PurposeUniversities worldwide struggle to retain students, so it is important to identify the factors that may improve retention levels. The research investigates key factors that have an impact upon student satisfaction and students' staying and supportive intentions. Of particular interest is the extent to which organizational identification and institution reputation influence student satisfaction and behaviors.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual model was developed and tested using covariance-based structural equation modeling. The data were obtained from a survey of 419 first year full-time undergraduate students in the United Arab Emirates.FindingsPerceived quality of teaching, organizational identification and institution reputation were found to be significant predictors of student satisfaction in our model, with student satisfaction having both direct and mediating influences on students' staying and supportive intentions.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that universities should undertake activities that strengthen student-university identification and institution reputation, as these may strongly influence students' attitudes and behaviors. The paper discusses strategies that institutions may implement to develop and maintain organizational identification among students.Originality/valueThe research highlights that although perceived quality of teaching has an influence on student satisfaction, the influences of organizational identification and institution reputation are stronger.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.