Service quaility, perceived price and customer satisfaction in higher education , luận văn thạc sĩ

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Diep Quoc Bao SERVICE QUALITY, PERCEIVED PRICE AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION A comparison between Public Universities and Non-public Universities in Vietnam MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2012 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Diep Quoc Bao SERVICE QUALITY, PERCEIVED PRICE AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN HIGHER EDUCATION A comparison between Public Universities and Non-public Universities in Vietnam ID: 60340102 MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) SUPERVISOR: PROF NGUYEN DONG PHONG Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2012 -1- ABSTRACT This study empirically examines the effects of Perceived Tuition on University Service Quality and Student Satisfaction as well as the impact of University Service Quality on Student Satisfaction toward higher education service The research also explores the moderating role of University Type variable on these relationships Structural equation modeling was used to test these impacts, utilizing a sample of 612 students in two Public universities and two Non-public universities The results indicate that both University Service Quality and Perceived Tuition play significant role in predicting Student Satisfaction In addition, Perceived Tuition not only has a direct impact on Student Satisfaction, but also an indirect influence through University Service Quality The findings of this research also provide evidence of the differences between Public sector and Non-public sector in the influence of Perceived Tuition on University Service Quality, Student Satisfaction, and University Service Quality on Student Satisfaction Particularly, the effect of Perceived Tuition and University Service Quality on Student Satisfaction is much greater in Non-public universities compared to that in Public universities Hence, an increase in University service quality or Perceived tuition leads to a higher increase in Student satisfaction extent in Non-public universities compared to Public sector It implies that university managers have to pay attention to improve their service quality and consider the approach in pricing the service in other to satisfy their students The students are persuaded by the fitness between service quality they receive and the tuition they have to pay for university compared to other similar tertiary institutions The research findings also engage with some limitations in the strength of measurement scale, the sampling method as well as the fitness between the research model and data It results in the valuable directions for further researches in future - iii - ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere appreciation of the advice, guidance and support that I have received from my academic supervisors, my colleagues, and staff at ISB In particular, I wish to extend special thank you for the support and guidance from Professor Nguyen Dong Phong and Assoc Prof Nguyen Dinh Tho They have patiently instructed and shared with me their experiences to help me forward on right decisions I wish to express my gratitude to the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh city who have supported me during two years for the Masters degree Finally, I would like to thank many of my colleagues and friends from the academic and business environment who have offered valuable advice and assistance for me to accomplish my study - iv - STATEMENT OF AUTHENTICATION (Candidate Certificate) I certify that the work in the thesis entitled “Service quality, Perceived price and Customer satisfaction in higher education – A comparison between Public universities and Nonpublic universities in Vietnam” is the result of my own research and has not been submitted for a higher degree to any university or institution other than International School of Business (ISB) I also certify that the thesis has been written by me Any help and assistance that I have received in my thesis have been appropriately acknowledged Signed Date: