Doctor of philosophy in education management

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY IMPROVING SERVICE QUALITY FOR PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTHERN KEY ECONOMIC REGION OF VIETNAM Dissertation Submitted to Bulacan State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATION MANAGEMENT By PHAM DINH SAC ID: BCC120436 January 2014 i APPROVAL SHEET This Dissertation of PHAM DINH SAC entitled IMPROVING SERVICE QUALITY FOR PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTHERN KEY ECONOMIC REGION OF VIETNAM”, which is prepared and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree, Doctor of Philosophy, major in Educational Management, is hereby accepted PHAN NGOC SON, PHD Dissertation Adviser DISSERTATION COMMITTEE Chairman Member External Panelist Accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, major in Educational Management Date: ii ABSTRACT After over 20 years of socialization in Higher Education, Vietnam got some achievements in provide educational chances for learners However, until now, there have been few of private universities accepted by society Most of them are trying day by day for survival due to lack of students Nowadays, education considered as business industry globally If so, university is service provider and student is their customer Service supplier cannot business without customer Private universities in Vietnam need to build its own brand starting with improving training quality and student satisfaction Hence, this research was conducted to investigate determinant factors of training service quality affected on student satisfaction The objectives of this study are: (1) To measure and access service quality of private universities in Southern economic region, (2) To explore determinants of Student satisfaction toward Service quality in Higher education, and (3) To recommend some solutions for service quality improvement in Higher Education This research aimed to extend and verify the HEdPERF model developed by Ferdaus (2005) in case of Vietnam The findings of this study showed that there are five determinants of training service quality have mainly effected to student satisfaction, they are: Non-academics, Reputation, Academic, Selection, and Student rights Practical implications: The results drawn out from this research will be helpful for private university to improve its quality in Higher education and service in severe market as education, which accepts the existence of highly qualified universities Keywords: Student satisfaction, Service quality in Higher education, Private University, HEdPERF, Education Management iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Completion of this doctoral dissertation was possible with the support of several people I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all of them First of all, I am extremely grateful to my research guide, Dr Phan Ngoc Son, for his valuable guidance, scholarly inputs and consistent encouragement I received throughout the research work This feat was possible only because of the unconditional support provided by Sir A person with an amicable and positive disposition, Sir has always made himself available to clarify my doubts despite his busy schedules and I consider it as a great opportunity to my doctoral programme under his guidance and to learn from his research expertise Thank you Sir, for all your help and support Some faculty members of the Dongnai University of Technology have been very kind enough to extend their help at various phases of this research, whenever I approached them, and I hereby acknowledge all of them I thank Dr Ta Xuan Te, Rector of the Dongnai University of Technology, for his valuable suggestions and concise comments on some of the research papers of the thesis My colleague-Vu Thinh Truong has extended his support in statistical data analysis and I thank them for their contributions I am myself showing my deepest thanks to Victoria P Valenzuela, D.P.A - Dean of the Graduate School Bulacan State University, friends who support and create advantageous conditions for me to study and complete this dessertation Last but not least, I would like to give my special thanks to my family whose patient love enabled me to finish this work Dong Nai / January, 2014 Pham Dinh Sac iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE TITLE: IMPROVING SERVICE QUALITY FOR PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTHERN KEY ECONOMIC REGION OF VIETNAM APPROVAL SHEET ii ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FINGURES ix LIST OF FINGURES ix CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Problem Statement 1.3 Objectives 1.4 Importance of the study 1.5 Time and Place of Study 1.6 Scope and Limitation of Study CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Higher Education 2.2 The overview of Higher Education in Vietnam in recent years 2.3 Definition of Service 13 2.4 Features of services 14 v 2.5 Service Quality 15 2.6 