Asian Social Science; Vol. 10, No.

7; 2014
ISSN 1911-2017 E-ISSN 1911-2025
Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education

Service Quality, Satisfaction and Student Loyalty in Malaysian Private

Education
Shaheen Mansori1, Anthony Vaz2 & Zarina Mizam Mohd Ismail3
1
School of Business, Berjaya University College of Hospitality, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2
Faculty of Business, Communication and Law, Inti International University, Nilai, Malaysia
3
Institute of Educational Leadership, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Correspondence: Shaheen Mansori, School of Business, Berjaya University College of Hospitality, Level 11
West, Berjaya Times Square, No 1 Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail:
shaheen.mansori@gmail.com

Received: October 1, 2013 Accepted: January 1, 2014 Online Published: March 31, 2014
doi:10.5539/ass.v10n7p57 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n7p57

Abstract
The changing of the global demographic trends clearly suggests a growing demand for a quality higher education.
In fact, several studies have been carried out in the past few years to explore the factors that have effects on the
customer satisfaction and its consequences in various industries. In the same manner, this study also explores the
five factors of service quality (SERVQUAL) and their relationship with the level of student satisfaction and their
loyalty as well as the intervening role of satisfaction in the relationships between SERVQUAL factors and
loyalty among undergraduate students.
The study used self-administered questionnaires to test the proposed model and data collected from 460
questionnaires were analysed. The questionnaires were distributed at various private universities and colleges in
Malaysia based on convenience sampling. The results of this study are in accordance with prior studies in this
field as SERVQUAL factors do influence the level of customers’ satisfaction in the service industry. This study
shows that the level of students overall satisfaction is mostly affected by tangibility. This finding indicates that
the physical facility on the campus plays a major role in satisfying the students. The results also show that
tangibility has the highest influence (directly and indirectly) on the students’ intention to continue to a higher
level of studies and/or spreading good word of mouth about the institution to their friends and the society.
However, to generalize the results of this study, consideration should be made to the limitation of the number of
the private institutions where the samples are collected. It is suggested that for further study, more samples
should be taken from a larger number of institutions.
Keywords: SERVQUAL, satisfaction, word of mouth, post purchase behaviour, private education, loyalty
1. Introduction
The increase in student mobility in global higher education marks an important turning point in its landscape. The
changing of the global demographic trends clearly suggests a growing demand for quality higher education. The
significant changes in the infrastructure and the system of higher education in Asia (for example, Hong Kong,
Singapore and Malaysia) have contributed to the exponential growth in supply and demand in the higher education
industry in a very short period of time (Vaz & Mansori, 2013).
Strategically geographically located, Malaysia is in the most progressive developing region in the world and has a
strong base of foreign investments. It plays an active role in international organizations such as the Organization of
Islamic Countries. The links to these types of organizations have created significant competitive advantages for the
country to become an emerging force in the global higher education industry.
In 2011, the Malaysian Government became lenient in allowing more private higher education institutions to be
a part of the local higher education industry by making an amendment to the Private Higher Education Act
(1996). Furthermore, since 2009, it has been a part of the government’s higher education policy to diversify into
the local higher education market by allowing foreign based higher education institutions to establish their
campuses locally. The Government also encourages collaboration among local and foreign higher education

