Critical factors of service quality in higher education services and their impact on overall service quality, student satisfaction and student loyalty

Globalisation of knowledge compels Indian higher education institutes to improve their quality. Quality at an affordable price will be the critical determinant for students' selection of the university. Understanding students' expectations in higher education services becomes vital as an operations strategy to retain existing students and entice potential students. An extensive literature survey proposes a scientific model using structural equation modelling (in IBM AMOS) to develop a path model for the antecedents of service quality, overall service quality, student satisfaction and student loyalty. Using the sample data from the higher education services for the postgraduate program, the analysis was done to evaluate the influence of antecedents on the overall service quality and further on the student's satisfaction and student loyalty. The result indicated that four antecedents (tangibles, academic competence, reputation and delivery) positively influence the overall service quality. Further, the study also found that overall service quality directly influences student satisfaction and indirectly influences student loyalty through student satisfaction in higher education services.