Service quality models and related topics to service quality in Higher Education 15 2.7 Student satisfaction 28 2.8 The relationship between satisfaction and service quality 29 2.9 Conceptual Framework 30 CHAPTER 3: METHOD OF RESEARCH MODEL AND TECHNIQUES OF STUDY 32 3.1 Research Procedure 32 3.2 Sample Size 33 3.3 Questionnaire Design 33 3.4 Measurements 34 3.5 Analysis techniques 36 3.5.1 Testing reliability of scale by Cronbach’s Alpha 36 3.5.2 Exploratory Factors Analysis (EFA) 37 3.5.3 Multiple-Regression Analysis 37 3.5.4 ANOVA Analysis 39 CHAPTER 4: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA 40 4.1 The performance of private universities in the Southern key economic region of Vietnam 40 4.2 Sample Description 42 vi 4.3 Testing the reliability of training quality in Higher Education scale by Cronbach’s Alpha 48 4.4 Testing the reliability of scale of satisfaction by Cronbach’s Alpha 49 4.5 Assessment on Training Service Quality Scale using EFA analysis 50 4.6 Assessment of Customer Satisfaction Scale through EFA analysis 52 4.7 Research Model Adjustment 53 4.8 Regression Analysis 54 4.8.1 Correlation Matrix 54 4.8.2 Regression Analysis 56 4.9 ANOVA analysis 57 4.10 Discussion 63 CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION 66 5.1 Summary and Conclusion 66 5.2 Recommendation 67 5.2.1 Creating and training serving style for non-academic staffs 67 5.2.2 Investment more on campus facilities, health care for student and job consulting 68 5.2.3 Developing academic staffs team 69 5.2.4 Offering good campus for student 69 REFERENCES 70 APPENDIX 72 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Staff Qualifications in Higher Education Institutions (%) Table 4.1: The number of students of each university in the study 41 Table 4.2: Frequency of sample 42 Table 4.3: Descriptive statistics 43 Table 4.4: Coding Variables in Measurement Scale 44 Table 4.5: Cronbach’s Alpha Analysis of HEdPERF Scale 48 Table 4.6 : Exploratory Factor Matrix for HEdPERF scale 51 Table 4.7: Exploratory Factor Matrix for student satisfaction scale 52 Table 4.8 Correlation Matrix 55 Table 4.9: Regression Analysis 56 Table 4.10: Hypothesis of variance between groups Test 58 Table 4.11: ANOVA analysis 58 Table 4.12: Test of Homogeneity of Variances 60 Table 4.13: ANOVA analysis of modified HEdPERF scale 61 viii LIST OF FINGURES Fingure 2.1: The Integrated Gaps Model of Service Quality 18 Fingure 2.2 Conceptual Model 31 Diagram 4.1: The structure of sample in term of province 42 Diagram 4.2: Mean of student satisfaction within groups 59 Diagram 4.3: Mean of service quality’s factors within groups 62 ix CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND 1.1 Introduction In the past, all universities in Vietnam owned and funded by the Government There were only few of universities located in big cities At that time, it was very hard for one student to be accepted for admission by the university However, within ten years, under the policy of socialization in Higher Education, there have been many private universities, colleges and vocational schools appeared This policy gives many opportunities to learners for selection Nowadays, private universities are driven towards commercial competition imposed by economic forces resulting from the development of global education markets In addition, the reduction of government funds that forces tertiary institutions to seek other financial sources From now, the competition in recruiting new students between Higher education institutions exploded According to data collected by Vietnam ministry of Education and Training, some institutions could not recruit enough students, even included state-owned one in last two years The measurement for success now is the annual number of fresh students Institution, which meets the requirements of reputable academic staffs, modern facilities, accredited training programs, and has long-term development strategy, will attract qualified students If not, it is likely to eliminate from this severe market Service quality in training being considered as the key of problems solving Only concentration on improving study environment quality is main strategy in forming highly reputable brand in students’ mindset and society That is reason why measuring and accessing the service quality is necessary for all universities and colleges It helps to improve and increase the satisfaction of students CHAPTER 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION 5.1 Summary and Conclusion After over 20 years of socialization policy, Private universities begun to appear in Vietnam, contributed to produce highly qualified human resource for economy development Until now, Education is considered as a service industry and create more benefits than it was before Because of that, private universities had try their best to provide good training service to its customers-students and expected to attract more students and compete with state-owned universities and other