Abstract/Description
Background: Ranking of private universities is an emerging phenomenon after the establishment of Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan. Ranking is becoming need of time as public and private universities are competing more and more for business and profit. The business of private universities depends upon independent revenue generation; therefore, student retention is crucial for such institutions. Moreover, university image has much to do with establishing the brand in market to attract quality students and faculty and it can be best assured through service quality and student satisfaction. Brown and Mazzarol (2009) have suggested that the university reputation or the institutional image has strong relationship with the perceived loyalty and belongingness with the institution. According to them the student satisfaction had weak and indeterminate link with the service quality of both types “human ware” (people and processes) and “hardware” (tangibles and facilities). This hypothesis has been checked with the students of seven private universities in Pakistan.
Purpose: In Pakistan, many public universities have an established image, but newly established private universities are still struggling to establish their name and brand in the market. A study has been conducted to know how much their efforts have been fruitful so far. The aim of study has been to find out the variance among behavior of higher education consumers (students) as they buy the service from private universities in Pakistan. It seeks the answers of following research questions: 1) whether the universities have been able to transform their consumers into loyal and engaged customers? 2) What is the role of university’s perceived value in procuring student satisfaction and loyalty? Design &
Methodology: A quantitative survey was held in seven private universities (4 in Lahore and one each in Gujranwala, Faisalabad, & Islamabad) with 1400 students. The instrument was constructed consisting of 42 items for this purpose suiting the theoretical framework drawn from extensive literature review. The data has been collected within three schools of each university from undergraduate and graduate students using stratified random sampling.
Findings:The multivariate effects of satisfaction across universities were measured through MANOVA. Discriminant analysis has been the most critical tool used for analysis, as not only it could distinguish between satisfied and dissatisfied students, but also predicted the strength of word of mouth and intentions to stay in the university through six service quality indicators (teaching, management, leadership, campus life, academic services and infrastructure). Structure Equation Models procured for satisfaction, dissatisfaction and no-dissatisfaction were able to distinguish strategic paths adopted by universities in their pursuit of service quality and student satisfaction. Results indicate that people and processes are more important than infrastructure. It is not the teaching, but the leadership and management that mark all the differences in satisfied and unsatisfied behaviors of higher education customers.
Limitations: The study has been limited to “W” category universities only in the province of Punjab. The sample size is small but results are significant for upcoming universities who want to establish their business in highly lucrative industry – higher education.
Implications: The study outlines differences between the satisfiers and dis-satisfiers and predicts the future trend of higher education market, providing newly established universities the guidelines to compete in relatively deregulated market. Moreover, it provides HEC the valuable information to focus for building future criterion of ranking for private universities in Pakistan.
Keywords
Higher education, Private universities, Ranking, Service quality, Student satisfaction, Loyalty
Location
Room S2
Session Theme
Session 5b: Parallel Sessions: Society and Marketing
Session Type
Event
Session Chair
Dr. Pervez Ghauri, Dr. Kriengsak Chareonwongsak
Session Moderator
Mr. Jami Moiz
Start Date
6-5-2012 11:55 AM
End Date
6-5-2012 12:25 PM
Recommended Citation
Arif, S., & Ilyas, M. (2012). Parallel Session: Reputation of private universities in Pakistan and its impact upon student satisfaction and loyalty. International Conference on Marketing. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/icm/2012/day2/9
Included in
Parallel Session: Reputation of private universities in Pakistan and its impact upon student satisfaction and loyalty
Room S2
Background: Ranking of private universities is an emerging phenomenon after the establishment of Higher Education Commission (HEC) in Pakistan. Ranking is becoming need of time as public and private universities are competing more and more for business and profit. The business of private universities depends upon independent revenue generation; therefore, student retention is crucial for such institutions. Moreover, university image has much to do with establishing the brand in market to attract quality students and faculty and it can be best assured through service quality and student satisfaction. Brown and Mazzarol (2009) have suggested that the university reputation or the institutional image has strong relationship with the perceived loyalty and belongingness with the institution. According to them the student satisfaction had weak and indeterminate link with the service quality of both types “human ware” (people and processes) and “hardware” (tangibles and facilities). This hypothesis has been checked with the students of seven private universities in Pakistan.
Purpose: In Pakistan, many public universities have an established image, but newly established private universities are still struggling to establish their name and brand in the market. A study has been conducted to know how much their efforts have been fruitful so far. The aim of study has been to find out the variance among behavior of higher education consumers (students) as they buy the service from private universities in Pakistan. It seeks the answers of following research questions: 1) whether the universities have been able to transform their consumers into loyal and engaged customers? 2) What is the role of university’s perceived value in procuring student satisfaction and loyalty? Design &
Methodology: A quantitative survey was held in seven private universities (4 in Lahore and one each in Gujranwala, Faisalabad, & Islamabad) with 1400 students. The instrument was constructed consisting of 42 items for this purpose suiting the theoretical framework drawn from extensive literature review. The data has been collected within three schools of each university from undergraduate and graduate students using stratified random sampling.
Findings:The multivariate effects of satisfaction across universities were measured through MANOVA. Discriminant analysis has been the most critical tool used for analysis, as not only it could distinguish between satisfied and dissatisfied students, but also predicted the strength of word of mouth and intentions to stay in the university through six service quality indicators (teaching, management, leadership, campus life, academic services and infrastructure). Structure Equation Models procured for satisfaction, dissatisfaction and no-dissatisfaction were able to distinguish strategic paths adopted by universities in their pursuit of service quality and student satisfaction. Results indicate that people and processes are more important than infrastructure. It is not the teaching, but the leadership and management that mark all the differences in satisfied and unsatisfied behaviors of higher education customers.
Limitations: The study has been limited to “W” category universities only in the province of Punjab. The sample size is small but results are significant for upcoming universities who want to establish their business in highly lucrative industry – higher education.
Implications: The study outlines differences between the satisfiers and dis-satisfiers and predicts the future trend of higher education market, providing newly established universities the guidelines to compete in relatively deregulated market. Moreover, it provides HEC the valuable information to focus for building future criterion of ranking for private universities in Pakistan.
