This study investigated the discrepancy between students� service expectations and their\nperceptions of the service performance in a college of business in one of the public universities\nin Saudi Arabia. Using the SERVQUAL instrument, this study collected data from 166 students.\nTo test the dimensionality of the instrument, all 22 items were analysed using oblique rotation\nand varimax rotation, which resulted in a two-dimensional solution explaining 61.2 per cent of\nthe variance. Overall, with the exception of one statement, more than 61 per cent of the\nstatements pertaining to the college were rated to be on the positive side. However, further\nanalysis using the paired samples t-test indicated that the faculty members and the college itself\nwere not currently meeting their service quality expectations. In addition to that one-way\nrepeated measures ANOVA tests confirmed the significant differences in perceptions of service\nquality among the students. Student expectations are highest in the area of access and empathy.\nThese results suggest that the college should undertake significant efforts in faculty education in\nthe area of service quality and customer satisfaction. This includes increasing the number of\nfemale faculty members. From the managerial perspective, it is very important that the faculty\nmembers and the college measure service quality continuously. In fact, service quality and\nstudent satisfaction are important factors in retention. This study is delimited to one small\nsample of students of the college. Future study that can assess continuous performance using a\nlarger sample should be conducted.
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