An Examination of Students' Perceptions of Service Quality in Higher Education

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1 Journal of Marketing for Higher Education ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: An Examination of Students' Perceptions of Service Quality in Higher Education Michael D. Clemes, Lucie K. Ozanne & Lam Tram To cite this article: Michael D. Clemes, Lucie K. Ozanne & Lam Tram (2001) An Examination of Students' Perceptions of Service Quality in Higher Education, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 10:3, 1-20, DOI: /J050v10n03_01 To link to this article: Published online: 21 Oct Submit your article to this journal Article views: 295 Citing articles: 10 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

2 Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 1 An Examination of Students Perceptions of Service Quality in Higher Education Michael D. Clemes Lucie K. Ozanne Lam Tram ABSTRACT. This paper focuses on university students perceptions of educational service quality. Results suggest that both technical and functional quality are important dimensions that shape students perceptions of their university s service quality. Although both dimensions are important, the findings suggest that the quality of education, campus facilities and the environment, and course process impact significantly on students perceptions of service quality. The authors empirically measure students perceptions using the SERVPREF methodology. Four hypotheses are formulated about the relationship between two main service quality dimensions, technical and functional, and perceived service quality. These relationships are tested using multiple regression analysis and ANOVA. The findings are discussed as are the implications for educational marketers and managers. [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: address: <getinfo@haworthpressinc.com> Website: < E 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.] KEYWORDS. Perceived service quality, educational service quality, service quality dimensions, SERVPREF INTRODUCTION The benefits obtained by organizations that deliver high quality goods and services to their customers are well documented in the Michael D. Clemes is Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Lucie K. Ozanne, PhD, is Senior Lecturer in Marketing, and Lam Tram is a post-graduate student, all at Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Vol. 10(3) 2001 E 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved. 1

3 2 JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION marketing literature (Ennew and Binks, 1996). Organizations with comparatively higher levels of quality typically reap larger market shares (Rust and Zahorik, 1993) and have reduced costs and increased profit margins (Crosby, 1991; Reichheld and Kenny, 1990). In the service sector, providing high quality services contribute towards retaining customers, developing customer loyalty and sustaining an organization s growth (Williams and Imrie, 1995). Consistently providing a high quality service, however, requires marketers and practitioners in the service sector to manage a plethora of problems (Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman, 1985) that stem from five distinct characteristics of services (Zeithaml and Bitner; 1996, Gronroos, 1982), not prevalent in physical goods. These characteristics have been consistently cited in the marketing literature and are commonly identified as intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, perishability and lack of ownership (Berry, 1980; Gummesson 1987; Bell, 1981; Cowell, 1984; Zeithaml et al., 1985; Marshall, 1947; Lovelock, 1981; Chase, 1984). Higher education, and in particular teaching, is normally considered very intangibly dominant (Shostack, 1977), and the activity also exhibits all of the other special characteristics of services. Education is a highly people-based performance with students being very much a part of the simultaneous production and consumption process. The process can indeed vary in standard from lecture to lecture and empty seats in a lecture theatre represent capacity lost forever. In addition, after what is normally a long duration of study, students are awarded with a piece of paper as their only tangible form of ownership for their time and fees. The New Zealand higher education sector, which is a substantial part of the service sector, has been through considerable social, economic and political change during the past ten years. This change has been primarily fostered by the widespread economic re-structuring which occurred in the mid 1980 s. In terms of social and demographic changes, there has been a notable increase in the number of part-time students, mature students and female students (Report of the Ministerial Consultative Group, 1994). In terms of economic change, the development of a free market economy has had a large impact on the type of programs offered by tertiary institutions. Since 1984, the employment emphasis has switched from manufacturing to service industries (New Zealand

