SERVQUAL application and adaptation for educational service quality assessments in Russian higher education
| Published date | 04 July 2016 |
| Pages | 329-348 |
| Date | 04 July 2016 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-06-2015-0024 |
| Author | Railya B. Galeeva |
| Subject Matter | Education,Curriculum, instruction & assessment,Educational evaluation/assessment |
SERVQUAL application and
adaptation for educational
service quality assessments in
Russian higher education
Railya B. Galeeva
Department of Economics and Enterprise Management,
Kazan Cooperative Institute of the Russian University of Cooperation,
Kazan, Russian Federation
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this study is to demonstrate an adaptation of the SERVQUAL survey
method for measuring the quality of higher educational services in a Russian university context. We use
a new analysis and a graphical technique for presentation of results.
Design/methodology/approach – The methodology of this research follows the classic
SERVQUAL method in terms of data acquisition but provides a new approach for data analysis and
presentation of ndings. The technique is intended to improve upon the original method by including an
importance-quality analysis grid and extending it with an innovative graphical tool for presenting
results to decision-makers that is based on area-based ratios rather than difference scores.
Findings – The report includes survey results of two waves of research conducted in 2009 and 2014.
Each wave consisted of 1,000 respondents from 20 branches of study and 11 higher education
institutions, respectively.
Research limitations/implications – It is argued that the SERVQUAL method can be improved
signicantly with the proposed technique. However, the validity and reliability of the importance,
expectation and perception summary scores need to be further investigated. Also, alternative methods
for quality assessment (SERVPERF/HEdPERF) should be tested and compared with the modied
SERVQUAL method in Russian and other international education contexts.
Practical implications – Educational service quality assessments allow the management to acquire
an image of the overall quality of an institution, as well as its strengths and weaknesses, thereby
improving its strategic positioning to make improvements. It is hoped that the proposed improvement
to the SERVQUAL technique will increase adoption of the method among academic institutions.
Originality/value – The improved SERVQUAL methodology demonstrated in this research replaces
the widely criticised “difference scores” with an easily applied graphical display. The methodology also
incorporates an importance-quality analysis providing a new perspective on the SERVQUAL data. The
current ndings provide valuable insights into the perceived quality of the Republic of Tatarstan’s
higher education system in Russia, as given by its student customers.
Keywords Russia, Higher education, Education, Service quality, SERVQUAL, Student perceptions,
Tatarstan, Student survey
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The Russian higher education system is facing several challenges and hardships today.
A number of political, economic and socio-demographic factors, including excessively
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
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Educational
service quality
329
Received 7 June 2015
Revised 30 August 2015
2 January 2016
14 February 2016
Accepted 7 March 2016
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.24 No. 3, 2016
pp.329-348
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-06-2015-0024
strong state regulations and demographic crises (Kortunov, 2009;Rumyantseva and
Denisova-Schmidt, 2015), are affecting the system. According to the Russian Federal
State Statistics Service (2015), the number of pupils in Russian schools has dropped from
20.6m in 2000 to 14.4m in 2014, with fewer numbers of university applicants in recent
years. As a result, competition for applicants is intensifying among Russian
universities, requiring the implementation of marketing and other innovative
approaches for the management of institutional effectiveness. One such approach is the
use of service quality assessments from the customers’ – or the students’ – point of view.
In the above context, the purpose of this study was to demonstrate an adaptation of
the SERVQUAL survey method (after Parasuraman et al., 1988) for measuring the
quality of a range of higher educational services in the Russian university context. To
extend the original technique, this study used a new graphical technique for analysis
and presentation of SERVQUAL results to planners and decision-makers. Although use
of the SERVQUAL method is widespread, and the method has been referenced in the
western literature since late 1980s (Parasuraman et al., 1988;Cronin and Taylor, 1992;
Buttle, 1996;Dabholkar et al., 2000), it was introduced in Russia only in the early 2000s.
Novatorov (2000a, p. 4) stated then that while:
[…] the concepts and basics of service quality assurance are partially covered by Russian and
translated literature(s), the methodological approaches for service quality assessment are not
described (there) yet.
Since 2000, however, the SERVQUAL method has been described, used and criticized in
a number of publications, including marketing and management textbooks, research
papers and case studies (Baumgarten, 2008;Sinyaeva, 2006;Novatorov, 2000a,2001;
Milyaeva and Volkova, 2004;Milyaeva, 2005;Ponomoreva and Supryagina, 2005;
Predvoditeleva and Balaeva, 2005;Novatorov and Novitskaya, 2012;Fadeeva, 2012;
Ivashkova and Lopatinskaya, 2013).
The graphical display technique demonstrated in this paper is intended to improve
upon traditional applications of the SERVQUAL method which rely primarily on
“difference” scores. Starting with ratings on perceptions and expectations of “quality”,
as given by survey respondents to items on the SERVQUAL questionnaire,
Parasuraman et al.’s (1988) original method calculated a difference score by subtracting
the total “quality” expectation score from the total “quality” perception score. This
procedure followed methods applied previously by Ford et al. (1975; as cited in
Parasuraman et al., 1988) who implemented difference scores in the development of a
scale for measuring role conicts.
Later, Babakus and Boller (1992) argued that difference scores, based on subtraction
of summated total scores on customer expectations and perceptions of service quality,
do not provide any additional information beyond that already contained in the quality
perception or expectation components. Notably, Parasuraman et al. (1985,1988) did not
provide any graphical or other aids to facilitate stakeholder understandings and
application of SERVQUAL ndings in organizational decision-making contexts. From a
managerial viewpoint, graphical evidence of service quality based on customer
satisfaction ratings could facilitate better understanding of service levels and point to
strategic directions for making institutional improvements.
Drawing on the work of Martilla and James (1977),Novatorov (2001) proposed an
“importance-performance” analysis, an easily-applied technique for measuring the
QAE
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