Assessing the relationship between service quality, satisfaction and loyalty: the Vietnamese higher education experience

Purpose Service quality has been widely recognized as the core value of any higher education institution (HEIs), especially in the context of higher education reform in Vietnam. The paper aims to assess the student’s perceived service quality using SERVPERF scale and to find the relations between perceived service quality, satisfaction and loyalty in one public university in Vietnam. Design/methodology/approach The self-structured questionnaire using SERVPERF scale was administered to 350 students currently attending full-time courses at the university. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to certify the elementary factors. The regression models were applied to determine the relationship between service quality, student satisfaction and student loyalty. Findings The findings revealed the significant relationships between student perceived service quality with satisfaction and loyalty. However, this relationship is mediated by student satisfaction. Research limitations/implications The study is limited to public university education service and examined the perspective of student as “primary customer”; therefore, generalizing the results to other service industries and other role of student as stakeholder or citizen should be used with caution. Practical implications The SERVPERF scale could be delivered regularly to get the student’s perception on the HEIs performance. The results should be taken for purpose of continuing quality improvement to enhance the satisfaction and loyalty, particularly in the context of highly competitive environment and university autonomous in Vietnam. Originality/value This is believed to be the first study in Vietnam with sufficient evidence to support the concept that service quality positively related to students’ satisfaction and loyalty and satisfaction as mediating factor.