
Available of available for stu- .628
.554 dents
parking
Computer ade- Staffs are willing
quacy provided in .556 to give students
.575
lab individual atten-
Access to the in- tion
.523
ternet Eigenvalue
10.596 1.581 1.445 1.187 1.075
Factor 2: Reliability Explained variance
34.180 5.101 4.662 3.830 3.469
Registration is by factor (%)
timely and error .509 Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis, Rotation Me-
free thod: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization, Rotation converged in 9
University keeps iterations.
.551 The other four factors did not reach eigenvalues of 3.00,
records accurately
Classes take reg- and the percentage variance together only accounts for 17
ularly .515
per cent of the total. The second factor is labeled
Staffs are sincere
‘reliability’. The items here emphasize the importance of the
to solve student's .582
lecturer in his or her intrinsic role as a teacher, willing to
problem guide, teach
Provide service in and motivate students. The variables included in this factor
.651 also provide evidence of the responsibilities of the lecturer
time
Teaching capabil- towards the students in terms of providing clear
ity of teachers are .612 instructions,
accurate and punctual feedback and private consultation.
well
Academic staffs are
Factor 3 includes six items and although they only explain
interested to solve 4.66 per cent of the common variance, all the items have
student's problems .596 loadings, ranging from 0.511 to 0.63. Interestingly, they all
Factor 3: Responsiveness relate to the adequate provision of services by the
university and hence are labeled here ‘responsiveness’.
Factor 4 is
Availability of .534
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