COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE

EFFECTS OF SERVICE QUALITY ON STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION IN RIFT VALLEY

UNIVERSITY MATTU CAMPUS

A RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMITED TO SEKATA (PHD)

PREPARED BY: MELESE LEGESE

ID NO: 0112/13

JANUARY, 2024

MATTU, ETHIOPIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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LISTS PAGE

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………1

1.1. Background of the

study………………………………………………………………1
1.2. Background of the organization ………..
……………………………………………..1
1.3. Statement of the problem..
…………………………………………………………….2
1.4. Research questions
……………………………………………………………………2
1.5. Objective of the study …………………………………………………………...
……3
1.6. Scope of the study
…………………………………………………………………….3
1.7. Significant of the study
………………………………………………………….........4
1.8. Organization of the study
……………………………………………………..............4

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………….………5

2.1 Introduction……………………………………………………………………………5

2.2. Service quality...………………...……………………………………………………5

2.3 Student satisfaction ……………………………...……………………………………6

2.4. Service quality in higher education ………………………………………..…………6

2.5. Relation between customer service and service quality……………………..…….…7

2.6. Higher education performance…………...………………..………………………….7

CHAPTER THREE: RESSEARCH METHEDOLOGY………...…………………………..8

3.1. Introduction………………………….………………………………………………..8

3.2.Research design ………………………………………………………………………8

3.3. methods f data collection …………………………………….………………………8

3.4. Target Population ………………………..…………………………………………..8

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 3.5. sampling techniques and sample size…………………….………………………….8

3.6. Data processing and analysis method…………………..…………………………….9

CHAPTER FOUR: TIME AND BUDGET BREAKDOWN……………………………….10

REFERENCE ……………………………………………………………………………….…11

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1 Background of the study

The growth in the service economy is widely recognized and increasingly contributes to the
economic development of many regions. Although the service sector accounts for most of the
new job growth in developed countries, the dominance of the service sector is not limited to
highly developed nations. Many services such as those in the tourism sector contribute very
heavily to developing economies also (Audrey, 2003). Service quality focuses on meeting the
customers‟ needs and requirements and how well the service delivered matches the customers‟
expectations of it (Philip and Hazlett, 1997) while satisfaction as Lonial and Zaim, (2000) cited
in Oladepo & Abimbola (2014) put it is customer’s positive or negative feeling about the value
that was received after the consumption of ideas, goods and services. Customer satisfaction is
seen as a key differentiator which is evident that many market leaders are found to be highly
superior-customer-service orientated. Customer satisfaction is the concept that occupies a central
position in marketing though and practice (Potluri & Mangnale, 2010). Customer satisfaction is
actually how customer evaluates the ongoing performance (Gustafsson, Johnson & Roos, 2005).

However one key challenges of this market is how they satisfy and retain their customers and
also manage service quality, which holds a significant importance to customer satisfaction and
their perceived performance. Service organizations range in size from huge international
corporations like airlines, banking, insurance, telecommunications, hotel chains, and freight
transportation to a vast array of locally owned and operated small businesses, including
restaurants, laundries, taxis, optometrists, and numerous business-to-business (B2B) services
(Lovelock & Wright,1999). Quality service has direct impact on performance and hence on
customer satisfaction. Especially in service giving companies, customer satisfaction should be
given a huge attention and must pay attention to three more Ps in addition to 4P‘s which are
people, physical evidence, and process. Because most services are provided by people, the
selection, training, and motivation of employees can make a huge difference in customer
satisfaction (Kotler, 2003).

The increasing demand for higher education has normally resulted in the transformation of the
education system from being selective and competitive to being massive and diversified. In
Ethiopia Modern and secular higher education was introduced in 1950 with the establishment of

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the University College of Addis Ababa with about 1000 students and less than fifty teachers,
most of whom were foreigners (Wondimu, 2003). While institutions grow in number
tremendously, the biggest question need to focus is that whether the significant expansion in
education has promoted the students’ perceived quality or not? So this study will investigate
Effects of Service Quality on students’ satisfaction in Rift Valley University Mattu Campus.

1.2. Background of the organization

The purpose of this study is to assess the students‟ satisfaction on service quality of private
higher institutions in Mattu on service quality that is Rift valley university Mattu campus.

Rift Valley University was established in 2000.It is the largest private university in Ethiopia,
with around 27 campuses around the country. Known formerly as Rift Valley University
College, Rift Valley University was granted full-fledged university status in 2014 by Ethiopia’s
Ministry of Education.

1.3 Statement of the problem

According to Negi (2010), which was about Educational Quality and Students‘ Complaints
handling in the case of private university colleges in Addis Ababa; revealed that the major focus
of private higher educational institutions under study is on attracting new enrolments rather than
handling the existing complaints of students effectively. Therefore, currently as well as in the
long term, the most important factor affecting business performance is the quality of goods and
services offered by the organization, relative to its competitors.