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institutions. All of these changes in the education industry in recent years have created more options for students
and make the competition more intense for higher education providers.
On the other hand, due to higher household income and the increase in Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP)
per capita, more students are able to enrol in higher education abroad. Additionally, private colleges and
universities (PCU) have offered similar programs and thus make the implementation of a variety of strategies
harder in order to create sustainable competitive advantage. Since product diversification has became difficult
due to similar product launches by competitors, many PCUs focus on improving the quality of their services so
that they can promote their institutions through high quality services.
Providing better education experience by offering higher and better quality service can increase students’
satisfaction which can in return generate more revenue for PCUs. Previous researches have found that student
satisfaction and the retention rate in higher education has a positive relationship and therefore the same
assumptions can be applied in this study. High student satisfaction also can lead to an increment in intention to
proceed to a higher level of studies in the same institution (Anderson, Fornell, & Lehmann, 1994; Berthon,
Ewing, & Napoli, 2008)
Current literature has shown that customers, who are satisfied of company service, usually accept the higher
price which can lead to increase the margin per customer. In addition, satisfied customers tend to support the
company by spreading the good word of mouth (WOM) and increase the level of publicity of the company. As a
result monitoring and reporting the customer satisfaction level is one of the tasks of marketing division of
companies (Wangenheim & Bayon, 2007; Wilson, 2002).
Several studies have tried to explore the cause of satisfaction/dissatisfaction and its effects on companies’
profitability in different sectors of industries. However, there is not many literature are found on private
education industry and more specifically in Malaysian PUCs. Unlike other industries, the impact of the services
in education is different because the level of its quality can influence the entire career of students. Moreover in
education, the cost to switch universities or even programmes, is very high due to the diversified curriculum.
Thus, students who are dissatisfied have no choice most of the time but to proceed with their studies at the
institution despite the quality of the services provided. Under these circumstances, students may use social media
and other mediums of communication to express their dissatisfaction and this would possibly tarnish the
institution’s reputation. Therefore, private education institution policy makers should be aware of the factors that
can influence the level of the students’ satisfaction and realize how it can affect the institution.
To address this issue and to find the answer for this dilemma, the study intends to explore the relationship
between reliability, tangibility, responsiveness, empathy and assurance factors which are known as SERVQUAL
with the level of student satisfaction and student loyalty as well as the intervening role of student satisfaction in
the relationships between SERVQUAL factors and student loyalty among undergraduate students.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Concept of Service Quality
The realization of the importance of the quality in the service industry has begun since the 1980s when supply
exceeded demand significantly in many developed markets. However, the noteworthy move toward
implementation and the study of service quality only kicked off in 1990s when companies started to focus on
quality of service as the main contributor in satisfaction / dissatisfaction (Chen & Aritejo, 2008).
Parasuraman et al., (1988) begun carrying out service quality studies in the 1980s by researching different
sectors in the service industry. In their studies, a variety of aspects were explored which can be considered as
factors that can affect the service quality based on customers point of view (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Initially
they included eleven factors into their exploratory study which included reliability, responsiveness,
customization, credibility, competence, accessibility, courtesy, security, communication, tangibility and
understanding or knowing the customer. However, after analyzing the results, they only published assurance,
empathy, responsiveness, reliability, and tangibles as factors that can influence the service quality. They include
these factors in SERVQUAL which is a measurement instrument for measuring the quality in services
(Parasuraman, et al., 1988). Based on the tests done on these five dimensions of SERVQUAL in many industries
indicate that they are reliable and valid (Brysland & Curry, 2001; Kassim & Abdullah, 2010; Lee, Kim, & Ahn,
2011; Naik, Krishna, & Gantasala, 2010; Sohail, 2003; Sohail & Shaikh, 2004).
Customers’ trust and confidence in employees’ knowledge and courtesy of an organization shows that they have
confidence and assurance pertaining to the service outcome (Yap, Wong, Loh, & Bak, 2010). Assurances given
by the company to their customers (students in the case of education) means that “We are sure of what we say