December, 2012 -v- TABLE OF CONTENTS Title i Acknowledgement iii Statement of authentication iv Table of contents v Appendix vii List of Tables viii List of Figures viii ABSTRACT Chapter – INTRODUCTION 1.1 Higher education in Vietnam 1.2 Research problem statement 1.3 Research objectives 1.4 Scope of the research 1.5 Significance of the research 1.6 Organization of the thesis Chapter – LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES 11 2.1 Literatures review 12 2.1.1 Customer satisfaction 12 2.1.2 Service quality concept and measurement 12 2.1.3 Service quality in higher education 14 2.1.4 Perceived service price in higher education 16 2.1.5 Customer satisfaction 17 2.1.6 Customer satisfaction in higher education 19 2.1.7 Service quality and customer satisfaction in higher education 19 2.1.8 Perceived price and customer satisfaction in higher education 20 2.1.9 Perceived price and service quality in higher education 21 2.1.10 Moderating effect of University type (Public and Non-public universities) 22 2.2 Research model & hypotheses 24 - vi - Chapter – RESEARCH METHODS 26 3.1 Research procedure 27 3.2 Qualitative research design 28 3.3 Quantitative research design 29 3.3.1 Measurement scale 29 3.3.2 Sampling 32 3.3.3 Sample size 33 3.3.4 Data analysis 34 Chapter – DATA ANALYSIS AND REASEARCH RESULTS 35 4.1 Data statistical analysis 36 4.2 Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of reliability test 36 4.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) result 39 4.4 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) result 42 4.4.1 CFA for University Service Quality scale 42 4.4.2 CFA for Perceived Tuition scale and Student Satisfaction scale 43 4.4.3 Saturated Model 44 4.4.3.1 Discriminant validity test 45 4.4.3.2 Composite reliability and variance extracted 45 4.5 Research model test 46 4.5.1 Theoretical model test by using SEM approach 46 4.5.2 Theoretical model estimation by BOOTSTRAP 49 4.5.3 Results of Multi-group analysis 49 Chapter - DISCUSSION, IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITATIONS 55 5.1 Discussion and implications of the research 56 5.2 Limitations and directions for further research 58 CONCLUSION 61 REFERENCES 62 - vii - APPENDIX 68 Appendix 3.1 - Script for focus group interview 68 Appendix 3.2 - The qualitative research findings 70 Appendix 3.3 – Questionnaire 73 Appendix 4.1 - The result of EFA analysis 79 Appendix 4.2 - The result of CFA for University service quality (Sequa) scale 83 Appendix 4.3 - The result of CFA for Sequa scale (Nacadm5 excluded) 84 Appendix 4.4 - Correlations (CFA result for Sequa scale) 85 Appendix 4.5 - Saturated model 85 Appendix 4.6 - Saturated model (Tuiti5, Undst1, Undst2 excluded) 86 Appendix 4.7 - Correlations (SEM result for Saturated model) 86 Appendix 4.8 - The result for multi-group analysis of variance model and partial invariance model (University type variable) 87 LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Table 4.1 Table 4.2 Table 4.3 Table 4.4 Table 4.5 Table 4.6 Table 4.7 Table 4.10 Table 4.11 Table 4.12 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 Figure 2.2 Figure 3.1 Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 4.3 Figure 4.4 -2- Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Higher education in Vietnam According to the Vietnamese Education Law in 2012, higher education covers undergraduate and postgraduate studies Undergraduate studies can lead to diploma or bachelor degrees while postgraduate studies can lead to master degrees and doctorate degrees In Vietnam higher education system, higher education institutions are structured including: Colleges can offer college programs and other lower level programs; Universities can offer college, undergraduate, master and doctorate programs as assigned by the Prime Minister; Research institutes can offer doctorate programs and in cooperating with universities can offer master programs subject to permission from the Prime Minister In the tertiary education institutes system, Vietnam has two forms: public universities and colleges which are funded by the Government and non-public institutes which including semi-State, self-funded or