Ines Dužević

Exploring drivers of student satisfaction and dissatisfaction: an assessment of impact-asymmetry and impact-range

The purpose of this study is to explore the key drivers of student satisfaction in a Croatian higher education (HE) setting. In particular, this study seeks to identify lecturer and course characteristics with either diminishing or increasing returns in student satisfaction. This study uses data collected during the official student satisfaction assessment at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Zagreb in the academic year 2011/2012. Overall, 23,804 fully completed questionnaires collected at the end of the winter and the summer term form the data of this study. Impact-asymmetry analysis (IAA) was used to detect and quantify nonlinear effects in the formation of student satisfaction. IAA helps to approximate the potentials of individual teaching and lecturer attributes to further enhance overall student satisfaction. Impact range and average performance of teaching and lecturer characteristics were further calculated and mapped into a matrix to detect key areas that need to be improved in future quality initiatives. This study provides detailed and interesting insight into the formation of overall student satisfaction relevant for all those concerned with quality issues in HE. The results reveal the most influential teaching and lecturer characteristics and several characteristics with diminishing and increasing returns in overall student satisfaction.

A conceptual framework for analysing the impact of influences on student engagement and learning

The notion that ‘customer satisfaction’ should be the ultimate measure of quality provision of any service organization is often accepted in the higher education context. However, measuring the quality of an educational institution based on students’ satisfaction is insufficient as it diverts the focus from student development, advancement and growth to an affective evaluation of the service. More appropriate measures of quality of higher education institutions are student engagement and learning. This study describes the likely impact of perceived overall quality of higher education institutions on student engagement. The contribution of this study is twofold. First, it draws attention to the importance of higher education institution quality as the main institutional-level determinant of student engagement and, second, it suggests a comprehensive multilevel conceptual framework for its empirical testing.

An extended framework for analysing higher education performance

The purpose of this study is to follow the call by Duque [(2014). A framework for analyzing higher education performance: Students’ satisfaction, perceived learning outcomes, and dropout intention. Total Quality Management and Business Excellence, 25(1–2), 1–21] to further develop her framework for analysing higher education performance which integrates service marketing approaches with the theories of student involvement and retention. More specifically, the framework examines relationships between students’ perceptions and their satisfaction, outcomes, and behavioural intentions. The data for this study were collected from 1454 students from 93 higher education institutions in Croatia. Hypothesised relationships were empirically tested using variance-based structural equation modelling. The results of this study make an important contribution to previous research by extending previous frameworks for analysing higher education performance. Moreover, the results provide interesting insight into the relationship between student satisfaction, outcomes, and behavioural intentions, which are relevant to both higher education researchers and managers.