Service quality and university students' satisfaction on the travel agencies

Students’ perception and satisfaction of services provided by public and private higher education institutes: a case study in Albania

Purpose

There have been many research studies on students’ satisfaction of services in universities in developed countries. However, students’ expectation and satisfaction of public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) with regard to service quality in Eastern Europe have been under-researched. Therefore, this study aims to offer an empirical examination of student satisfaction of the service quality of public and private HEIs in Albania by evaluating the gap between students’ expectation and perception and the effect of student satisfaction on retention in HEIs.

Design/methodology/approach

The survey instrument used in this study was the student satisfaction inventory in the USA. Primary data were collected from a survey of students in two private and four public HEIs in Albania. A total of 554 valid responses were collected from the survey.

Findings

The findings suggested that there were performance gaps between public and private HEIs. Public universities performed well in terms of concern for the individual, campus support services, student-centeredness and instructional effectiveness. Private HEIs scored well in terms of concern for the individual, academic advising effectiveness, instructional effectiveness and safety and security (parking). There is a significant difference in students’ perception of the overall satisfaction of HEIs. Students’ overall satisfaction positively impacts their retention.

Originality/value

Overall, this study provides valuable insights to private and public HEIs’ administrators regarding to student satisfaction and retention. The findings will have far-reaching managerial implications for all groups of stakeholders in terms of the service delivery by universities in Albania and Eastern Europe.

Identification of growth factors for small firms: evidence from hotel companies on an island

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to mainly investigate what factors drive growth for independent hotel firms on an island.

Design/methodology/approach

Two steps were followed. First, to identify hotels demonstrated significant growth; 92 independent hotels in North Cyprus were analyzed via a self-report questionnaire. Second, key growth factors were examined in five hotels showing the growth over years among the independent hotels via in-depth, semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, and observations.

Findings

The study findings revealed 16 important growth factors for hotels, including active risk taking, education, family history, networks of contacts, other business interests, family investing friends, key employee partners, customer concentration, autonomy, innovativeness, proactiveness, competitive aggressiveness, location, desire to succeed, age of founders, and state support where are strong, weak, and interrelated relationships among these factors. These findings allow factors to be categorized into new groups, namely, strategic and tactical factors. The research findings unveil new factors referred to as “political conflict – pursuing different strategy and opportunities,” importance of second generations affect and entrepreneur’s metacognitive strategies, “informal networking.”

Research limitations/implications

More research should also be undertaken for entrepreneurs or managers who formulate and implement strategies to enter new markets or to tackle turbulent and/or unstable environments.

Practical implications

This study reveals that one factor on its own cannot influence the growth of hotels. Rather, successful growth depends on the entrepreneur’s ability to combine all factors in harmony.

Originality/value

Given that there is limited empirical evidence on the growth of independent hotels on islands, this study made an important attempt to contribute to the entrepreneurship literature in the hospitality management and family business fields via micro-level approaches concerning the factors influencing hotels’ growth on an island. This is one of the first studies presenting and discussing empirical findings on growth factors for small hotels on an island, and brings a new perspective by grouping factors as strategic and tactical factors.

Understanding and predicting the quality determinants of e-government services

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the quality determinants influencing the adoption of e-government services in Oman and compare the performance of multiple regression and neural network models in identifying the significant factors influencing adoption in Oman.

Design/methodology/approach

– Primary data concerning service quality determinants and demographic variables were collected using a structured questionnaire survey. The variables selected in the design of the questionnaire were based on an extensive literature review. Factor analysis, multiple linear regression and neural network models were employed to analyze data.

Findings

– The study found that quality determinants: responsiveness, security, efficiency and reliability are statistically significant predictors of adoption. The neural network model performed better than the regression model in the prediction of e-government services’ adoption and was able to characterize the non-linear relationship of the aforementioned predictors with the adoption of e-government services. Further, the neural network model was able to identify demographic variables as significant predictors.

Practical implications

– This study highlights the importance of service quality in the adoption of e-government services and suggests that an enhanced focus and investment on improving quality of the design and delivery of e-government services can have a positive impact on the usage of the services, thereby enabling the Oman Government in achieving the governance objectives for which these technologies were employed.

Originality/value

– Studies in the area of e-government typically focus either on technology adoption problems or service quality problems. The role of service quality in adoption is rarely addressed. The research presented in this paper is of great value to the institutions that are involved in the development of technology-based e-government services in Oman.

Adoption of e-government services

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop a research model for understanding the relationship between service quality dimensions and demographic variables, and the willingness to use e-government services in Oman. Understanding the key determinants of electronic government (e-government) services is an important issue for enhancing the degree of use of these services by users.

Design/methodology/approach

– The data were collected using Google forms from 248 e-government service users. The hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the research model.

Findings

– The results showed that service quality dimensions, namely, reliability, security, efficiency and responsiveness, were the key determinants that influenced the willingness to use e-government services. In addition to service quality dimensions, two demographic variables, namely, age and education level of respondents, showed a statistically significant relationship with the willingness to use e-government services.

Practical implications

– The findings of this study provide useful insights into the decision-makers of e-government services in Oman and similar emerging economies. At the same time, these findings can also be used by academicians and information systems researchers for further research.

Originality/value

– This study is probably the first attempt to model e-government services on the basis of service quality dimensions and demographic variables in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Moreover, this study will enrich the existing literature on the adoption of e-government services.

Critical factors of service quality in a graduate school of Malaysia

Purpose

– This paper aims to evaluate the service quality of a higher educational institute in Malaysia based on the seven dimensions, namely administrative service, tangibles, academic programmes, academic staff, delivery of teaching, assurance, and empathy of academic staff.

Design/methodology/approach

– This study surveyed 221 students of IIUM Graduate School of Management (GSM) based on the self-administrative research questionnaire. The research data were analyzed by using exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, independent samples t-test, and multiple regression analysis.

Findings

– Results indicate IIUM GSM students have positive and significant perception on administrative service, tangibles, delivery teaching and assurance, but they do not have significant perception on academic programmes, academic staff and empathy of academic staff.

Research limitations/implications

– This research only conducted in a graduate school of Malaysia and this result might not represent all Malaysian graduate schools.

Originality/value

– This study's major contribution is that it focuses on the critical factors of service quality in a graduate school of Malaysia and measures the service quality according to the Malaysian contexts.