Customer satisfaction plays a crucial role for the success of a university/college. Girum Melese
(2017), in his work on effects of service quality on students satisfaction in private higher
education’s in Addis Ababa city revealed that student satisfaction has a strong positive
relationship with the three HEDPERF dimensions of service quality academic aspects,
nonacademic aspects and reputation.

Therefore, in measuring customer satisfaction the institution should take a care for all the factors
that can affect their student satisfaction. Shaizadi Zaima (2017) also studied the title Service
Quality and Student Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of University Culture, Reputation and
Price in Education Sector of Pakistan, there is a substantial moderating association of university
reputation between service quality and student satisfaction.

Now, there is no information about Effects of Service Quality on students’ satisfaction in Rift
Valley University Mettu Campus.

1.4. Research Questions

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 Which service quality dimension contributes most to students‟ satisfaction?

 What is the overall level of satisfaction of students towards the service quality in Rift valley
university?

 Which service areas do students consider to be important in improving the service quality in
Rift valley university ?

1.5. Objectives of the study

1.5.1 General objective

The main objective of this study is to assess Effects of Service Quality on students’ satisfaction
in Rift Valley University Mattu Campus.

1.5.2 Specific objectives

Under the umbrella of main objective, the following specific objectives can be formulated:

 To assess level of service quality in Rift valley University Mettu campus

 To assess the relationship between service quality and student satisfaction

 To explain impact of service quality on student satisfaction

 To assess the impact of customer dissatisfaction with respect to the provided service and
provide recommendations which enable the campus to improve its service quality.

1.6. Scope of the study

The scope of this study will be geographically limited to in Ilubabor Zone because of time
constraint. In addition, the study will be limited to assessing Effects of Service Quality on
students’ satisfaction in Rift Valley University Mettu Campus.

1.7. significance of the study

The study will attempt to assess Effects of Service Quality on students’ satisfaction in Rift
Valley University Mattu Campus. The result of the study will provide a better understanding and
awareness to the campus in particular and the University in general, to design an effective and
efficient strategy for the improvement of service quality and ease the burden of customer
dissatisfaction on the Organization as well as to handle customers properly. Review of several

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literature showed that few researches have been done about quality related issues in Ethiopian
higher education in general and service quality issues in particular.

In addition to this, most their works are concentrated on public higher institutions; therefore this
research tries to narrow such gap in some extent. Different stakeholders benefit from this study,
especially students and the university management. This study will serve as a secondary source
of information for those who want to conduct further investigation around Effects of Service
Quality on students’ satisfaction.

1.8. Organization of the study

The study will be organized into five chapters. The first chapter will focus on introduction of the
study. It will include: Background of the study, statement of the problems, objectives of the
study, scope of the study and significance of the study. The second chapter will present literature
review that explains Effects of Service Quality on students’ satisfaction. The third chapter will
deal with methodology of the study. The fourth chapter will be about data analysis and
interpretation based on findings. The last chapter will provide conclusion and recommendation
from finding of data analysis and discussion.

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1.Introduction

This chapter will present an overview of current literature in the frame of the presented research
problem. The review will cover discussion on service quality construct and its determinants,
models for measuring service quality and the interplay between service quality and customer
satisfaction. Key theories and arguments are identified from a wide range service quality,
customer satisfaction and higher education literature.

2.2 Service Quality

There is no generally accepted definition of service quality. However most authors describe
service quality in terms of the gap between customer perception and customer expectation.
Customer perception is what the customer thinks of the service that has been performed and
customer expectation is what the customer was expecting to receive. Parasuraman et al. (1985)
developed the gap model that explains gaps that may arise in between what the customer expects
to receive and what the organization provides. It is composed of five gaps linked together. Gap
one occurs as result of management’s misunderstanding of the customer’s needs from the market
research carried out. Gap two is as a result of the designer’s misinterpretation of the information
passed on from market research while gap three is the conformance gap and arises when staff fail
to perform the service as stipulated by the standards that have been put by the organization. Gap
four is the communication gap, which arises due to the wrong information being passed on to the
customer. This means that the customer is not informed of what goes on in the background and
therefore may interpret delays as failure when this is not the case. Gap five is the difference
between what the customer expects and what the customer thinks of the service that has been
received.

