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.

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In the service industry, a long-term relationship with customers is the key success factor that is increasing enormously. Service encounters can be viewed as a social exchange, with the interaction between the service provider and the customer being a crucial component of satisfaction, and providing a strong reason for continuing a relationship. This article tries to identify the key brand dimensions in fi nancial services, as few fi nancial service brands have emotional values that can differentiate the company even though they call for credibility and sincerity in their choice. Financial services in Italy have been analysed, as they have experienced several changes over the last decades with a growing attention to customer needs. A questionnaire has been submitted to understand the factors that affect customer loyalty, especially those related to brand. This study highlights that in the area of the study, a Mediterranean region, social and local habits seem to affect consumer behaviour. In fact, consumers pay more attention to human contact, therefore stressing the importance of a vis à vis relationship, and thus demonstrating a Mediterranean approach to fi nancial services.

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