Assessment of the impact of Educational Services Quality on consumer Satisfaction and Loyalty

• Author: Untaru E.N., Pricope G., Ispas A.
• Pages: 87-106

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series V: Economic Sciences • Vol. 10 (59) No. 2 - 2017

Assessment of the impact of educational services

quality on consumer satisfaction and loyalty

Elena-Nicoleta UNTARU1, Gențiana PRICOPE2, Ana ISPAS3

Abstract: The present paper aims to determine the way in which the quality of the services

provided by a private kindergarten from the city of Braşov impacts the satisfaction and

loyalty of the parents as service beneficiaries. Thus, the objectives of the research have taken

into account the analysis of the parents’ expectations and perceptions regarding the services

offered by the kindergarten, as well as the differences between them, using the Servqual

model, the analysis of the correlation between perceptions and satisfaction, perception and

loyalty variables, as well as the evaluation of the general quality of the service. The results

of the research indicate that the kindergarten should identify the most efficient strategies for

improving medical services, personnel training, daily menu, modernizing the safety systems,

purchasing outdoors playground equipment and fixing the exterior aspect of the building.

Key-words: educational services, quality, satisfaction, loyalty, Servqual

1. Educational services quality

According to Rahaman (2011), quality is a watchword for all the service-providing

organizations nowadays, as it decides competitiveness during the age of

globalization. Service quality has been labelled as an important differentiator and the

most powerful competitive weapon that service organizations wish to possess

(Pacheco and Reddy, 2016). The current tendency among service providers is to

discover their clients’ needs and desires, in order to adapt and respond timely to

their expectations, as well as to construct and maintain a relationship with their

clients, offering added value under the shape of commodity, amusement,

promptitude, comfort, health, etc. (Quinn et al., 1987).

Service quality is the result of the subtraction between the clients’

expectations and their perceptions. If the expectations are met, service quality is

perceived as being satisfactory; on the contrary, if the expectations are not fulfilled,

the consumer will be disappointed; if the expectations are exceeded, the consumer

1 Transilvania University of Braşov, elena.untaru@unitbv.ro

2 Transilvania University of Braşov, ianageni2008@yahoo.com

3 Transilvania University of Br aşov, ispasana@unitbv.ro

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov - Vol. 10 (59), No. 2 - 2017 • Series V

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will be delighted (Parasuraman et al., 1985). However, one must not understand

quality as the best service in an absolute sense, but rather as the best service within

the conditions imposed by the client, which stem from usage and the retail price

(Ilieș, 2003).

Christian Grönroos (1984) stated that service quality has two dimensions

which are perceived and evaluated by the clients: technical quality and functional

quality. The technical quality of the service refers to what is offered by the

organization as a technical result of their performance. In the context of educational

services, this represents the technical and material resources of the education unit,

the aesthetics of the environment, physical facilities, capacity, personnel numbers,

utilized materials, etc. Functional quality resides in the way the service is

performed. In the case of an education-providing institution, this refers to

accessibility, staff courtesy, comfort, competence, professionalism, credibility, staff

availability, precision, efficient communication, hygiene, security, reliability and

safety. There is a strong link between the two dimensions of quality, which

demonstrates the institution’s concern with being as well equipped as possible, with

hiring and keeping efficient teachers, with offering appropriate resources and

assistance, and with creating opportunities for teachers to improve their teaching

practices (Horng and Loeb, 2010) in their interactions with the kids, in teaching

them the spoken language and the alphabet (Mashburn et al., 2010).

Romanian legislation guarantees education quality through Order no. 75/2005

empowered by Law no. 87/2006. According to this order, education quality

represents “a sum of characteristics belonging to a study program and to its provider,

which are meant to fulfil the expectations of the beneficiaries, as well as the quality

standards that form the beneficiaries’ conviction that the education provider meets

the quality standards” (OUG 75/2005, p. 2). Simultaneously, education quality is

ensured by: institutional capacity – internal organization, material assets, human

resources, and the institution’s capacity to attract human resources from outside,

within legal limits; educational efficiency – the study programs’ contents, academic

achievements, financial activity; quality management – objective and transparent

procedures of evaluating academic achievements, periodic revisions of the programs

and activities performed, procedures of periodic evaluation of teaching staff quality,

accessibility of learning resources, updated database, concerning the internal

guarantee of quality (OUG 75/2005, p. 2).

Although Romania is at an early stage regarding the awareness of the

importance of quality in kindergarten education, it has been highlighted in the

advanced countries that it is important for young children to acquire high quality

education experiences (Yoshikawa et al., 2013). It has also been recognized that

many of the state programs do not meet the criteria set for providing high-quality

early-learning experiences (Adams et al., 2007). This has led to the effort to improve

the quality of the teaching practices through coaching, which, combined with other

forms of professional development – courses, development communities –, has