4 Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 3 Annual Review of Education, 1996). In response to this shift in employment opportunities, statistics of Equivalent Full-Time Students (EFTS) enrolled in tertiary institutions suggest a trend towards business studies, the social sciences, and away from trades and sciences (Levy and Edlin, 1995). In addition, several polytechnics, colleges of education and private institutions have begun to offer courses traditionally offered by universities. As a consequence, many universities have increased their focus on attracting full fee paying overseas students. Several of the changes in the educational sector have acted as a catalyst to competition, which has prompted higher education institutions to take a more pro-active and entrepreneurial approach in the strategic marketing of their services (Levy and Edlin, 1995). Levy and Edlin (1995) suggest that in the current competitive environment universities are functioning more like traditional businesses than traditional educational establishments. Therefore, applying the principles and practices of service marketing to deliver a quality of educational service that will satisfy students is now the principal objective of many tertiary institutions (Bell and Shieff, 1990). The quest for student satisfaction has prompted many tertiary institutions to focus on service quality, and this construct is considered highly important and deserving of further empirical research (Donaldson and Runciman, 1995). However, empirically based research on the service quality construct in the higher education sector is still limited (Donaldson and Runciman, 1995). In light of this identified shortcoming, the purpose of this research is to gain an empirically based insight into the service quality construct in the New Zealand higher education sector. The question this research attempts to answer is: What are students perceptions of educational service quality in New Zealand? LITERATURE REVIEW According to Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985), the special characteristics of services make evaluation of service quality by consumers even more complicated than for goods. Additionally, there is insufficient information within the literature on goods quality to permit a comprehensive analysis of service quality from the perspective of the consumer (Parasuraman et al., 1985). Service quality is also

5 4 JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION often more difficult than goods quality to assess because it is more extensive in temporal scope (Oliver, 1993); the input from management and the firm is only the beginning of the service process, the outcome of service delivery to the customer must also be taken into consideration (Gronroos, 1983). The lack of similarity between goods and service quality, has prompted researchers such as Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988, 1985) and Gronroos (1982) to identify the existence of psychological processes in service quality evaluation which has led to concepts of service quality based on models of consumer behaviour. These authors have proposed that consumers compare their expectation of the service performance with their perceptions of the overall service quality of the actual event. Further, according to Bitner (1990), Parasuraman et al. (1988) and Zeithaml (1988) the customer s perception of service quality is subjective and similar to the process of evaluation that results from a customer s overall attitude. Perceived service quality, therefore, is a consumer judgement (a form of attitude), and results from comparisons by consumers of expectations of service with their perceptions of actual service performance (Lewis, 1989). Measuring Service Quality Widespread interest in the measurement of service quality is understandably high due to service quality being one of the most important issues facing management today (Ennew and Binks, 1996; Rigotti and Pitt, 1992). However, researchers such as Carman (1990), Brown and Swartz (1989) and Garvin (1983), have confirmed that service quality is an elusive and abstract construct that is difficult to define and measure. As a result, there have been many researchers who have attempted to develop a reliable and appropriate measurement of service quality. Among the most prominent general service quality measurements are the SERVQUAL perception/expectation instrument developed by Parasuraman et al. (1991, 1988, 1985) and the performancebased approach SERVPERF developed by (Cronin and Taylor, 1994, 1992; Arkiran, 1994). An evaluation of the SERVQUAL instrument is available in (Parasuraman et al., 1991; 1988; 1985). A critique of the SERVQUAL instrument is available in (Van Dyke, Kappleman and Prybutok, 1997). The SERVPERF measurement was developed by Cronin and Taylor

6 Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 5 (1992) in response to suggestions that when measuring perceived service quality it is sufficient simply to measure customers experience. According to this performance-based methodology, service quality should be conceptualized according to an attitude-based approach rather than the confirmation/disconfirmation paradigm of the SERVQUAL instrument. The adequacy-importance model is used by SERVPERF as the attitude-based operationalization of service quality (Cronin and Taylor, 1994). The adequacy-importance model defines an individual s attitude by their evaluation of the importance of specific dimensions of a product or service. The findings of Cronin and Taylor (1994) suggest that as a performance-only measurement, SERVPERF, has the ability to predict individual responses to the service quality delivered by service providers as accurately as the SERVQUAL Model. The marketing literature supports the contention that an instrument that measures customer experiences only, may be the most valid way of measuring perceived service quality (Zeithaml et al., 1996). According to Cronin and Taylor (1992), there is little evidence to support a perception-expectation approach, and a performance-only measurement allows for a slightly higher predictive power of customer perception of service quality. Pitt et al. (1997), in their research of information system service quality, also suggest that a perception-only measurement of service quality may have marginally higher convergent and predictive validities than the difference expectation/perception scores of SERVQUAL. The measurement instrument used in this study is based on the SERVPREF methodology. Hypotheses Development The objective of this research is to evaluate student perceptions of service quality in the New Zealand higher educational setting. Based on this research objective, four hypotheses have been developed. These hypotheses are presented in the following discussion. Several studies have found that customers frequently assess technical quality to determine quality, and that technical quality has a significant impact on customers assessment of service quality (Green and Boshoff, 1996; Donaldson and Runciman, 1995). Green and Boshoff (1996), in their research on the relationship of service quality to satisfaction and value, found that in predicting service quality as an antecedent to customer satisfaction, the technical dimensions of service