2.3 Student Satisfaction

According to Bateson and Hoffman (1999), most experts agree that customer satisfaction is a
short term transaction specific measure while service quality is an attitude formed over a long
term evaluation of performance. Elliott & Healy (2001) define student satisfaction as short-term

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attitude resulting from an evaluation of a student’s educational experience. There is not much
difference between the two terms because the student is just another kind of customer who is a
consumer of the education service and therefore most of the literature on service marketing will
apply. There is a general agreement among experts that there is a relationship between service
quality and customer satisfaction but what is not clear is the direction of this relationship as some
like Parasuraman et al. (1985) and Cronin Jr and Taylor, (1992) say that service quality comes
before customer satisfaction. On the contrary according to Bitner (1990) customer satisfaction
comes before service quality Some recent studies in this area have also supported the view that
service quality leads to customer satisfaction.

A study carried out by Sulieman, (2013) on Jordanian banks revealed that the five dimensions of
service quality have an effect on level of customer satisfaction. Another study conducted in
United Arab Emirates on branch campuses of some international universities found that qualified
lecturers, technology and other resources had an effect on student satisfaction (Wilkins &
Balakrishnan, 2013)

However, student satisfaction levels seemed to vary with nationalities and programs. The
researchers explained that this could probably be because of the different cultures and
backgrounds that the students come from. They therefore recommended further research in other
parts of the world as their conclusions could not be generalised. In view of the cultural and
environmental differences that exist between Kenya and the countries where these studies were
carried out it was the researcher’s view that this study be carried out in Kenya to find out if
service quality offered by Kenyan universities has an effect on student satisfaction.

2.4 Service Quality in Higher Education

Educational service is intangible and it is produced by the service provider (teacher) and
consumed by users (students) at the same time. Service quality in higher education institutions
cannot be objectively measured, but it is a complex and diverse concept that should be explored
(Hameed & Amjad, 2011). The last decade was characterized by increasing of competition
among higher education institutions. High quality service is an essential prerequisite for
competitiveness and survival inthe market of higher education. The biggest challenge for
academic institutions is which level of quality institutions must achieve in order to remain
competitive in the market. To successfully overcome the aforementioned challenges higher
education institutions are required to identify students' needs and understand the formation of
student perceptions of service quality. Students' expectations significantly affect the assessment
of service quality, and students‟ satisfaction. For the admission to higher education institutions,
students' expectations are largely based on their past experiences of high school and the positive
experience of students who attend or have attended that program.

2.5. HEdPERF (Higher Education Performance)

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 A new industry-scale, called HEdPERF (Higher Education Performance) was developed
comprising a set of 41 items (Firdaus, 2005).This instrument aims at assessing the relative
strengths and weakness of each instrument in order to determine which instrument had the
superior measurement capability in terms of dimensionality, reliability, validity and explained
variance of service quality. Firdaus (2006a) proposed 41 item measurement tool based on six
determinants, namely non-academic aspects, academic aspects, reputation, access, program
issues and clear understanding. The measurement scales assess the level of service quality and
explore how different dimensions‟ effect on service quality. Later, sixth dimension
“understanding” was discarded. 1. Non-Academic aspects-are factors that are essential to enable
the students to fulfill their study obligations. This relates to the duties carried out by non-
academic staff. It is concerned with the ability and willingness of administration or support staff
to show respect, provide equal treatment among students and safeguard confidentiality of
information. Additionally, it describes the importance of having positive attitudes and good
communication skills. 2. Academic Aspects-are the sole responsibility of those included in the
academics staff. This factor represents the responsibilities of academics. 3. Reputation –factor
that relates the importance of projecting a professional image. 4. Program issues- relate the
importance of offering wide ranging and reputable academic programs with flexible structure
and Access-measures the issues related to approachability and ease of contact of the staff and the
convenience of the service offered. 5. Access: measures the issues related to approachability and
ease of contact of the staff and the convenience of the service offered

2.6. Relation between Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality

To achieve a high level of customer satisfaction, most researchers suggest that a high level of
service quality should be delivered by the service provider as service quality is normally
considered an antecedent of customer satisfaction (Cronin, Brady, 2001); Anderson, Fornell and
Lehmann, 1994; Cronin and Taylor, 1992). However, the exact relationship between satisfaction
and service quality has been described as a complex issue, characterized by debate regarding the
distinction between the two constructs and the casual direction of their relationship (Brady,
Cronin and Brand, 2002). Parasuraman et al., (1994) concluded that the confusion surrounding
the distinction between the two constructs was partly attributed to practitioners and the popular
press using the terms interchangeable, which make theoretical distinctions difficult.
Interpretations of the role of service quality and satisfaction have varied considerably (Cronin
and Taylor, 1992; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1988). Parasuraman et al. confined
satisfaction to relate to a specific transaction as service quality was defined as an attitude. This
meant that perceived service quality was a global judgment, or attitude, relating to the superiority
of the service. Cronin and Taylor (1992) found empirical support for the idea that perceived
service quality led to satisfaction and argued that service quality was actually an antecedent of
consumer satisfaction.

