Factors Influencing Word-of-Mouth Recommendations by MBA Students: An Examination of School Quality, Educational Outcomes, and Value of the MBA

The idiosyncratic behaviour of service quality, value, satisfaction, and intention to recommend in higher education: An empirical examination

“…Though what is received varies across consumers (i.e., some may want volume, others high quality, still others convenience) and what is given varies (i.e., some are concerned only with money expended, others with time and effort), value represents a trade-off of the salient give and get components. Zeithaml's (1988) 'give-get' delineation of value has considerable currency among researchers across the b2c, b2b and educational domains and continues over the last two decades to the present time to provide an important departure point in the study of the subject matter (see for example, Bolton & Drew, 1991;Brodie, Whittome, & Brush, 2009;Bruce & Edgington, 2008;Cronin et al, 1997;Eggert & Ulaga, 2002;Kleijnen, de Ruyter, & Wetzels, 2007;McDougall & Levesque, 2000;Parasuraman & Grewal, 2000;Patterson & Spreng, 1997;Yu, Niehm, & Russell, 2011).…”

“…Maringe (2006, p. 467) observes that the introduction of student fees 'may result in greater consumerist behaviour by applicants' wherein an applicant's judgment of 'value for money' could significantly influence his or her choice of institution; indeed, the literature provides evidence that students' perceptions of value underpin their decision making process in terms of their choice of institution at which to study (Fisher, Kiang, & Fisher, 2007;Stafford, 1994). Additionally, perceptions of value have been found to affect students' evaluative assessment of the education provision received (Hannaford, Erffmeyer, & Tomkovick, 2005;Unni, 2005), their sense of satisfaction with the educational experience (Ledden & Kalafatis, 2010;Ledden, Kalafatis, & Samouel, 2007), and their intention to offer positive word of mouth recommendation (Bruce & Edgington, 2008).…”

“…In the context of business education, functional value accounts for the perceived benefits of the chosen course of study in terms of accelerating or enhancing students' employment or career advancement objectives, i.e. the development of knowledge and skills that help to achieve career goals (Bruce & Edgington, 2008;LeBlanc & Nguyen, 1999;McClung & Werner, 2008;Ng & Forbes, 2009;Stafford, 1994). Emotional value associates with extrinsic aspects of value in terms of a product's ability to arouse feelings or affective states, for example certain foods can stimulate feelings of comfort while some consumers are said to have emotional relationships with their possessions (Fournier, 1998).…”

A system dynamic model of student enrolment at the private higher education sector in Syria

“…Nonetheless, prospective students have a wider variety of offers and providers to choose from, whether private or public. Previous literature reveals key factors that are important and which shape the Syrian students' thinking before selecting a university (Prugsamatz et al 2007, Bruce& Edgington 2008, Al-Fattal 2010, Al-Fattal 2012, Ayoubi et al 2017. Chitty (2009) explains that these issues were relative and particularly varied to many personal, societal, institutional and psychological factors.…”

Making sense of higher education: students as consumers and the value of the university experience

“…The former provides the motivation, whilst the latter is manifested negatively as either defection (or attrition) and/or proclivity to complain; and positively as either retention, and/or willingness to recommend. From a wider perspective, therefore, and considering postgraduate/postexperience programmes too -word-of-mouth is now considered key for marketing and sales (Bruce and Edgington, 2008;Prugsamatz and Pentecost and Ofstad, 2006;Patti and Chen, 2009). …”