7 6 JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION quality have the most significantly positive impact. Donaldson and Runciman (1995) found that technical outcomes and assessment standards are important factors influencing student perceptions of service quality in universities. Tomkovick et al. (1996) concluded in their research on foreign students perceptions of the university service quality that tangible factors are the most important factors for students in forming a positive impression of the educational service quality. Therefore, Hypothesis 1 is proposed: H1: The more favourable students experience of technical service quality, the higher their perceptions of overall service quality of the educational institution. Zeithaml and Bitner (1996) suggest that when customers can not accurately evaluate the technical quality of a service, they will base their quality judgements on process (e.g., functional) dimensions. Further, when customers lack expertise they tend to rely on dimensions of functional quality, rather than dimensions of technical quality, to evaluate service quality (Mangold and Babakus, 1991; Gronross, 1982). In researching students perceptions of service quality, Anderson (1995) suggests that among the five dimensions of service quality examined in relation to functional quality, reliability, assurance, and responsiveness were the most significant factors positively influencing students perceptions of service quality. Shank et al. (1995) also concluded that lecturers behaviour and their involvement with students (functional quality dimensions), helped to increase students perception of educational service quality. Tomkovick et al. (1996) suggest that if the course delivery process is good, students perceptions of service quality will increase. Therefore, the Hypothesis 2 is: H2: The more favourable students experience of functional service quality, the higher their perceptions of overall service quality of the educational institution. Mels, Boshoff and Nel (1997) and Anderson (1995) argue convincingly that in order to obtain high perceived service quality, service providers should manage both the objective factors of technical quality and the subjective factors of functional quality. Furthermore, Rigotti and Pitt (1992) suggest that students perceive a service as high quality,

8 Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 7 not only because they get a degree or professional development course, but also because of kept promises, friendly systems, helpful staff and good physical facilities. Other researchers, Shank et al. (1995) and Bell and Shieff (1990), have also found that although the most notable factor influencing students perceptions of service quality was staff competence, by the end of the course students will also take into consideration the whole service process to assess educational service quality. Accordingly, Hypothesis 3 is proposed: H3: The more favourable students experience of both technical and functional service quality, the higher their perceptions of overall service quality of the educational institution. Zeithaml, Berry and Parasurman (1993) argue that customers perceptions of service quality are dependent on a number of antecedents. Among these determinants are personal characteristics and current experience. Tomkovick et al. (1996) and Webster (1989) suggested that demographic factors such as age, gender, nationality, year in school and major of study may have the potential to affect students perceptions of educational service quality of the evaluative dimensions. In addition, Soutar, McNeil and Lim (1994) found that female students tend to have higher expectations than male students with regard to the tangible dimension. Other researchers have found that males have higher expectations than females with regard to the functional dimension of responsiveness (Soutar and McNeil, 1996; Tomkovick, Al-Khalib, Badadwaj and Jones 1996). Tomkovick et al. (1996) found that undergraduate students tended to perceive the importance of both the technical quality and functional quality of the educational service to a greater degree than graduate students. Other researchers have also determined that the perception of overseas students regarding the importance of technical quality dimensions is higher than that for nonoverseas students (Soutar and McNeil, 1996; Steward and Felicetti, 1991). Accordingly, Hypothesis 4 is proposed: H4: Students perceptions of educational service quality will differ according to their demographic characteristics.