private universities and colleges, regarding to Decision 9/2001/QD-BGD&DT of the Ministry of Education and Training dated 28 August, year 2001 There is a fundamental difference in managerial perspective of the Government between these two sectors The public sector has to follow strictly the regulations of the Government in tuition policies and financial aspects, according to Decree 49/2010/ND-CP of the Government dated 14 May, year 2010, while the nonpublic sector has more self-control Over the past 10 years, higher education in Vietnam has experienced many changes, consisting of expansion as well as establishment of new educational institutions with diversified types and improvement in quality (Nguyen, Oliver, Priddy, 2009) -81- Pattern Matrix Nacdm1 Nacdm2 Nacdm3 Nacdm4 Nacdm5 Nacdm6 Nacdm7 Nacdm8 Acadm1 Acadm2 Acadm3 Acadm4 Acadm5 Acadm6 Acadm7 Acadm8 Reptt1 Reptt2 Reptt3 Reptt4 Reptt5 Reptt6 Acces1 Acces2 Acces3 Acces4 Acces5 Acces6 Undst1 a Undst2 Undst3 Undst4 -82- Progr1 Progr2 Progr3 Progr4 Progr5 Tuiti1 Tuiti2 Tuiti3 Tuiti4 Tuiti5 Satif1 Satif2 Satif3 Satif4 Satif5 Extraction Method: Principal Axis Factoring Rotation Method: Promax with Kaiser Normalization a Rotation converged in 11 iterations -83- APPENDIX 4.2 The result of CFA for University service quality scale Standardized Regression Weights: (Group number - Default model) Acadm3 Reptt4 Reptt2 Progr4 Undst2 Undst1 Acadm6 Progr3 Acadm8 Reptt5 Reptt3 Progr2 Progr1 Acadm2 -84- APPENDIX 4.3 The result of CFA for University service quality scale (Nacadm5 excluded) Standardized Regression Weights: (Group number - Default model) Reptt4 Reptt2 Progr4 Undst2 Undst1 Progr3 Reptt5 Reptt3 Progr2 Progr1 -85- APPENDIX 4.4 Correlations (CFA result for University service quality scale) Correlations: (Group number - Default model) Nacdm < > Acadm Reptt Progr Nacdm < > Acadm < > Reptt Nacdm < > Acadm < > Nacdm < > APPENDIX 4.5 - Saturated model - Standardized Regression Weights Progr Undst Reptt Acadm Nacdm Reptt4 Reptt2 Progr4 Undst2 Undst1 Progr3 Reptt5 Reptt3 Progr2 Progr1 Tuiti3 Tuiti4 Tuiti1 Tuiti2 Satif3 Satif4 Satif1 Satif5 Satif2 Tuiti5 -86- APPENDIX 4.6 Saturated model (Tuiti5, Undst1, Undst2 excluded) Standardized Regression Weights: (Group number - Default model) Progr Reptt Acadm Nacdm Reptt4 Reptt2 Progr4 Progr3 Reptt5 Reptt3 Progr2 Progr1 Tuiti3 Tuiti4 Tuiti1 Tuiti2 Satif3 Satif4 Satif1 Satif5 Satif2 APPENDIX 4.7 Correlations (SEM result for Saturated model) (Tuiti5, Undst1, Undst2 excluded) Correlations: (Group number - Default model) Satif Tuiti -87- APPENDIX 4.8 The result for multi-group analysis (Public Universities and Non-public Universities) Variance model Regression Weights: (Public Universities - Default model) Sequa Progr Reptt Acadm Nacdm Satif Satif Reptt4 Reptt2 Progr4 Progr3 Reptt5 Reptt3 Progr2 Progr1 -88- Tuiti3 Tuiti4 Tuiti1 Tuiti2 Satif3 Satif4 Satif1 Satif5 Satif2 Regression Weights: (Non-public universities - Default model) Sequa Progr Reptt Acadm Nacdm Satif Satif Reptt4 Reptt2 Progr4 Progr3 Reptt5 Reptt3 Progr2 Progr1 -89- Tuiti3 Tuiti4 Tuiti1 Tuiti2 Satif3 Satif4 Satif1 Satif5 Satif2 Invariance model Regression Weights: (Public Universities - Default model) Sequa Progr Reptt Acadm Nacdm Satif Satif Reptt4 Reptt2 Progr4 Progr3 -90- Reptt5 Reptt3 Progr2 Progr1 Tuiti3 Tuiti4 Tuiti1 Tuiti2 Satif3 Satif4 Satif1 Satif5 Satif2 Regression Weights: (Non-public universities - Default model) Sequa Progr Reptt Acadm Nacdm Satif Satif -91- Reptt4 Reptt2 Progr4 Progr3 Reptt5 Reptt3 Progr2 Progr1 Tuiti3 Tuiti4 Tuiti1 Tuiti2 Satif3 Satif4 Satif1 Satif5 Satif2 ... 2.1.7 Service quality and customer satisfaction in higher education 19 2.1.8 Perceived price and customer satisfaction in higher education 20 2.1.9 Perceived price and service quality in higher. .. situation of higher education in Vietnam and existing findings about service quality, price and customer satisfaction in tertiary education area, in an attempt to explore the relationships among service. .. best services and reasonable tuition rate Given this situation, a study of relationships of service -5- quality, price and customer satisfaction in higher education in Vietnam, especially, in the