Students’ perceptions of service quality in Saudi universities: the SERVPERF model

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of service quality on student’s satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Using empirical research, the study identified previously validated scales of service quality and student satisfaction. Using the SERVPERF scale, data were collected from 279 students studying in public and private universities across Saudi Arabia. The model fit of the scale was assessed to ensure that the data produced accurate outcomes. Structural equation modelling was used to test the effects of independent variables on dependent variables. Findings The results suggest that four of the five dimensions of service quality, namely, tangibility, reliability, responsiveness and assurance had a significant effect on students’ satisfaction. Empathy was not found to contribute to student satisfaction. The findings broaden and deepen our understanding of how the dimensions of service quality reinforce students’ satisfaction. Research limitations/implications Future research can also incorporate in the model other variables, academic and non-academic, related to student satisfaction. Practical implications The results have useful implications for decision-makers in higher education institutions who strive to enhance students’ satisfaction and increase the quality of higher education programmes, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in general. Originality/value This study uses the SERVPERF scale, which is empirically superior to the SERVQUAL scale for measuring student satisfaction.

RETRACTED: The perceived service quality in higher education: An empirical study using the SERVPERF dimensions

“…The choice between SERVQUAL and SERVPERF metrics for service quality measurement is often subjective (Rodrigues et al, 2011). The SERVQUAL scale possesses higher diagnostic power to pinpoint areas for improvement, whereas the SERVPERF metrics are more efficiently administered (Sohail and Hasan, 2021). Silva et al (2017) and Sydorov et al (2020) suggest that evaluating for validity, reliability, and methodological soundness of service quality the SERVPERF scale is superior for these metrics.…”

Satisfaction of E-Learners with Electronic Learning Service Quality Using the SERVQUAL Model

“…The findings also indicate a direct and significant positive relationship between perceived service quality and satisfaction. These results support the previous studies applicable for both traditional and online learning methods [17,37,41,42,94]. Therefore, the significant impact of SERVQUAL dimensions on perceived quality and satisfaction suggest their importance in achieving competitiveness, greater value, growth of service opportunities, and satisfaction.…”

“…To highlight the importance of system and information quality, Uppal et al [39] included learning content and course website with the SERVQUAL model and found a positive correlation between the student perception of ELQ with tangibility, responsiveness, assurance, learning content, and course website. This study is based on the theoretical foundations of e-service quality in the context of e-commerce, which has been applied by many researchers in the field of e-learning to measure the satisfaction level of e-learners [37,[39][40][41].…”

Service quality dimensions in the manufacturer–distributor dyadic relationship: manufacturer-to-distributor context

“…Given the limitations cited above, a school of researchers (Akdere et al. , 2020; Cronin and Taylor, 1994; Sohail and Hasan, 2021) prefer SERVPERF over SERVQUAL. In contrast to the expectation vs. perceived performance measure of SERVQUAL, SERVPERF adopts a purely performance-based approach to measuring service quality.…”