9 8 JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION METHODOLOGY The population studied in this research was students enrolled in a major New Zealand university during the 1998 academic year. The sample frame was composed of students attending courses in all undergraduate degree areas, regardless of their age, gender or nationality. Since multiple regression was the primary technique employed in this research to analyze the data, the sample size was dictated by the requirements of this technique. Based on the formula provided by Howell (1987), a minimum of 140 respondents was required to enable statistical testing of the four hypotheses at 5% level of significance, and at the statistical power level of Thus, 550 students were randomly drawn from a list of 2800 undergraduate students at the university. Two hundred useable replies resulted in a response rate of 36.3%. Cross-sectional data were collected from the sample using a mail survey. The 37-item questionnaire was based on the SERVPREF methodology and asked students to evaluate the total service experience they received from the university. The development of the questionnaire drew from previous studies that identified the key technical and functional dimensions of service quality in the higher education sector (Bell and Shieff, 1990). Two questions measuring overall perceived service quality were also included, as were questions designed to measure the relevant demographic characteristics of respondents (e.g., age, gender, ethnicity, year of study, course of study, type of study-full or part-time). In order to assess the reliability of the various constructs, identify any errors, and ensure the clarity of instruction the questionnaire was subjected to a pretest. In total 30 questionnaires were examined by students and research experts in order to check for biased, misleading or confusing questions (Dillman, 1978). The knowledge gained from an extensive literature review and the feedback obtained from the pretest enabled the researchers to make some minor adjustments to the questionnaire and to operationalize the following constructs (see the Appendix for detailed construct discussion). Dependent Variable-Perceived Service Quality Independent Variables Technical Quality Dimensions Tangible aspects

10 Competence Physical environment Functional Quality Dimensions Attitude and behavior Accessibility Reliability Personal Interaction Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 9 The questionnaire employed Likert-scale items to measure both the independent variables and dependent variable. The researchers carried out the main data collection following an adapted procedure based on the guidelines set out by Dillman (1978). The data obtained were examined in a variety of ways. Initially, factor analysis with varimax rotation was carried out to examine the dimensionality of the items. The reliability of the scales was evaluated by Cronbach s (1951) coefficient alpha. Multiple regression was used to test Hypotheses 1-3. T-tests and Scheffe one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to determine whether student perceptions vary according to their demographic characteristics, in order to test Hypothesis 4. The results obtained by these various analyses are outlined in the next section. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The literature notes that the presence of non-response bias may affect the ability of researchers to generalize their research results (Churchill, 1979). The occurrence of non-response bias was checked before interpreting the research results. No evidence was found to suggest that non-response bias was a problem in this study. Part of the questionnaire was dedicated to establishing some basic demographic characteristics of the respondents involved in the study. The respondents were found to be predominantly full-time students (95.5%). In terms of gender, the respondents were fairly evenly split between female (51.5%) and male (48.5%) students. The respondents were primarily aged years old (81.5%), and were dominated by New Zealanders (82%). However, Asian students totaled 10.5% of the sample, and 7.5% of the sample identified themselves as Pacific Islanders or other ethnic groups. Factor analysis with varimax rotation was conducted on all 37 items

11 10 JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION in order to test for unidimensionality of the constructs. Careful review of the loadings indicated that a number of items did not load strongly on any variable and needed to be dropped. The original seven constructs were retained in the analysis. However, the factor analysis indicated four dimensions of technical quality should be used, instead of the original three dimensions first postulated. The four dimensions were re-labeled, to better represent the dimensions identified by factor analysis, as library, laboratory, quality of education, and campus facilities and environment. Accordingly, three dimensions of functional quality were indicated instead of the original four dimensions. These three dimensions were also re-labeled, to better represent the dimensions identified by factor analysis, as understand the student, accessibility, and course process. After these modifications were completed, reliability tests were run on the revised variables. All variables had reliability scores greater than.70, with the exception of the course process, quality of education and campus facilities, and environment variables, which were between.63 and.70. However, these three dimensions were included in the analysis as the literature suggests that scores of greater than.60 are adequate for newly developed variables, such as the ones used in this study (Churchill, 1979; Nunnally, 1978). This study measured students perceptions of service quality in a New Zealand University. Hypothesis 1 proposed that a significant positive relationship would exist between technical quality dimensions (quality of library, quality of education, quality of campus facilities and environment, and quality of laboratories) and perceived service quality and was tested using multiple regression (see Table 1). The model proved significant (at p <.01) and accounted for 21% of the variation in the dependent variable, perceived service quality. The results of the analysis partially supported Hypothesis 1 and suggest that the technical quality dimensions; quality of education and the campus facilities and environment, are the two most important dimensions in students assessment of perceived service quality. Further, the results indicate that the quality of education has the most important impact on student assessment of service quality, which supports similar findings (Shank et al., 1995; Hampton, 1993 and Bell and Shieff, 1990). In addition to the central importance of the quality of education (the core service), students indicated that the physical environment of the campus was also an important dimension. This finding is consistent

