Stakeholder’s perception of service quality: a case in Qatar
| Published date | 14 October 2019 |
| Pages | 493-510 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-05-2017-0023 |
| Date | 14 October 2019 |
| Author | Amal S.A. Shurair,Shaligram Pokharel |
| Subject Matter | Education,Educational evaluation/assessment |
Stakeholder’s perception of
service quality: a case in Qatar
Amal S.A. Shurair
Qatar University, Doha, Qatar, and
Shaligram Pokharel
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Qatar University,
Doha, Qatar
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paperis to investigate and report students’perception of servicequality in a
university by examining theperceptual context of service quality with respect to students’loyaltybehavior,
image of the universityand culture/values.
Design/methodology/approach –A research framework is developed for quality assessment with
three hypotheses. A questionnaire with 65 instruments was used for gathering the required data for the
analysis. The questionnaire was sent through email to all engineering students. The analysis included
descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, gap analysis and hypotheses tests. Seven dimensions of service
quality were identified: the original dimensions of the SERVQUAL, namely, reliability, responsiveness,
assurance, empathy and tangibles.Two additional dimensions image and culture/value were added for the
researchto understandperceived service quality and loyalty.
Findings –The results provide a significant positive correlation between service quality and student’s
loyalty. It also showsthat there is statistically significant relation between the imageof the institution and the
perceivedservice quality, and culture/values of the students in the institutionand perceived service quality.
Research limitations/implications –This study used datacollected from a survey in the university in
a given period.
Practical implications –The findings indicate that to provide quality education, meeting students’
needs, wants and expectations of services quality should be carefully understood and addressed.
Management also needs to consider factors such as corporate image and culture/value, as they have the
ability to heavilyimpact the type of services provided by the institution.
Originality/value –The findings presentedin this paper fill the gap in the current literature by providing
empirical knowledge on the quality of service assessmentand customer satisfaction in the higher education
context. The study is the first of its kind in Qatar’s contextand provides opportunities for higher institutions
to focus more on current students’services.This can lead to an increased brand value representingone of the
premierinstitutes of higher education in the Middle East GulfRegion.
Keywords SERVQUAL, Culture, Quality management, Image, Higher education,
Service quality assessment
Paper type Research paper
© Amal S.A. Shurair and Shaligram Pokharel. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article
is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce,
distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-
commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full
terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
The authors thank Qatar University Institutional Review Board for supporting the conduct of the
survey. The publication of this article was funded by the Qatar National Library.
Stakeholder’s
perception of
service quality
493
Received28 May 2017
Revised1 September 2018
24March 2019
28May 2019
11July 2019
30July 2019
Accepted31 July 2019
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.27 No. 4, 2019
pp. 493-510
EmeraldPublishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-05-2017-0023
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0968-4883.htm
1. Introduction
The service sector is considered an important sector in many countries (Abdullah, 2006)
due to which the research on the measurement of service quality has also increased
(Baron et al., 2009). Many service organizations recognize that good service quality may
bring customer satisfaction and increased customer loyalty. Therefore, many researchers
mention that customer loyalty and customer satisfaction can be used as an outcome of
service quality measures implemented in an organization (Orel and Kara, 2014;Chou et al.,
2014;Hussain et al.,2015;Kasiriet al.,2017). Many organizations haveconsidered quality as
a strategic weapon for enhancing business performance and achieving operational
efficiency (Garvin, 1983;Andersonand Zeithaml, 1984;Zeithaml et al.,1993;Sureshchandar
et al.,2002;DeShields et al., 2005). Lupo (2014) and Štimac and Šimi
c(2012)mention that the
education sector is also service-oriented and, therefore, understanding of the service and its
continuous measurementbecomes important in the education sector as well.
The education sector provides services at different levels of students’learning.
Therefore, the quality of service in education is important not only in primary and
secondary education, but also more prominently so in the higher education sector. In most
cases, primary and secondary education systems are handled by the governments
(O’Sullivan, 2006;Braathe and Otterstad, 2014;Rose, 2015;Van der Bij et al., 2016), and
quality is defined, implementedand measured through various assurancetools.
In the higher education system, as students generally have a choice to enter a university
and a program, service quality and satisfaction become more important. Globalization and
increased liberalizationof the labor market have also provided opportunities to the students
to evaluate the service quality of educationalinstitutes besides the number of programs. Yeo
(2009) mentions that, on the side of the educational institution, service quality can form a
baseline for adaptation to globalization. However, as the number and types of programsare
similar among the higher educationinstitutes, globally or locally, the institutes have to work
on the marketing of differentiatingfactor and building of its image. This is very prominent
in the industrial sector (Clow et al.,1997;Alves and Raposo, 2010) in which companies
believe that better perception of companyimage means the better perception of quality and
satisfaction. Therefore, attempts by institutions to build the image in the higher education
system can make them more competitive (Štimac and Šimi
c, 2012). It is realized that
students tend to focus on the evidenceof service quality provided by the institution (Bhuian,
2016) when it comes to higher education.Therefore, not only the quality assurance measures
adopted by the universitysystem but also the service perception becomes important.
In some countries, branch campuses of international universities have been established
to tap the students from the regional pool. Thesecampuses are often expected to provide the
same education and service qualityto students as their parent institution. However, Bhuian
(2016) mentions that the education and service quality perception between the parent
institution and the branchcampus can be different. This may happen due to the smaller size
of the campus and the smaller number of services offered in branchcampuses compared to
their parent institution.
Some authors acknowledge that the measurement of education quality is difficult due
mainly to the complicated nature of the educational product, different conceptualization of
service quality, and varied stakeholders’perceptions (Becket and Brookes, 2006).One of the
factors that institutions should consider is that as the main stakeholders of the university,
students’perceptionof education quality is global, and is based on their exposure to services
and their quality throughout their student years (Rojas-Méndez et al., 2009;Jancey and
Burns, 2013). The importance of services provided to the current students by the faculty,
unit heads and the supportingstaff is mentioned in Nadiri et al. (2009) and Clewes (2003).An
QAE
27,4
494
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