This paper contributes to the service quality literature by applying the service performance (SERVPERF) model in an under-researched Zambian universities context. Therefore, it examines the influence of each service quality dimension on overall service satisfaction and behavioural intentions in terms of loyalty and positive word of mouth. Based on a quantitative correlational design, primary data were collected from 656 senior final year undergraduate students at one public university. The findings indicate that service quality performance dimensions (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, empathy and assurance) are each significantly positively related to overall customer satisfaction which in turn affects behavioural intentions. For scholars, administrations and policy makers, the study shows that the service performance model is a valid and useful framework for assessing and monitoring how students form their service quality perceptions and behavioural intentions. This paper is the first to extend the service performance model of service quality into the under researched developing country context of higher education in Zambia.
Zambian truffles, (believed to belong to the genus Terfezia because of its proximity to the Kalahari truffles), with a native Lozi name as Zoondwe (p) in Western province of Zambia, have been on the diet of many local inhabitants for many years. They are collected or hunted at the end of the rainy season between early April and early July each year. Very little is known of the Zambian truffles scientifically apart from the local ethno mycological knowledge. The present work is a preliminary study carried out to understand their ecology, plant interaction and distribution including the soil pH and the weather conditions.The second revelation was the occurrence of a similar truffle species which the locals call simbulukutu. It is a bitter relative of the actual truffles that the locals eat. Despite the bitterness, the locals eat it, with special preparation, in hard times.
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