private ones However, nearly half of private universities of Vietnam are doing business hardly and going to bankruptcy due to the failure of recruiting new students Although, service quality, the level of satisfaction are not new research topics in the business and academic world, in case of Vietnam, it should be reconsider to improve the performance of universities Some previous studies in Vietnam undertook in single universities and most of them applied very well-known and popular in service quality, SERQUAL and SERPERF model However, these model have been using in many different industries and countries while education is a special industry It means that we need to create and develop new measurement instrument to assess service quality precisely Therefore, with that purpose, this research in the first time applied HEdPERF model of Ferdaus (2006) in Vietnam case This model tested in Malaysia (2005, 2006) and in Canada (Anna, 2009) The main objective of this research is to improve service quality for private universities in southern key region of Vietnam To accomplish this, based on HEPERF model, the study identified five determined factors of training service quality: NonAcademic, Reputation, Academic, Selection, and Student Rights Each of them contained 66 many different measured variables Then, a multiple regression was run to test whether the relationship between these observed variables with student satisfaction As a results of that, all five factor strongly affected on the overall student satisfaction These determinants considered as control variables to assess whether the difference within groups in term of service quality Under No-academic and university reputation terms, it found that Ho Chi Minh and Binh Duong was better than Dong Nai In term of other components of training service quality, it did not find empirical evidences indicated that there was different means within groups These research results would be important foundation for dissertation to recommend solutions for improving service quality for private universities in southern key economics region of Vietnam 5.2 Recommendation Improving the training quality is the final output of a process Based on the results drawing out from above analysis, this research recommends some solutions for private universities in southern key economics region as follows 5.2.1 Creating and training serving style for non-academic staffs Administrative staffs- they directly contact and handle out all requests from students Therefore, their serving attitude, their support will mainly make the student feel more satisfied Building and training a professional working style for non-academic staffs helps students feel secure when they study in our university Training courses should be regularly held for up-to-date serving styles All staffs of university must know how to communicate with student well 67 All procedures in the campus should apply the latest version of ISO in order to standardize paperwork It is so helpful to reduce processing time of student requests at minimum and save money for university Besides, to promote the counseling for students, the universities should public the contact information of departments on website or notice boards inside the campus It may be helpful for students when they need the support from staffs 5.2.2 Investment more on campus facilities, health care for student and job consulting There are not many private universities investing on campus facilities like e-library, laboratory rooms, sports area, and well-equipped auditoriums to improve the quality of training It is hard to get the beliefs from society and recruit new students Because, students will surely never choose the university without anything or having poor infrastructure A beautiful, appealing campus attracts students to come and study Vietnamese students often live far from their family in the hostel or outside-campus apartment near the university However, the survey indicated that there are two problems, which make students unsatisfied Firstly, most of universities within group have not pay attention to the health care for students (mean of RE10 = 3.22) The universities should regularly hold health checking for staffs and its students to protect them from harmful diseases Secondly, in Vietnam, students graduated from private universities normally hard to get a job That is one of reasons that students are reluctant to choose private university for studying Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and Ho Chi Minh are places having many industrial zones and business centers Private universities should take these advantages to boost the relationship with enterprises to create jobs from graduate 68 students Moreover, an inside-campus consulting job center needs to be considered for establishment It should help to find part-time or full-time jobs for students This center will deliver soft skill courses to whom want get stable income jobs 5.2.3 Developing academic staffs