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Social Indicators Research

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18-05-2018

Do Quality of Services and Institutional Image Impact Students’ Satisfaction and Loyalty in Higher Education?

Authors: Lucio Masserini, Matilde Bini, Monica Pratesi

Published in: Social Indicators Research | Issue 1-2/2019

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Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate whether the quality of educational services and the university’s institutional image influence students’ overall satisfaction with their university experience as well as the possible consequences of these relationships on students’ loyalty. In particular, in today’s increasingly competitive higher education environment, such concepts have become of strategic concern in both public and private universities. To explain the complex system of relationships among these constructs, several hypotheses were formulated and tested through a structural equation model. Data were collected through a web questionnaire handed out to 14,870 students enrolled at the University of Pisa. The results provide valuable insight and show that teaching and lectures and teaching and course organization are the main determinants of students’ satisfaction and students’ loyalty among the more academic components of the educational service. Furthermore, the crucial role played by university image is worth noting, both for its direct and indirect effects on students’ satisfaction as well as on students’ loyalty and on teaching and lectures.

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In the following, asterisks indicate parameters significantly different from zero at levels p < 0.05 (*), p < 0.01 (**) and p < 0.001 (***), respectively.

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Title: Do Quality of Services and Institutional Image Impact Students’ Satisfaction and Loyalty in Higher Education?
Authors: Lucio Masserini
Matilde Bini
Monica Pratesi
Publication date: 18-05-2018
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Social Indicators Research / Issue 1-2/2019
Print ISSN: 0303-8300
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0921
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-018-1927-y

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