12 Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 11 TABLE 1. Regression of Technical Quality Against Perceived Service Quality Unstandardised Standardised t Sig. Coefficients Coefficients Model Variable B Std. Beta Error I (Constant) Library Quality of Education Campus facilities & Environment Laboratory R 2 =.213; F = with studies by (Shank et al., 1995, Hampton, 1993 and Bell and Shieff, 1990) which all found that tangible factors such as the physical environment of the campus to be important dimensions of educational service quality. Hypothesis 2 also proposed that a significant positive relationship would exist between functional quality dimensions, (understanding the students, access and course process) and perceived service quality. The multiple regression model proved significant (at p <.01), however, only 11% of the variance in the dependent variable is explained by the functional quality dimension (see Table 2). However, the results indicated that of the three functional quality dimensions, only the course process dimension was associated positively with perceived service quality. Results for the three items of the course process variable; lecturers are organized and prepared for class, supporting staff are willing to help and subjects are well taught, suggest that the ability of tertiary staff to interact effectively with students during a course may have a positive affect on students perceptions. Hypothesis 3 proposed that a significant positive relationship would exist between perceived service quality and functional and technical quality dimensions. This combined model proved significant (at p <.01) and accounted for 22% of variation in the dependent variable. This model has the highest explanatory power as it explains the largest proportion of variance and is superior to the other two models in terms of predicting students perceptions of service quality. The results of the combined regression model show partial support for Hypothesis 3. These results were consistent with those of Hypothesis 1, however,

13 12 JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION there was no significant relationship between perceived service quality and the functional quality dimensions; in particular, the course process dimension, which was attributed to collinearity problems (see Table 3). Hypothesis 4 proposed that students perceptions of service quality varied according to their demographics; age, gender, type of study, year of study, course of study and ethnicity. These relationships were tested using Scheffe one-way ANOVA or t-tests. The study found support of this hypothesis in three categories, age, course of study and ethnicity. Specifically, students of different ages differ on whether they perceive that students are understood and on the adequacy of the TABLE 2. Regression of Functional Quality Against Perceived Service Quality Unstandardised Standardised t Sig. Coefficients Coefficients Model Variable B Std. Beta Error (Constant) II Understand the Student Accessibility Course process R 2 =.111; F = TABLE 3. Regression of Technical Quality and Functional Quality Against Perceived Service Quality Unstandardised Standardised t Sig. Coefficients Coefficients Model Variable B Std. Error Beta III (Constant) Understand the Student Accessibility Course process Library Quality of Education Campus Facilities and Environment Laboratory R 2 =.220; F= 7.272

14 Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 13 course process, and students studying different courses differ on the perceptions of the accessibility of the service experience. In addition, students from different ethnic backgrounds do not share homogenous perceptions of service quality in regards to access and whether the student is understood. These results are consistent with previous studies (Tomkovick et al., 1996, Webster, 1989) which suggest that market segments vary in their perceptions towards the factors that influence perceived service quality (see Table 4). IMPLICATIONS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION MARKETING A summary of the key implications for higher education marketing is presented in Table 5. The research finding suggest that concentrating resources on technical quality dimensions, particularly quality of education and campus facilities and environment, may help universities to improve their students perceptions of their educational experience. In addition, uni- TABLE 4. Students Perceptions of Service Quality Dimensions, Demographic Differences Demographic Variable Construct Group Mean Significance Age Understand (n = 163) 3.50 * the Student (n = 23) differs from (n = 10) and over (n = 4) 3.11 Course (n = 163) 3.69 * Process (n = 23) differs from (n = 10) & and over (n = 4) 3.83 Ethnicity Accessibility 1. New Zealander (n = 164) 3.75 ** 2. Asian (n = 21) differs from 3. Pacific Islander (n = 6) & 4 4. Other (n = 9) 4.37 Income Understand 1. applied mgt. & comptg (n = 30) 3.79 ** the Student 2. env. Mgt. (n = 44) differs from 3. commerce (n = 86) , 2, & 4 4. human sciences (n = 40) 3.59 Accessibility 1. applied mgt. & comptg (n = 30) 3.98 ** 2. env. Mgt. (n = 44) differs from 3. commerce (n = 86) & 2 4. human sciences (n = 40) 3.84 * Significant difference between groups at =.05. ** Significant difference between groups at =.001.