team Most of lectures of private universities have not meet the standard of Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training on education qualification (Lecture must have Master degree) From now on and near future, universities should encourage its lectures to sign in master and doctoral programs through remuneration packages for them Along with academic team development, private universities need to concentrate on writing and editing learning materials, innovate teaching methods with the aim to burn up the conceptualization and creativity of learners Besides, building and releasing policies allow lectures and students to implement scientific researches and technology transference and invite outside researchers to undertake researching projects 5.2.4 Offering good campus for student The results in findings found that beautiful, campus is able to appeal the students However, there are many private universities in Vietnam which not have own infrastructure and meet the requirement of the square meter per student (at least 25m2/student) Moreover, the campus are not mostly well equipped, even poor and not safety for learners It is hard to attract more students and improve the training quality with such condition Management board of private universities should consider it seriously, when they set up a long term marketing strategies 69 REFERENCES [1] Cronin & Taylor (1992), Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension, Journal of Marketing, 56 pages [2] Cronbach, L J (1951) Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests Psychometrika, 16(3), 297-334 [3] Grönroos, (1984) "A Service Quality Model and its Marketing Implications", European Journal of Marketing, Vol 18 Iss: 4, pp.36 – 44 [4] Kottler and Keller (2010), Designing and Managing service, Marketing Management (385-413), New York McGraw Hill [5] Parasuraman, Z And B (1990) Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, New York: The Free Press, 256 pp [6] Firdaus Abdullah, (2006),"Measuring service quality in higher education: HEdPERF versus SERVPERF", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol 24 Iss: pp 31 – 47 [7] Firdaus, A (2005), “The development of HEdPERF: a new measuring instrument of service quality for higher education”, International Journal of Consumer Studies, online publication, 20 October [8] Hair, J.F Jr, Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L and Black, W.C (1995),Multivariate Data Analysis with Readings, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ [9] http://www.dntu.edu.vn [10] http://www.hutech.edu.vn 70 [11] http://www.bvu.edu.vn [12] http://www.ktkt.edu.vn [13] http://www.hcmus.edu.vn [14] http://www.ier.edu.vn 71 APPENDIX Appendix A: Cronbach’s Alpha analysis of HEdPERF scale Scale Observed Scale Mean if Variance if variable Item Deleted Item Deleted Corrected Item-Total Correlation Squared Multiple Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted Academic variables group: Alpha = 838 AC1 29.03 22.522 543 371 822 AC2 29.18 22.408 575 372 818 AC3 29.20 22.150 589 364 817 AC4 29.20 22.310 557 332 820 AC5 29.21 22.292 550 322 821 AC6 28.98 22.671 555 314 820 AC7 29.29 23.020 472 268 829 AC8 29.40 22.027 529 327 824 AC9 28.92 22.161 563 347 819 Reputation variables group: Alpha = 866 RE1 31.09 34.643 548 325 856 RE2 31.24 33.567 581 364 853 RE3 31.26 33.905 607 407 851 RE4 31.14 34.460 646 443 849 RE5 31.11 34.319 565 331 854 RE6 31.22 34.658 535 301 857 RE7 31.05 35.610 451 246 863 RE8 31.08 34.116 639 428 849 RE9 31.44 33.254 613 439 850 RE10 31.46 32.949 622 445 850 72 Programme Issues variables group: Alpha = 750 PI1 11.04 4.504 549 305 691 PI2 10.66 4.903 499 252 717 PI3 10.91 4.506 598 360 664 PI4 10.98 4.384 540 302 697 Non-Academic variables group: Alpha = 899 NA1 35.29 43.447 620 459 890 NA2 35.38 42.393 663 489 888 NA3 35.38 43.515 673 488 887 NA4 35.03 43.823 632 413 890 NA5 35.23 43.368 649 435 889 NA6 35.09 44.775 555 319 894 NA7 35.22 42.598 681 495 887 NA8 35.14 43.735 646 464 889 NA9 35.09 44.714 609 395 891 NA10 35.20 43.380 608 414 891 NA11 35.16 44.196 603 406 891 Assess variables group: Alpha = 836 AS1 21.55 14.255 628 443 806 AS2 21.38 15.216 549 364 819 AS3 21.72 14.448 561 332 818 AS4 21.45 14.969 587 358 813 AS5 21.29 14.951 552 334 819 AS6 21.40 14.274 631 429 806 AS7 21.60 15.143 598 364 812 73 Appendix B: Cronbach’s Alpha analysis of student satisfaction scale Observed variable Scale Mean if Item Deleted Corrected Scale Variance Item-Total if Item Deleted Correlation Squared Multiple Correlation Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted Alpha = 871 SA1 17.76 12.359 704 532 843 SA2 17.81 12.430 668 470 849 SA3 17.74 12.208 681 502 847 SA4 17.79 12.654 648 445 852 SA5 17.63 12.625 660 441 850 SA6 17.65 12.433 658 439 851 Appendix C: Regression Analysis Model Summary Model R Adjusted R Square 830a R Square 689 Std Error of the Estimate 687 55974897 ANOVAb Model Sum of Squares Mean Square df Regression 530.998 106.200 Residual 