Fulfilment of expectations on students' perceived quality in the Catalan higher education system

This study provides an innovative approach to the analysis of the antecedents of satisfaction. A discussion about different types of expectations and their configurations is presented, providing a new classification of services according to two temporal dimensions that affect expectations: (i) how the length of the service lead time has an impact on the assessment of fulfilment of expectations and (ii) how the repetitive purchasing over time updates expectations. We focus the analysis on the study of those cases where expectations cannot be directly assessed. The empirical application considers the case of higher education services. Using a survey of 2557 undergraduate students who finished their degrees in 2013 at universities located in Catalonia (Spain), we test a model where fulfilment of expectations is proposed as an antecedent of students' satisfaction, alongside with perceived quality. The methodological approach uses structural equation modelling technique. Results reveal that fulfilment of expectations has a high explanatory power and that this antecedent of satisfaction is well explained by the dimensions of perceived quality, evidencing its mediation role between quality and satisfaction.