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and do” (Vaz & Mansori, 2013). However, lack of confidence in the institution can occur when employees fail to
provide or update the information needed by customers and thus can reduce the level of assurance which
consequently leads to dissatisfaction. To test this issue from students’ perspectives the below hypothesis is
developed:
H1: There is a significant relationship between assurance and student satisfaction.
Empathy can be defined as a deep caring and understanding of the customers’ feelings, situations and motives. It
evokes the desire to offer help that customers need by showing sympathy and compassion that match customers’
thinking, feeling or emotions (Hodges & Klein, 2001; Kassim & Abdullah, 2010). Thus, the show of empathy by
the institutions through their services to the customers convey the message that “We feel for you”. This factor is
considerably important in the education industry since the main group of customers in institutions are young
people who can be highly emotional due to personal or study problems. Therefore, the hypothesis below is
developed to test the relationship between empathy and student satisfaction:
H2: There is a significant relationship between empathy and student satisfaction
Responsiveness refers the level of the promptness in the staffs’ response to the customers’ enquiries (Lee, et al.,
2011) by showing that “We will get it done now”. The relationship between students and their institution may
start from the time of enrolment until their convocation, and it may go on beyond that through alumni activities.
Therefore, prompt actions which are taken following the student enquiries and complaints can be a determinant
factor in determining the level of student satisfaction. Hence, the hypothesis below is developed to test this
phenomenon:
H3: There is a significant relationship between responsiveness and student satisfaction.
Reliability is related to the accuracy and dependability of the services provided (Kassim & Abdullah, 2010).
Reliability shows the company meant it when it says “We deliver what we promise”. Reliability in the education
industry refers to the promises which are made by different levels of authority such as marketing teams, faculty
members, regarding the program and teaching faculty. Any misleading information or oversell promises made by
the marketing team can create expectations which are beyond the university’s capacity to deliver which could
later lead to students’ dissatisfaction. Therefore, to test the significant influence of this factor on student
satisfaction the hypothesis below is developed:
H4: There is a significant relationship between reliability and student satisfaction
Tangibility of service addresses all companies hardware such as building, facilities, communication channels (e.g.,
notice boards) and even the staff appearance (Naik et al., 2010). In other words, the company is able to convey a
message that “We can show it to you” by providing the facilities the customers need. The availability of facilities is
one of the major factors for students to select a particular institution (Dutta & Dutta, 2009). Therefore, the quality
of service related to the provided facilities is very important in determining whether the students will be satisfied or
dissatisfied with their chosen institution. As a result, to test this issue using empirical evidence the hypothesis
below is developed;
H5: There is a significant relationship between tangibility and student satisfaction
2.2 Relationship between Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
Satisfaction/dissatisfaction is the outcome of comparison between customer’s perception about the quality or
attribute of product/service and the deliverance of promise by company (Oliver, 2009). If the deliverance of the
company meets or exceeds the customer’s expectation then the customer will be either satisfied or even delighted.
However, if the company fails to meet the customer expectation, which might be created by overselling by the
sales people, the gap between customer expectation and the quality of the actual provided services can cause
dissatisfaction. Since switching course can be costly for students in the education industry, even when they are
dissatisfied of the institution’s services they have no choice but to stay with the current institution. However, the
possibility of the spreading bad word of mouth about the institution is high and this can tarnish the reputation of
the institution.
Customer loyalty can be established in many ways such as support towards a certain organization by continue
patronizing a certain provider and this leads to increment in the frequency of their purchases (Rowley, 2005;
Wilkins, Merrilees, & Herington, 2009). According to Olorunniwo et al., (2006), customers who are loyal have
an impact on the profitability and overall success of the organization in two distinctive ways. First, through
continuous liaison with the education institution by furthering their studies at higher levels in the same institution.
This can reduce the attrition rate of students and increase the profit per student by lowering the cost of marketing

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and advertising and thus reduce the organization’s operating costs. Secondly, loyal customers tend to have a
higher level of repurchase and recommendation intentions (Al-Rousan & Mohamed, 2010). In other words,
satisfied and loyal students are more likely to spread favourable comments and recommend the institution to
others. It is very importance in the education industry since recruiting new students is very costly. It is also very
difficult to carry out conventional marketing approaches (for example, advertising and promotional activities)
because the market place for education industry has became global (Vaz & Mansori, 2013).
However, despite the high importance of loyalty and student satisfaction in the education industry, not many
studies investigate the factors which can influence these issues. Moreover, most of the current studies have used
only quantitative approaches which cannot give an in depth picture of this phenomena (Vaz & Mansori, 2013).
Hence, to study the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty in the education industry from the students’
perspective the hypothesis below is developed:
H6: There is a significant relationship between student satisfaction and word of mouth.
H7: There is a significant relationship between student satisfaction and student's intention to continue a
relationship with an institution.
2.3 Theoretical Model of Study

