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SERVQUAL and SERVPERF are the most widely used instruments to measure service quality across various service sectors. However, these scales have been designed and successfully used in the retail sector with a commercial perspective; hence little is known about their applicability to the higher education sector. In addition, there is much debated controversy in the extant literature about the superiority of these models and their dimensionality across different settings and contexts. This study was designed to (a) examine the applicability of SERVQUAL and SERVPERF in higher education, (b) compare their measurement ability, and (c) examine the causal relationship between perceived service quality, customer satisfaction, and recommend intentions. The study was conducted at two public universities in Tanzania. The SERVQUAL and the SERVPERF were modified and then administered personally to 250 randomly selected students from each of the two universities under study. Structural equation modeling was used to perform the analysis. The study found out that a two factor structure of both the SERVQUAL and the SERVPERF, as modified for this study, is appropriate for higher education. However, the modified SERVPERF performed better with respect to psychometric properties, while the modified SERVQUAL possessed superior diagnostic power. This study recommends that, when the interest is only to assess the overall service quality, the modified SERVPERF should be preferred. On the other hand, when the interest is to identify service quality shortfalls for improvement, the modified SERVQUAL should be employed. |
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