15 14 JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION TABLE 5. Key Implications for Higher Education Marketing Result Implications Technical Quality Dimensions -- Quality of education is -- hire and retain competent lecturers or ensure they have access positively related to to professional development to increase their lecturing perceived service quality competence -- provide access to and information about technologies to enable them to create an effective learning environment -- students need to be made aware of time to complete a degree, and mechanisms need to be developed to enable them to shorten the time required (e.g. summer school, distance education, cross crediting) -- resources available to enable adequate course materials be prepared and students have easy access to materials -- textbooks and other materials should be provided in most cost effective manner or available through alternative channels (ie. library, web) -- functioning education services unit should provide staff with training, guidance and support to enhance their teaching abilities -- Quality of campus -- Physical evidence is important and needs to be matched to facilities and environment is needs of target market. As an example, the campus positively related to environment should facilitate a pleasant learning environment perceived service quality with green spaces for social interaction and opportunity to escape the classroom -- campus facilities (e.g., parking, residence, cafeteria, recreation facilities) need to be of high standard, adequately maintained, and reflect the current needs of students -- ergonomically designed and user friendly learning environment Functional Quality Dimensions -- Course process is -- ensure that lecturers have adequate time for course preparation positively related to and are aware of the need to be prepared for the learning perceived service quality experience -- support staff are incorporated into internal marketing programs and function as a vital part of the customer service team -- lecturers need to ensure that students have a relevant and positive learning outcome and the objectives of the course are met Demographic Differences -- Students of different age -- ensure that lecturers show empathy and are willing to customize groups differ on their their services perceptions of understanding the student -- Students of different age -- ensure that the process and physical evidence are adaptable and groups differ on their suit students of all age groups perceptions of course process -- Students of different -- ensure that lecturers and non-academic staff offer multicultural ethnic groups differ on their learning and access to learning facilities (e.g., library, labs, perceptions of access registration, administration) -- Students in different -- support inter-discipline communication and ensure that all staff courses of study differ on share student profiles and need assessment understanding the student -- Students in different -- ensure that the process and physical evidence (e.g., library, courses of study differ on computer labs) are correctly targeted to all students according their perceptions of access to their needs

16 Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 15 versities should be aware of the important role staff play in shaping students perceptions of their educational experience and the university. Universities should react accordingly, using human resource strategies consistent with market-orientated management strategies that as a philosophy recognizes staff as the first market of the organization. The research finding also imply that students perceptions of service quality vary significantly among student of different ages, studying different courses and from different ethnic backgrounds. University marketers and practitioners should ensure that they identify the discriminating dimensions of different segments to enable them to create appropriate strategies for specific target segments. This exploratory research effort relied on a sample of students enrolled at a single university and previous research has shown that students perceptions of service quality may differ in relation to particular characteristics of a university. As all educators will realize, students at different universities, colleges and polytechnics may have different perceptions about the dimensions of service quality. REFERENCES Anderson, E. (1995), High tech v. high touch: a case study of TQM implementation in higher education, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 5 (2), Arkiran, N. K. (1994), Developing an instrument to measure customer service quality in branch banking, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 12(6), Bell, Martin L. (1981), Tactical Service Marketing and the Process of Remixing, in Marketing of Services, J. H. Donnelly and W. R. George, eds., Chicago: American Marketing Association, Bell, D. R. and Shieff, D. S. E. (1990), Managing service quality for improved competitive performance, New Zealand Journal of Business, Berry, L. L. (1980), Service marketing is different, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 58, Bitner, M. J. (1990), Evaluating service encounters: The effects of physical surroundings and employees responses, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 54, Brown, S. W. and Swartz, T. A. (1989), A gap analysis of professional service quality, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 53, Carman, J. M. (1990), Consumer perception of service quality: an assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 66 (1), Chase, Richard B. (1978), Where Does the Customer Fit in a Service Operation? Harvard Business Review, 56 (November-December), Churchill, G. A., Jr. (1979), A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 11,