240.002 766 313 Total 771.000 771 a Predictors: (Constant), SR, SEL, AC, RE, NA b Dependent Variable: SAT 74 F 338.950 Sig .000a 75 Appendix D: Questionaire Hello! My name is Phạm Đình Sắc, from Dong Nai University of Technology, I am doing my thesis with the name of topic “IMPROVING SERVICE QUALITY FOR PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTHERN KEY ECONOMIC REGION IN VIETNAM” Please help me to fill up the below questionnaire Information are given is confidential and will only be used for academic purpose Your cooperation in providing true information and honest views is very much appreciated Part 1: Overall information (please choose only suitable answer) Q1 Which university are you studying? □ Dong Nai university of Technology □ HUTECH □ Nguyen Tat Thanh □ Lac Hong University □ HUFLIT □ Binh Duong University Q2 What your school year are you in? □ First Year student □ Fourth year □ Second year □ Fifth year Q3 What field/major are you following in the university? □ Economics/Business □ Language □ Engineering □ Other Q4 Sex □ Male □ Female 76 □ Third year Part 2: Main Information Based on the questionnaire below, please let us know your assessment on training service quality provided by your university? Strongly dissatisfied Dissatisfy Average Satisfy Items A ACADEMIC Academic staff have the knowledge to answer my questions relating to the course content Academic staff deal with me in a caring and courteous manner Academic staff are never too busy to respond to my request for assistance When I have a problem, academic staff show a sincere interest in solving it Academic staff show positive attitude towards students Academic staff communicate well in the classroom Academic staff provide feedback about my progress Academic staff allocate sufficient convenient time for consultation and Academic staff are highly educated experience in their respective field and B REPUTATION The institution appearance/image has a professional The hostel facilities and equipment are adequate and necessary 77 Strongly satisfied Academic facilities are adequate and necessary The institution programmes Recreational necessary Class sizes are kept to minimum to allow personal attention The institution has an ideal location with excellent campus layout and appearance The institution programmes The institution’s employable runs facilities offers excellent are adequate highly graduates quality and reputable are easily 10 Health services are adequate and necessary C PROGRAMME ISUUE The course syllabus contains case studies occurred in the reality The institution offers a wide range programmes with various specialisations The institution offers programmes with flexible syllabus and structure Class time schedule is flexible for students of D NON-ACADEMIC When I have a problem, administrative staffs show a sincere interest in solving it Inquiries/complaints are dealt with efficiently and promptly Administrative staff are never too busy to respond to a request for assistance Administration offices retrievable records keep accurate 78 and When the staff promise to something by a certain time, they so The opening hours of administrative offices are personally convenient for me Administrative staff show positive work attitude towards students Administrative staffs communicate well with students Administrative staffs have good knowledge of the systems/procedures 10 I feel secure and confident in my dealings with this institution 11 The institution provides services reasonable/expected time frame within E ASSESS Students are treated equally and with respect by the staff Students are given fair amount of freedom The staff ensure that they are easily contacted by telephone The institution operates an excellent counseling services The institution encourages and promotes the setting up of student’s union The institution values feedback from students to improve service performance The institution has a standardized and simple service delivery procedures F STUDENT SATISFACTION I totally satisfied with training quality the university provided Non-academic staffs always meet all students’ 79 requirements I am proud of my university I satisfied with solutions university took action when I had problems or requests I satisfied with programmes I felt happy when I received the caring attention from the university the quality of training THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! 80 ... an indicator of the quality of a higher education institution, especially in the case of international rankings In Vietnam, the proportion of faculty having a doctoral degree has been falling... now, the competition in recruiting new students between Higher education institutions exploded According to data collected by Vietnam ministry of Education and Training, some institutions could... approval and consolidation Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) consolidate the budget proposals from line ministries and make final allocations based on budget