Effect of service quality on customer satisfaction and university competitiveness: A comparative analysis of public and private sector universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction and university competitiveness. The study firstly intends to measure the prevailing satisfaction level in the universities as perceived by the students and secondly to determine the degree of competitiveness of the universities, thirdly the research would ascertain the effect of service quality upon the customer satisfaction and degree of competitiveness of respective universities. Based on literature review a structured questionnaire was adapted for this study. Factor Analysis and Parallel Analysis were performed for the purification of the data. Furthermore, the hypotheses were tested on a sample of 384 students of 19 selected universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Structural Equation Modelling technique was used to investigate the relationship among variables under investigation. Findings of the present study showed a significant relationship among the variables under investigation. The study suggested that responsiveness, assurance and empathy dimensions were ranked, by students as the most significant dimensions of service quality; however, mostly students were dissatisfied with the dimensions tangibility and reliability from public and private sector universities respectively. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that dimensions tangibility and reliability improves the service quality and students satisfaction. The study was the first in nature to successful apply a measurement tool, which is composed of service quality (SERVQUAL), student satisfaction (Noel-Levitz), and universities competitiveness. This study has opened up an area of research and methodology that could provide considerable benefits for future researchers interested in this topic. It also shows how the concept of students’ satisfaction and universities competitiveness could be assessed in future studies. Key words: Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction / Student Satisfaction, Universities Competitiveness, Higher Education Industry (HEI), Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, University image