Service quality in higher education - Applying hedperf scale in Vietnamese universities

Abstract

In recent years, higher education sector has developed more and more dramatically. Thus, students will have a wide range of choices in pursuing their tertiary education. To survive in this significantly competitive market, a number of universities have been struggling for some time. And, service quality has played a vital role in universities’growth. Thus far, there is no research conducted to examine several kinds of factors included in HEdPERF scale (Abdullah, 2005) in Vietnamese universities. Hence, the main purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the analytical characteristics by applying HEdPERF model (Abdullah, 2005) which impact on technical service quality and functional service quality in Vietnamese universities. The paper is also objected to seek out the connection between technical service quality, functional service quality and student satisfaction in Vietnamese universities. This study has been carried out for a three-month period since February in 2019 in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Additionally, the research framework of this study consists of a bunch of factors, particularly, non-academic aspects, academic aspects, access, reputation, program issues, understanding, technical service quality, functional service quality and student satisfaction. The conceptual model supposed will be examined owing to a quantitative questionaire of potential students. Structual equation modelling was used to analyze a group of 300 respondents. The respondents in this research were broken into different groups regarding to year of study, academic program and many kinds of education institutions. As a consequence, this research contributes to indicate how each feature certainly affects technical service quality and functional service quality. In addition, it delicates to illustrate the links between technical service quality, functional service quality

and student satisfaction. Later, with this broader understanding, leaders in universities can launch new strategies bettering existing service quality to boost student fulfillment.