Assurance
H1

Word of
Empathy H2
H5 Mouth
H3 Satisfaction
Tangibility
H4
H6
Reliability Intention to
H5 Continue
Responsiveness

3. Data and Results Analysis

To test the hypotheses of this study, 460 questionnaires were distributed using convenience sampling among
students in different faculties in three different PUCs in Malaysia. The questionnaire has four parts. The first part,
using the SERVQUAL measurements measures the level of perception toward service quality. In the second part,
students’ overall satisfaction is measured by five questions. Section three of the questionnaire is designed to
collect demographic information about the students. Lastly, the questionnaire contains an open ended question,
“My University is …” which gives an opportunity to the participants to express their perceptions about their
institution or voice out an issue that they may have.
After going through all the collected questionnaires, 29 questionnaires were excluded from the analysis due to
missing data and/or showing some trend in the responses, for example, rating all responses as either 5 or 1.
Demographic information of participants is presented in Table 1. These results indicate that the majority of
participants are degree students follows by diploma and degree transfer students (see Table1).

Table 1. Demographic factors

Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
Male 216 50.4 DEGREE 249 58
Gender
Female 215 49.6 DIPLOMA 78 18.1
Level
LOCAL 356 82 DEGREE TRANSFER 66 16.9
Nationality
INTERNATIONAL 75 18 PRE-UNIVESITY 38 7.0

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The validity test is done to test of validity of the employed measurement. Table 2 shows the results of the
validity test which indicates that the current instrument is valid and all variables meet the minimum thresholds
(p-value<.001 and KMO>.70). Furthermore, reliability test’s results indicate that all constructs are acceptable
since Cronbach Alphas (more than .7), average variance expected (AVE > .4) and the composite reliability
(CR>.7) of variables have met the minimum requirement (Okazaki, 2011).

Table 2. Validity and reliability

Variable KMO/Sig Cronbach Alphas AVE CR
Tangibility .80/.001 .74 .40 .82
Reliability .84/.001 .84 .56 .88
Responsiveness .72/.001 .77 .53 .88
Assurance .75/.001 .72 .58 .83
Empathy .71/.001 .77 .68 .86
Satisfaction .79/.001 .83 .66 .89
Word of Mouth .70/.001 .84 .86 .92
Intention for Continue .73/.001 .85 .84 .94

The results of SEM show that Chi-square = 103.134 / D = 1. GFI= .93, CFI=.931, NFI .93, IFI=.932 and
RMSEA=.29. The results for model fit show that all indices are perfectly good except RMSEA (Hair, Black,
Babin, & Anderson, 2010). In the case of RMSEA , studies show that this index is sensitive to the number of
variables and has a tendency to suggest better model fit when the number of variables is high but CFI and TFI
would suggest a worse fit index as the number of the observed variables increase (Breivik & Olsson, 2001; Fan
& Sivo, 2007).
The results in Table 3 show that H2 (p-value= .0001 β= .187), H3 (p-value= .007, β= .126), and H5
(p-value= .0001, β= .425), are supported as all p-values are less than .05. However, H1 and H4 are rejected
because their p-values are more than .05.The results also indicate that the factor which has the highest influence
on student satisfaction is tangibility followed by empathy and responsiveness. Moreover, current results of H6
(p-value= .0001, β=. 497) and H7 (p-value= .0001, β= .37) show that student satisfaction has a positive and
significant relationship with word of mouth and student intention to continue their studies with the same
institution.

Table 3. Estimates of regression weights

Estimate S.E. C.R. P
Satisfaction  Responsiveness .126 .046 2.718 .007
Satisfaction  Empathy .187 .045 4.191 .001
Satisfaction  Assurance .011 .048 .237 .813
Satisfaction  Reliability -.035 .047 -.753 .451
Satisfaction  Tangibility .425 .053 7.979 .001
Word of Mouth  Satisfaction .497 .066 7.478 .001
Intention  Satisfaction .366 .095 3.861 .001

The results from Table 3 also reveal that there should be other types of relationships between the variables in the
model rather than only direct relationship. Therefore, to test the mediation effect of student satisfaction on the
relationship between SERVQUAL dimensions and post purchase behaviour among students, the model was run
without the presence of the intervening variable (satisfaction).

