PurposeIn order to face the new competitive scenario, Italian universities are involved in a change process and are trying to adopt an entrepreneurial approach to better serve their customers/students. The paper aims to assess university performance by testing student satisfaction. It tries to provide universities with some solutions to improve its performance.Design/methodology/approachThe case of the University of Bari has been analysed by interviewing a random (but well stratified) sample of students in order to test their satisfaction concerning services provided and quality perceived. Reasons why students decide to enrol at the University of Bari are also investigated.FindingsUniversities have to concentrate their efforts on the improvement of quality of teaching and non‐teaching services, in order to promptly respond to the target, and foster a stronger relationship with surrounding economic and productive systems.Research implications/limitationsUniversities need to adopt a customer centric approach. Future research should analyse the reform period experienced by the Italian University system, in order to investigate student satisfaction concerning recent changes. Moreover, a cross‐country analysis of student satisfaction, through the servqual questionnaire, would be interesting.Practical implicationsStudent satisfaction at the University of Bari is higher for working students that are not interested in “additional” services. On the contrary, several improvements are perceived as urgent concerning non‐core services provided, in which regular students are very interested.Originality/valueThis paper provides a wide analysis of the services perception tested and viewed through student eyes.

Purpose -This paper aims to measure students' perceptions of value that are influenced by differences in costs (monetary and non-monetary), students' attitudes and socio-demographic features. It seeks to investigate the components of the university value that affects students' choice. Design/methodology/approach -A questionnaire was developed in order to measure students' beliefs and perceptions about the offer and service attributes of the university. All variables, primarily drawn from the literature, were measured using multiple items. ANOVA and a PLS regression was used to investigate the effects of the various value dimensions as perceived by students. Findings -The findings suggest that, although universities could improve student retention by attempting to increase their level of satisfaction, their efforts will be more effective if focussed on demonstrating the way that the service provided has helped their customers to achieve their objectives, highlighting the strategic importance of the social value. Research limitations/implications -Despite the limitations, such as the sample size and the convenience sampling strategy, future research should be addressed to define the student lifetime value from both the university and the student point of view. Additionally, it could be interesting to investigate a kind of "student equity" as a function of: student satisfaction, student sacrifice and word-of-mouth. Originality/value -Since little empirical research concerning student value and its formation exists, this paper develops a value approach that measures the total student experience. Moreover, very few studies exist in the Italian context, which proves to be interesting due to the recent changes in the university system structure.

Purpose -The main research question of the paper is to determine whether technology nowadays is overcome by customer preferences and needs. In particular, the role of the brand is to be analysed with respect to its influence in shifting customer preferences from the technical performances (tangible elements) to the emotional/symbolic ones (intangible elements). Design/methodology/approach -Consumer behaviour was analysed by interviewing a random (but well stratified) sample of mobile phone users in order to study their consumption style and the motivations underlying the buying process in order to understand, on the one hand, the variables that influence people in the usage of mobile phones and, on the other, those that influence firms in launching new products, both from a technological point of view and from a marketing one. Findings -The findings show various dimensions that are relevant in consumer minds when considering decisions regarding technological products. Brand attitudes do relate positively to consumer intention to use (purchase) specific mobile phones over others.Research limitations/implications -The study, though exploratory, has underlined the importance of brand and the dualism between marketing and technology in the adoption and diffusion of technological products. Certainly, the analysis has some limitations, but it provides an initial perspective into understanding brand issues. Future research should focus on the effects of the cooperation between mobile operators and mobile manufacturers. Originality/value -This paper provides an analysis of the brand attitude and perception tested and viewed through user eyes.

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