Improving student satisfaction at a Caribbean university using a customer focussed strategy

Murray, Jacqueline Ann

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the drivers of student satisfaction with the services offered by a Caribbean university. The study, premised on the marketing concept of customer satisfaction, used the Expectation Disconfirmation Model, a widely used tool, to operationalise the study. The study sought to determine (i) the level of customer (student) satisfaction with the services offered by a Caribbean university; (ii) the factors that influence customer (student) satisfaction level with the services offered by a Caribbean university; (iii) to provide management of the Caribbean university with a means through which the business performance of the institution might be improved and (iv) to identify the conceptual link between a Caribbean university and students’ perception of the service it offers.
Weighted Importance Scores, Gap Scores, and Overall Satisfaction Scores were computed on the data obtained from 512 students across the two campuses of the university. The analysis revealed that the majority of students were more dissatisfied rather than satisfied with the services and service providers of the university and that students’ overall view of the services was poor or fair and that of the service providers more fair than poor. There were, however, instances where students were satisfied or delighted with the services provided by the university.
The study uncovered thirteen dimensions - Attitude, Setting, Tangibles, Deliverables, Copying Facilities, Ergonomics, Utilities Responsiveness, Reliability, Security, Communication, Value for Money, Credibility - which drove student satisfaction. Two emergent dimensions, “Value for Money” and “Credibility”, could be considered overarching drivers of students’ satisfaction.
The findings have implications for practice since it was able to leverage the marketing theory of customer satisfaction on students at higher education and use the Expectation Disconfirmation Theory to model and ascertain student satisfaction. The study was able to identify dimensions and concomitant factors of importance to students on which the university could direct improvement efforts. The study lays claim to originality owing to the uniqueness of the model and the sample used in the study to ascertain drivers of student satisfaction at higher education.

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Jul 20, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 20, 2018
• Keywords: Student satisfaction, higher education
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1253524
• Contract Date: Jul 20, 2018
• Award Date: Jun 29, 2018