An empirical study of state university students' perceived service quality
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684881211219424 |
| Pages | 164-183 |
| Date | 20 April 2012 |
| Published date | 20 April 2012 |
| Author | Sik Sumaedi,Gede Mahatma Yuda Bakti,Nur Metasari |
| Subject Matter | Education |
An empirical study of state
university students’ perceived
service quality
Sik Sumaedi, Gede Mahatma Yuda Bakti and Nur Metasari
Research Center for Quality System and Testing Technology,
Indonesian Institute for Science, Banten, Indonesia
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to identify: university students’ perceived service quality dimensions; the
dimensions contributing most towards overall students’ perceived service quality; and whether there
is a difference in perceived quality level of each dimension based on students’ year of study and gender
in the context of undergraduate students of state universities in Indonesia.
Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a quantitative approach through a survey
method. The respondents of this study are 155 state university students from two state universities in
Indonesia. Both multiple regression analysis and t-test analysis are used to analyze the data.
Findings – Research results show that there are seven perceived service quality dimensions
considered important to university students, i.e. curriculum, facilities, contact personnel, social
activities, education counselors, assessment, and instruction medium. The perceived service quality
dimensions contributing most towards overall perceived service quality of a state university is
facilities. Furthermore, the research also shows that university students with a different study period
have a different perceived quality level on the social activities dimension, while university students
with different gender have a different perceived quality level on two dimensions, i.e. social activities
and facilities.
Research limitations/implications – The research was only conducted at two universities in the
same geographic area and at a single point of time. Hence, there is a need for further research in terms
of a longitudinal study with different geographic samples in order to generalize the research result.
Practical implications – The students’ perceived quality dimensions resulting from this research
can be used by universities to measure their performance according to students’ perspectives. As a
result, feedback will be gained by the university, so that the university can identify its weaknesses.
Originality/value – The research was conducted in a developing country context, while most
previous research has been conducted in developed country contexts. This research also provides a
new insight into quality management, since the university objects are state universities, not private
universities. The paper also takes students’ personal characteristics (gender and year of study)
variables into account.
Keywords Service quality,Students, Individual perception,Higher education, Indonesia
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Nowadays, quality is one of key success factors for the company to be able to reach,
strengthen, and maintain its competitiveness (Magd et al., 2003). Several studies
showed that service quality has a positive correlation with customer satisfaction
(Hanief et al., 2010; Yunus et al., 2010; Clemes et al., 2008; Abu Hasan et al., 2008; Aga
and Safakli, 2007; Athiyaman, 1997; Anderson et al., 1994). Service quality is also
empirically proven to affect the trust and loyalty of customers (Omar et al., 2009; Lien
and Yu, 2001). In the context of higher education, quality of service becomes important
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20,2
164
Quality Assurance in Education
Vol. 20 No. 2, 2012
pp. 164-183
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/09684881211219424
due to intensive competition among universities, internationalization spirit, higher
expectation towards higher education institution, and an increase in full fee payment
and the classification of education as a marketable service (Kwek et al., 2010).
Service quality of a university is generally assessed by using student perception.
This is based on the argument that university students are the main customers of
universities (ISO, 2007; Sakthivel et al., 2005; Hill, 1995; Zairi, 1995). Several literatures
have discussed student perceived service quality. Nevertheless, nearly all of the
literature concerning student perceived service quality is conducted in the context of
developed countries, e.g. USA (Pariseau and McDaniel, 1997; Ham and Hayduk, 2003;
Joseph et al., 2005), UK (Hill, 1995; Cuthbert, 1996; Oldfield and Baron, 2000; Russell,
2005), Australia (Soutar and McNeil, 1996; Athiyaman, 1997), Canada (Le Blanc and
Nguyen, 1997) and New Zealand (Kao, 2007), while the discussion of student perceived
quality in the context of developing countries is still very limited. On the other hand,
empirically, some research indicates that students with different cultures have
different views of the quality of services provided by the university (Ford et al., 1999;
Lagrosen et al., 2004; Mai, 2005; Kao, 2007). Thus, students perceived service quality
research in the context of developing countries is required.
Student perceived service quality research in the context of developing countries is
mostly done with a focus on private university students (Kwek et al., 2010; Abu Hasan
et al., 2008) rather than state university students. This condition occurs because the
phenomena that trigger the need for attention to students’ perceived quality
(e.g. competition between universities in attracting students; increase in tuition fees;
view of university as a business service) is more likely to happen in private
universities, as described by Kwek et al. (2010).
In Indonesia – a developing country – state universities have several
undergraduate programs, including regular undergraduate programs, extension
undergraduate programs, as well as international undergraduate programs. Regular
undergraduate programs are programs offered by a state university that is subsidized
by the government, so that students are not burdened by high tuition fees, compared to
the fees that must be paid to private universities. However, as part of the campus
autonomy policy, some state universities raised their tuition fees for regular
undergraduate programs significantly so that there is little or no difference with the
tuition fees offered by private universities, and in some case, the tuition fees of state
universities are higher than those of private universities. Nevertheless, the state
university program is frequently preferred by prospective students, although the
service and facilities provided are not better than those of private universities. These
phenomena attracted the attention of the author to state university students’ perception
of service quality in the Indonesian state university context.
Furthermore, research in the service sector shows that perceived service quality is
also affected by personal or socio demographic characteristic of customers. Thus, there
is a possibility that student perceived service quality is also affected by students’ socio
demographic characteristics. Unfortunately, there is limited service quality research,
which discusses the relationship between student socio-demographic characteristics
and student perceived quality in the university context (Clemes et al., 2001b; Kao,
2007).
Based on the previous discussion, this research aims to identify university student
perceived service quality dimensions, to identify the dimensions contributing most to
An empirical
study of
perceived quality
165
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