Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Public and Private Universities in Tanzania

Service quality is referred to a valuation of how good a delivered service meets the customer’s expectation. Upper management

Service quality is one area which was studied extensively for the past four decades. In the field of service marketing, there are many definition for service quality. Parasuraman et al, (1988) defines service quality as a discrepancy between customers’ expectation and perception of a service or service experience and this is basically the perceived service quality. Based on this concept, Parasuraman et al. (1985), developed a model known as the SERVQUAL. The SERVQUAL model is based on 22-item scale and it measures service quality based on five dimensions which are reliability, responsiveness, tangibility, assurance and empathy. According to Parasuraman et. al (1985) these five dimension are generic and they are applicable across the industries. However, there are some critics to this model also such as Gronroos (1990) and Mangold and Babakus (1991) who opines that SERVQUAL solely focuses on the service delivery process while neglecting the outcome of the service. Interestingly, the inventors of SERVQUAL suggested the importance of both the functional and technical aspect of service quality in the model (Parasuraman et.al, 1985). However, they didn’t include the technical aspect but it in the instrument. The emphasis on the functional aspect is basically the American school which was

The primary purpose of the survey was to ascertain how customers perceived National’s quality of service

Brandy and Cronin (2001) introduced their own dimensions of service quality which are 1.) service environment, 2.) customer-employee interaction, and 3.) service outcome. These dimensions are considered the sources of quality of a service. Different dimensions of service quality have been introduced and accepted in past researches and studies but the 5 dimensions of Zeithaml et al., (1988) were proved to be the most reliable and credible. One of the most important strategies service providers can use to position themselves effectively in a competitive environment, and to distinguish themselves from competitors, is to provide and improve service quality to ensure the customer satisfaction (Cronin & Taylor,

When the competition was growing in service sector the demand for service quality was understood. At this time a new question was emerged, if it is possible to apply the principles of TQM in service industry. The literatures and viewpoints of different researchers made the latest moderations to TQM concepts and made TQM adaptable for service sector also.(2) Today, customers have a wide choice of service providers and they would choose only the best service providers in terms of quality, reliability, and profitability and who are at par with international standards. Therefore, the quality of service plays a dominant role and is a primary factor in ensuring the survival of the service provider in the global market. The whole focus is now concentrated on providing services to customer beyond his expectations. This concept is applicable to all service industries and has given birth to the concept of TQM in service

Introduction There appear to be five major debates taking place in the service quality area. One debate concerns the similarities and differences between the constructs of service quality and satisfaction (see e.g. Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Bolton and Drew, 1991; Cronin and Taylor, 1992, 1994; Oliver, 1993; Parasuraman et al., 1988; Taylor, 1993; Zeithaml et al., 1993). There appears to be a consensus emerging that satisfaction refers to the outcome of individual service transactions and the overall service encounter, whereas service quality is the customer’s overall impression of the relative inferiority/superiority

The key to ensuring good quality service is meeting or exceeding what the customers expect from services. Judgements of high and low quality depend on how customers the actual service performance in the context of what they expected. Service quality, as perceived by the customers, can be defined as the extent of discrepancy but customers’ expectations or desires and their

Customer satisfaction and service quality are the two important components that direct anyone’s attention in every concept related to marketing, services, etc. (Spreng and Mackoy, 2006). In today’s competitive era, the success lies in

Researcher’s trust that the service quality theory depends on the literature of client satisfaction and product quality. In other words, service quality can be defined as the customer’s overall journey of experience with the product, which can be measured by customer satisfaction while experiencing the service.

Located in Kamloops, British Columbia, Thompson Rivers University (TRU) currently has approximately 14,000 students on campus. With fifteen other universities in the province, TRU must convince prospective students, including domestic and international, that they should choose TRU for their educational needs. Improving student satisfaction is one way TRU can attract these prospective students and increase its retention rate. TRU, like other higher education institutions (HEI), is a firm offering services to customers. Kotler and Keller (2008) have defined services as “deeds, performances or efforts of providers to customers.” Although this definition for services is generally accepted, there is far less consistency in available definitions for customer satisfaction. Solomon (1994), for example, has defined customer satisfaction as “an overall feeling, or attitude, a person has about a product after it has been purchased,” whereas Oliver (2010) has defined customer satisfaction as “the consumer’s fulfilment response. It is a judgement that a product/service feature, or the product or service itself provided (or is providing) a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfilment, including levels of under- or overfulfillment.” Much like a traditional service business, an HEI exists to provide services to satisfy its target customers or students. In fact, students are of such importance to an educational institution’s success that scholars have even labelled

As part of learning outcomes for Managing Service Quality class, we need to critically assess and identify services issues regarding their customer satisfaction of a hospitality organization of our choice.

The pattern of rising expectations of quality service delivery is a universal and a wave of reforms has swept the world with increasing number of organizations

There are many ways for one to show good customer service and as said by Collier (2011), good customer service is essential. Collier mentions that meeting and exceeding customer expectations is the way to good customer service. To give good customer service, key methods would be being consistent and continuous with work ethic and attitude, and constantly doing this. Being thoughtful too not only customers, but other colleges are a key component as well as availability to customers. This is important as customers need to feel as if you are willing and able to provide your service. Punctuality and grooming are also mentioned as critical elements as it is how you present yourself to customers.

Service quality represents a fundamental aspect of delivery, which strongly influences consumer satisfaction and, as a result, loyalty. In today’s global market a customer’s service expectation has to be met and exceeded eventually in order to retain customers as well as achieve success. Perceived quality of a product or a service is becoming one of the major competitive factors in the business world and has led to the innovation of the ‘Quality Era’ (Peeler, 1996). In simple words, the comparison of customer expectations with service performance is service quality. On the other hand, customer satisfaction is defined as a pleasurable fulfilment response toward a good, service, benefit, or reward (Oliver, 1997). Both of these

Universities around the world come up with ideas to promote their programmes among the prospective students to both boost their reputation by producing top class professionals and also to raise revenue to improve on their service. The word “quality” means different things to different people. To measure the service quality of an institution, it is essential to understand how the key stakeholders define quality. The key stakeholders who are a part of the university are the faculty and the students. It is hence staffs’ and students’ definitions of quality that need to be analysed to develop a programme that aligns with their perceptions and meets their expectations.