The Impact of Perceived Service Quality on Students’ Intentions in Higher Education in a Jordanian Governmental University

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the impact of perceived service quality regarding the academic side on students" behavior intentions in a Jordanian governmental university. A survey was conducted on a stratified systemic random sample of 841 students, yielding 572 participants with 68% response rate. The findings show that perceived service quality as well as the tangibility and assurance dimensions affect students" intentions of recommending to study at their university. Further, perceived service quality as well as the tangibility dimension affects students" intentions of moving to study at another university. The results also proved that the two genders perceived the tangibility dimension of service quality differently, as males reported higher assessment. The study has provided important insights into service quality and behavior intentions in the field of Higher Education.

Higher Education Quality and Student Satisfaction Nexus: Evidence from Zambia

“…It is a judgement or attitude relating to the overall excellence or superiority of a service (Khodayari & Khodayari, 2011). Simply put, perceived service quality is an overall evaluation of the goodness or badness of a service (Twaissi & Al-Kilani, 2015). Providing high service quality helps not only to retain the existing customers but also to attract new ones as a consequence of positive recommendations to other stakeholders e.g.…”

“…Tangibility in other words relates to the physical environment quality (Pollack, 2008). Pakistan (Kundi et al, 2014), Jordan (Twaissi & Al-Kilani, 2015), establish that tangibility has an influence on student satisfaction. Likewise, the higher the perceived tangibility, the more satisfied the student will be.…”

“…Further, previous research shows that there is a relationship between service quality dimensions and behavioural outcomes. For instance, in Jordan, Twaissi and Al-Kilani (2015) studied the impact of perceived service quality on students' behavioural intentions and found that the perceived reliability, tangibility and assurance dimensions had an effect on the students' intentions to recommend their university to others.…”

“…Despite the lack of consensus in measurement methodologies for service quality in higher education, the SERVQUAL framework has been widely recognised and applied to assess quality from the students' perspective (Abili, Thani, & Afarinandehbin, 2012;Saadati, 2012;Seymour, 1992;Twaissi & Al-Kilani, 2015).…”

“…Prior studies exploring service quality in higher education in Colombia (Cardona & Bravo, 2012), Jordan (Twaissi & Al-Kilani, 2015), Petruzzellis, D'Uggento & Romanazzi (2006) in Italy and Portugal (Brochado, 2009), suggest that customer satisfaction can be explained by perceived service quality. However, besides Helgesen and Nesset (2007) in Norway as well as Brown & Mazzarol (2009) in Australia and Ali et al (2016) in Malaysia who explore the link between student satisfaction and loyalty, there is a shortage of studies linking service quality, student satisfaction and behavioural intentions of loyalty and positive word of mouth.…”