EXAMINING STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION ABOUT QUALITY OF ACADEMIC & ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES IN PAKISTANI UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Due to imminent rise in the competition of educational sector, universities are striving for their brand positioning by inclining the number of students in order to maximize the profitability ratio. As an intangible service sector, Universities can get the sustainable competitive advantage in the market by providing the excellent service quality instead of playing on the number of students. So, this study aims to examine the students’ perception about the provision of quality academic and non-academic services and their sustainable outcomes for the university. In this regards, academic and non-academic services are used as independent variables, students’ satisfaction as a mediating variable and students’ loyalty and motivation are dependent variables as a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Data was gathered through self-administered close-ended questionnaire from a sample of 300 students of higher education sector of Lahore, Pakistan (100 students from public sector universities and 200 from Private sector universities). For analysis purpose, AMOS 22 and SPSS 24 were used to confirm the validity concerns and determine the proposed relationship among selected variables. The output revealed that academic and non-academic services have significant positive impact on students’ satisfaction and it can lead towards students’ motivation and loyalty towards the university. This study provides a ‘snapshot’ to the university management about the provision of current service quality and gives suggestions to improve the service quality within minimum resources to get the sustainable competitive advantage in the market.