Examining relationships between quality perceptions, satisfaction, and student brand loyalty in a higher educational organization.

摘要

The problem addressed in the quantitative inferential study was the need to understand what service factors and satisfaction levels contribute to student enrollment retention in a private university for it to remain competitive. A survey, designed by the researcher, was administered to undergraduate, residential students of a private business school in the southeastern United States. Relationships were measured between three sets of variables: students' perceptions of institutional quality performance and satisfaction levels, students' quality perceptions and commitment to remain enrolled in school, and satisfaction levels and commitment. A five-point Likert-type scale was used for obtaining data on the dependent variables. Pearson's product-moment correlation coefficient test was used to identify relationship strengths between independent and dependent variables, and ANOVA test was used to measure group differences based on demographic descriptive statistics. Five psychometric scales were used in the study: eight academic survey items, eight non-academic items, 16 combined items for quality, four satisfaction items, and two commitment items. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficients ranged from r = .18 to r = .91 with a median alpha of r = .84. Four of the five psychometric scales had adequate levels of internal reliability with the exception being student commitment (r = .18) as a combined index. Individual results indicated that all relationships in the study were significant ( p = .01). All null hypotheses were rejected, even after controlling for student demographic characteristics. Results revealed that positive relationships exist between quality perceptions and satisfaction, between quality perceptions and commitment, and between satisfaction and commitment. The strongest relationships between quality perception and satisfaction survey items occurred in faculty relationships with students. From the study, higher educational leaders can identify key service performance programs within their own institutions that contribute to retaining sufficient enrollment of satisfied, or preferably, delighted students in order to remain competitive.