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Table 4. Direct relationship between SERVQUAL dimensions and post purchase behaviour factors without the
presence of intervening variable (satisfaction)
Estimate S.E. C.R. P
WOM  Assurance .002 .067 .037 .971
WOM  Empathy .241 .062 3.890 .001
WOM  Responsiveness .176 .065 2.718 .007
WOM  Reliability .142 .065 2.183 .029
WOM  Tangibility .305 .074 4.107 .001
Intention  Assurance .166 .090 1.840 .066
Intention  Empathy .195 .084 2.315 .021
Intention  Responsiveness .014 .088 .160 .873
Intention  Reliability .073 .088 .821 .412
Intention  Tangibility .317 .101 3.147 .002

The results in Table 4 show that the first assumption of Baron and Kenny (1986) is met since empathy,
responsiveness and tangibility are directly related with word of mouth. In addition to that, the results show a
significant relationship between empathy, tangibility with intention (p-value< .05). However the first assumption
of Baron and Kenny (1986) does not exist for other relationships as the relationships between assurance and
word of mouth, assurance and intention, responsiveness and intention and reliability and intention are not
significant (p-value> .05).
Secondly, the mediator variable is added to the model and the bootstrap test was run for 10,000 times. The results
in Table 6 show that student satisfaction has a significant mediation role in the relationship between empathy,
responsiveness and tangibility and word of mouth (Total Effects p-values< .05). In addition, as in the presence of
student satisfaction, the direct relationship of this factor and word of mouth is insignificant (see Table 6). Therefore
it can be concluded that student satisfaction can fully mediate the relationship between empathy, responsiveness
and tangibility and word of mouth (Direct effect p-value> .05).

Table 5. Standardized total effects

Tangibility Reliability Assurance Empathy Responsiveness Satisfaction
Satisfaction .422 .043 .014 .224 .141 .000
Two Tailed .0001 .446 .806 .0001 .011 ...
Significance
Intention .197 .056 .125 .146 .010 .229
Two Tailed .004 .427 .117 .044 .884 .000
Significance
WOM .229 .132 -.002 .219 .149 .376
Two Tailed .001 .06 .994 .002 .011 .000
Significance

Moreover, the results show that student satisfaction fully mediate the relationship between tangibility and
empathy with intention since the p-value of the direct relationship is more than .05 (see Table 5 and Table 6).

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Table 6. Standardized direct effects

Tangibility Reliability Assurance Empathy Responsiveness Satisfaction
Satisfaction .422 -.043 .014 .224 .141 .000
Two Tailed .000 .446 .806 .000 .011 ...
Significance
Intention .101 .066 .122 .095 -.042 .229
Two Tailed .138 .349 .123 .193 .508 .000
Significance
Word of Mouth .071 .148 .007 .135 .096 .376
Two Tailed .138 .349 .123 .193 .508 .0001
Significance

Overall the results reveal that tangibility followed by empathy has the highest effect on students' intention when
they are considered to enrol in a particular institution for higher education in the future
(βTangibility= .197/p-value= .0001, βEmpathy= .146/p-value= .0001). Furthermore, the results also show that the
highest impact on students' positive word of month for an institution is tangibility followed by empathy and
responsiveness (βTangibility= .229/p-value= .001, βEmpathy= .219/p-value= .0001 and βResponsiveness= .149/
p-value= .0001) (see Table 5, 6 and7).

