Determinants of customer perceptions of quality service for business education in New Zealand

Abstract

Quality means different things to different people. Academics in the area of philosophy, economics, marketing, and operations management have explored this concept, but each group sees it from a different point of view. In the marketing area, perceived quality is one of the most subjective dimensions of quality. Particularly as it relates to a service, customers often do not have all, or enough information about a service’s attributes. When this situation occurs, customers usually use indirect measures for comparing services. It is then perceptions of quality become critical. This study has developed a model that identifies key determinants of perceived quality in the New Zealand tertiary educational sector. These determinants influence the student’s evaluation of service quality in education. A review of the literature, exploratory focus groups, and a mail survey were used to gather data to develop and test the model. Based on the information obtained, strategies have been generated to allow New Zealand educational institutions to provide quality services, and in doing so, make them more competitive. Chapter one of this thesis provides a brief overview of the topic, including the problem statement, importance of the research, and the proposed methodology. Chapter two deals with Tertiary Education in New Zealand. This chapter offers a brief discussion of the changes in the New Zealand Tertiary Education system, and of the competitive environment that currently exists. Chapter three discusses the marketing of education as a service; a review of the literature in the areas of Service Marketing and Marketing of Education is provided. This chapter also identifies the customers of an educational institution. Chapter four examines the conceptual understanding of service quality and its role in consumer decision making. A literature review of the area of Service Quality is furnished to define quality, and emphasise the importance of the determinants of quality, and how customers evaluate it. This chapter also explores the relationship between perception of quality, and customer choice. From the literature, the researcher has developed a Service Quality model for education. Chapter five discusses the Research Methodology utilized in this thesis, the different data collection methods used to develop the model; the instrument to test the model is provided. This chapter also reports the preliminary results of the focus group interviews. Chapter six provides the analysis of results. Detailed statistical analysis of the information obtained, and the major findings are discussed. Chapter seven provides a discussion of the major findings in relation to the research objectives, and the strategies suggested to assist New Zealand educational institutions to become more competitive. This chapter also discusses suggestions for future research.