Foreign Students Perceptions on Selected Service Quality Dimensions, Customer Satisfaction and Future Behavioural Intentions within Visa Facilitation Services Centres in South Africa

Abstract

Outsourcing the management of migration services has grown globally in recent years. With particular reference to South Africa, Department of Home Affairs(DHA) followed this trend d by outsourcing visa issuance to Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) in 2014 to enable more secure and efficient service delivery in the permitting arena. The purpose of the study was to address a need to understand better the effect of service quality dimensions that are critical in assessing customer satisfaction and future behavioural intention in VFS centres within South Africa. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the convergence of three theories. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional quantitative research design and reports on the results from a survey of foreign students in a selected higher education institution (HEI) in South Africa. Descriptive statistics, correlations and regression analysis were used to evaluate relationships between constructs. In terms of predictive relationships, except for tangibility, the other four service quality dimensions showed significant relationships with customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction in turn showed significant relationships with the future behavioural intentions of the respondents towards VFS. In addition, the outcome of this study provides a useful tool for gaining insight into service quality dimensions that foreign nationals requiring visas consider as important. The study concludes by alluding to the limitations and implications for further research.