Asserted that consumer satisfaction appeared to exert a stronger influence on purchase intention
than service quality, and concluded that the strategic emphasis of service organizations should

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focus on total customer satisfaction programs. The authors reasoned that consumers may not buy
the highest quality service because of factors such as convenience, price, or availability and that
these constructs may enhance satisfaction while not actually affecting consumers‟ perceptions of
service quality. Cronin and Taylor (1992) later conceded that the directionality of the service
quality/satisfaction relationship was still in question and that future research on the subject
should incorporate multi item measures. The authors suggested restricting the domain of service
quality to long-term attitudes and consumer satisfaction to transaction-specific judgments.

CHAPTER THREE :RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1.Introduction
Research methodology is a science of studying how research is done scientifically. It is a way to
systematically solve the research problem. This chapter explains the research design and
methodology. This part elaborates the research design and approach, data types and sources, the
target population, sampling technique, data collection instrument, data analysis technique and
ethical consideration. In addition, reliability and validity is presented. The methods selected
below are suitable because of their appropriateness for situations in the selected study of area.

3.2 Research design

A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a
manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. In
order to assess effects of Service Quality on students satisfaction in Rift Valley University Mettu
Campus, among various research methodologies in order to achieve the intended objectives of
the study, descriptive research design will be adopted. The study will use questionnaire method
the main tool for collecting data. The questionnaire will be prepared in English and translated to
Afan Oromo to make it clear and understandable for respondents (students of the campus).

3.3 Methods of data collection

Primary data will be mainly used in this study. Accordingly, questionnaires will be used to
collect data from customers. Besides the primary data, secondary data from various secondary
materials like written documents, books, magazines and journals’ will be used.

3.4. Target population

According to Keller (2009, p.5), ―a population is the group of all items of interest to a statistics
practitioner. According to McDaniel (2001), target population is a total group of people from
whom the researcher may obtain information to meet the research objectives. This research aims
at assessing Effects of Service Quality on customer satisfaction in Rift Valley University Mattu
Campus. So, the target population is the students of Rift Valley University Mattu campus.
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3.5. Sampling Technique and Sample Size

It is a true representative of the entire population to be studied (Leary, 2001. This study will
adopt simple random sampling techniques for the selection of the students from each weredas.

In order to determine the sample size, the researchers will use the following mathematical
formula developed by Yemane in 1989. n =N/1+N(e)2

n = Where: N= is the total of population (Number of Students) n =is the selected sample size and
e =is the error or confidence level. For the study, 95% confident level will be taken which the
deviation 5 %( Ogbay, 2013). The researcher will apply confidence level of 95% to represent
more reliable results. By using the formula above, sample size of this study is: n = n= 1525

3.6. Data Processing and Analysis Method

After data is collected, data processing will be carried out. The raw data will be converted into
suitable form for analysis and interpretation. This will be achieved through sequences of
activities including editing, coding, entry, and tabulation. The objective is to check the
completeness, internal consistency and appropriateness of the answers to each of the questions.
Statistical analysis will be carried out using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS).
Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, measures of central tendency and measures
of dispersions such as mean and standard deviation together with percentage, frequency will be
as a method of data analysis. This method of data analysis is important to analyze the
quantitative data.

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 CHAPTER FOUR : Time and Budget Break Down

4.1 Schedule of the Study

No Activities Dec Jan Feb Mar Ap May June July

1 Proposal preparation

Finalizing and submission
2 of proposal 
3 Data collection
 
Data organization and
3 submission of first draft 
4 Writing final draft
 
5 Submitting final draft

6 Defense

4.2 Budget Break Down

No Stationeries Unit price Quantity Total price

birr cent Birr Cent
1 Paper - 1pac 500 -
2 Pen 20 - 1pac 400 -

Other
1 Type write 5 - 35 page 105 -
2 Duplication 5 - 35page 105 -

Total 1120

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References
Admas ,J .,Khan ,K, Raeside, R & White ,D.(2007).Research methods for graduate business
and social science students .London; Sage

Anderson, E. ,Fornell ,C.,& Lehmann,D.(1994).Customer satisfaction, Market share and

profitability. Findings from Sweden. Journal and Marketing, Vol.58, pp.53-66.

Carman, J.M. (1990). Consumer Perceptions of Service Quality: Assessment of the

SERVQUAL Dimensions. Journal of Retailing, Vol.66 (1), pp.33-55

Girum Melese (2017), Effect of Service Quality on Student Satisfaction in Private Higher
Education Institutions in Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa University .

Million T. (2017), The Effects Of Service Quality On Customer Satisfaction: The Case Of
Ethiopian Airlines Cargo Import, Addis Ababa University

Pitman T. (2000). ―Perceptions of academics and students as customers: a survey of

administrative staff in higher education‖, Journal of Higher Education Policy and
Management.

Websites: www.googlemap.com www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service

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