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18 Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 17 New Zealand Annual Review of Education (1996), Faculty of Education. Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. Nunnally,J.C. (1978),Psychometric Theory, 2nd ed., New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. Oliver, R. L. (1993), A conceptual model of service quality and service satisfaction: Compatible goals, different concepts, In T. A. Swartz, D. E. Bowen and S. W. Brown (Eds). Advances in Services Marketing and Management: Research and Practice. Vol.2, Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. and Berry, L. L. (1985), A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. and Berry, L. L. (1988), SERVQUAL: A Multiple- Item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. and Berry, L. L. (1991), Understanding customer expectations of service, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 32, Pitt, L. F., Watson, R. T. and Kavan, C. B. (1997), Measuring information systems service quality: Concerns for a complete canvas, MIS Quarterly, 21(2): Reichheld, F. F. and Kenny, D. W. (1990), The hidden advantages of customer retention, Journal of Retail Banking, Vol. 12 (4). Report of the Ministerial Consultative Group (1994), Funding Growth in Tertiary Education and Training. May. Rigotti, S. and Pitt, L. (1992), SERVQUAL as a measuring instrument for service provider gaps in business schools, Management Research News, Vol. 15(3), Rust, R. T. and Oliver, R. L. (1994), Service quality: Insights and managerial implications from the frontier, In Rust, R. T. and Oliver, R. L. (Eds). Service Quality: New Directions in Theory and Practice. London: Sage Publication, Rust, R. T and Zahorik, A. J. (1993), Customer satisfaction, customer retention and market share, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 69, Shank, M. D., Walker, M. and Heyes, T. (1995), Understanding professional service expectations: Do we know what our students expect in a quality education? Journal of Professional Services Marketing, Vol. 13 (1), Shostack, G. L. (1977), Breaking free from product marketing, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 41, Soutar, G., McNeil, M. and Lim, K. (1994), Service quality and the overseas students: Some Australian experiences, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Soutar, G. and McNeil, M. (1996), Measuring service quality in a tertiary institution, Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 34 (1), Steward, K. and Felicetti, L. (1991), Marketing a public university to international students, Journal of Professional Services Marketing, Vol. 7 (1), Tomkovick, C., Al-khatib, J., Badadwaj, B. and Jones, S. I. (1996), An assessment of the service quality provided to foreign students at US business schools, Journal of Education for Business, Tram, Lam (1998), An Examination of Students Perceptions of Service Quality in

19 18 JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION Higher Education, unpublished masters thesis, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand. Van Dyke, Thomas P., Leon A. Kappelman and Victor R. Prybutok (1997), Measuring Information Systems Service Quality: Concerns on the Use of the SERV- QUAL Questionnaire, MIS Quarterly, June, Webster, C. (1989), Should consumers be segmented on the basis of their service quality expectations? Journal of Consumer Research, Vol.3, Williams, L. and Imrie, B. (1995), The university service encounter: Understanding the educational experiences and perceptions of full-fee paying students, presentation paper, Australia. Zeithaml, V., Berry, L. and Parasuraman, A. (1985), Communication and control processes in the delivery of service quality, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 52, Zeithaml, V. A. (1988), Consumer perceptions of price, quality and value: A meansend model and synthesis of evidence, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 52, Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L. and Parasuraman, A. (1993), The nature and determinants of customer expectations of service, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 21 (1). Zeithaml, V. A. and Bitner, M. J. (1996), Service Marketing. McGraw-Hill International Editions. Received: 12/01/99 Revised: 05/25/00 Accepted: 07/13/00 APPENDIX. Construct Operationalization Perceived service quality (Dependent Variable): operationalized as the students perception of the university s overall service quality. Technical Quality Dimensions: Tangible aspects (Independent Variable): operationalized according to students perceptions of the university s reputation, the price and quality of the communication materials provided-written policies, documents, subject prescriptions, diplomas, transcripts from which students draw inferences about the quality of the service. Competence (Independent Variable): operationalized based on students perceptions of the academic competence and professional qualifications of the lecturers in relation to the programmes of study, and on the methods of teaching and communication skills. Physical environment (Independent Variable): operationalized based on students perceptions of the physical facilities and campus environment of the university.

20 Clemes, Ozanne, and Tram 19 Functional Quality Dimensions: Attitude and behavior (Independent Variable): operationalized based on students perceptions of the lecturers and supporting staff s willingness to help students and to provide prompt service. This dimension emphases attentiveness and promptness in dealing with student requests, questions, complaints and problems. Accessibility (Independent Variable): the five items in this dimension are used to operationalize students perceptions of the caring and individualized attention of the lecturers in assisting their academic concerns and interests. Reliability (Independent Variable): operationalized according to how students perceive the consistency of course delivery, assessment and systems procedures, preparation of lectures, marked assignments and office hours. Personal Interaction (Independent Variable): this dimension is operationalized according to students perceptions of the lecturers ability to inspire trust and student confidence.

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