Table7. Standardized indirect effects

Tangibility Reliability Assurance Empathy Responsiveness Satisfaction
Satisfaction .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
Two Tailed
... ... ... ... ... ...
Significance
Intention .097 -.010 .003 .051 .032 .000
Two Tailed
.000 .446 .806 .000 .011 ...
Significance
WOM .159 -.016 .005 .084 .053 .000
Two Tailed
.000 .446 .806 .000 .011 ...
Significance

4. Discussion and Analysis of Projection Question

The result of this study supports previous reliability and validity studies using SERVQUAL in Malaysia
education industry as the entire index for reliability and validity are met or exceed the minimum threshold which
confirm the robustness of this measurement in different markets. Moreover, the results of this study are in
accordance with prior studies in this field as SERVQUAL factors may influence the level of customers’
satisfaction in the service industry. This study shows that tangibility has the highest impact on students overall
satisfaction level which supports previous research findings (Dutta & Dutta, 2009). This finding indicates that
the physical facilities on the campus (for example, computer labs, library, classrooms etc.) has a major impact on
student satisfaction. The results also show that tangibility has the highest influence (directly and indirectly) on
the students’ intention to further their study at a higher level and they would also spread good word of mouth
about the institution to their friends and the society.
This finding is also supported by the answers given in the last question. The majority of comments about the
university highly focus on the quality of physical infrastructures such as classrooms, security, library, sport
facilities, internet service, hostel and student canteens. For example:

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 “Classrooms are very dirty and ceiling got leakage”

 “Security system in campus is not good enough ….. I feel insecure sometimes.”
 “Some computers in the library do not function even”.
The second factor that can influence the overall level of students’ satisfaction in an institution is empathy or the
effort made by the staffs to understand the students’ needs and emotions. (Kassim & Abdullah, 2010). Empathy
plays an important role in determining the students’ intention to either recommend the institution to their friends
and relatives or in their decision to further their studies to the higher levels of education. The findings show that
personalize relationship with the institution’s staffs is really important to the students especially during the time
when the students may face some difficulties in certain situations such as dealing with their curriculum and other
personal issues. The complaints pertaining to the staff’s behaviour and their sense of empathy are also reflected
in the open ended questions. Below are a couple of samples of students’ response:
 “The guards aren’t fair to every student, showing fierce face.”
 “The staff shows bad manners sometimes towards students, not courteous at all. They are quite rude
sometimes.”
Essentially, education institutions should provide soft skills training for their staffs so that they are able to help
and provide better services to the students in their hour of need. The staffs also need to improve their
communication skills in order to have a better relationship with the students and indirectly improve the level of
satisfaction among their students.
The third factor that can influence the overall students’ satisfaction significantly is the staff’s responsiveness in
providing the services (Lee et al., 2011). This finding indicates that students look for fast and prompt responses
from the institution’s staffs and any delay in addressing their enquiry can cause dissatisfaction. The following is
a couple of examples of the perspectives that the students highlight from the projection question:
 “Slow respond from international office staffs”
 “Lecturers should keep more attention to each student, meaning to know the improvement of students.
The above responses show that it is important for an education institution to prepare clear standard operations
procedures (SOPs) for different processes and issues to guide the staffs in addressing the students or their
parents’ enquiry. In addition, it is important that staffs show them courtesy and thus, should be approachable and
accessible to students at the time of their need. This factor is important since it can directly and indirectly
influence the level of commitment from the students to share their good experience and therefore give a positive
recommendation to their friends and the relatives.
Despite the significant relationship between the above three factors of SERVQUAL and overall satisfaction,
reliability and assurance did not show any significant impact on overall satisfaction. One of the possibilities for
this outcome can be due to the nature of the education industry since it is highly regulated in Malaysia. In order
to launch new academic programmes, all institutions are required to submit their application to the Malaysian
Qualifications Agency (MQA), a regulatory body which assesses the quality of programmes and institutions.
Upon MQA’s approval, the institutions will have permission to advertise and implement their programmes.
Therefore, it is possible that students will consider it as an assurance and reliability of the programme in an
institution as a standard that should be in place by default.
As a conclusion, this study shows that students’ level of satisfaction with the private education offered by the
PUCs reflects the quality of the programme offers and the services provided by the PUCs. Moreover, the factors
studied in this study do clearly illustrate the relationship between service quality, satisfaction and student loyalty
which can be used in the future study which could have done with a wider scope and broader geographical area.
It is also hoped that this study may able to provide some insights for private education industry especially in
Malaysia.
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