Service Quality and Satisfaction Among Postgraduate Students at Universiti Utara Malaysia

Student satisfaction is a vital measure of service quality in educational institutions. Evaluating the university service quality provides an important feedback for the university to assess and develope its service to its students. Education institutions that looks for getting competitive advantage in the future, should search for innovative and effective methods to acquire, maintain and build stronger relationships with their students. The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate students' level of satisfaction toward the services provided by Universiti Utara Malaysia. Furthermore, It aims to determine if their is asignificant relationship between the five dimensions of service quality (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) and students' satisfaction. This research was conducted using a set of questionnaire to 360 postgraduate students including local and international who are currently studying at Universiti Uatara Malaysia, whereby five Likert skale questionnaires used as an instrument to gather the relevant data and information. However, majority of students are satisfied with the facilities provided by the university. The findings of this study will provide the university with some solutions to enhance its performance and increase the number of its students. In general, the results indicated that the five dimensions of service quality were correlated with student satisfaction. Data were collected using survey method, whereby five Likert scale questionnaires will be used as the tool to collect the relevant data and information

The effect of strategic factors and the role of relationship quality as mediator on brand equity of automotive industry

Building brand equity in today’s competitive markets is important for organizations. A number of strategic factors such as advertising, product innovation, product quality, and country of origin have affected brand equity significantly. Equally important is the role of relationship quality in building brand equity. Although past researches have examined the effect of these strategic factors on brand equity, only limited research has investigated the role of relationship quality as a mediator between such strategic factors and brand equity. This research was planned to fill this gap by investigating the effect of the said mediating variable between strategic factors and brand equity. This research focuses on brand equity, relationship quality and the strategic factors of the automotive industry in Malaysia. The data was collected through questionnaires which were distributed to passenger car users in Malaysia. The research employed systematic sampling technique and structural equation modeling (SEM) using the AMOS software to draw inferences and make conclusions. The results indicated that product innovation and country of origin had significant positive effects on brand equity. However, product quality had a negative effect on brand equity. Moreover, the effect of advertising on brand equity was insignificant. It was also found that relationship quality had a significant positive effect on brand equity. The results also revealed that relationship quality mediated the relationship between strategic factors and brand equity. The results of this research have further strengthened the theory and related literature on brand equity and put forward recommendations for car manufacturers about the best approaches to build brand equity by using strategic factors as independent variables and relationship quality as mediating variable. Future research is recommended to integrate other strategic factors which may strengthen the theory besides enabling management to make better decisions

Strategic effects of product innovation, service quality, and relationship quality on brand equity

In highly competitive markets, building brand equity has become one of the first priorities for many organizations as it brings several benefits and reputation for them.Past researches have acknowledged that consumers look for brands which provide them with differential values through innovative product and service features.However, despite the importance of product innovation in determining an organization’s success, very limited studies have intended to examine its effect on brand equity.In the present study, we aim to examine the effect of product innovation on brand equity in M

The impact of country of origin on relationship quality: Empirical evidence from automotive industry

This study examines the impact of country of origin on relationship quality in automotive sector.Four hypotheses were developed to test the relationships between country of origin and relationship quality. Relationship quality in this research is composed of three elements; brand trust, brand commitment, and brand satisfaction. Data were collected using survey questionnaire from 287 respondents of passenger car users in Northern region of Malaysia.To test the conceptual framework, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS 18 was employed as data analysis technique.In general, the SEM analysis revealed that country of origin has a significant positive influence on overall relationship quality. Moreover, the analysis indicated that country of origin has significant positive influence on brand trust, brand commitment, and brand satisfaction. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested to the strategic policy makers in the automotive sector to emphasize on these three basic determinants of relationship quality; brand trust, brand commitment, and brand satisfaction to cope with intense competition.Particularly, this study would guide automotive manufacturers to benefits from these findings to enhance customer relationships through utilizing positive country of origin image

Service quality and students’ satisfaction at higher learning institutions: The competing dimensions of Malaysian universities’ competitiveness

One of important determinants of national competitiveness is the quality of its higher education.This quality comes from the combination of excellent learning process and public satisfaction on the service delivered. Student satisfaction assessment is vital in determining service quality at higher learning institutions (HEIs).To remain competitive, it requires HEIs to continuously acquire, maintain, and build stronger relationships with students.The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate students’ satisfaction on services provided by HEIs. Specifically, the study found significant relationship between the five dimensions of service quality (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) or SERVQUAL and students’ satisfaction. From 1000 questionnaires being sent out to respondents, 360 responded.The findings generally indicate that the majority of students are satisfied with the facilities provided by universities. Such findings should help universities make better strategic plan as to enhance students’ satisfaction in particular and its overall performance in general.In general,the results indicated that all the five dimensions of service quality were correlated with student satisfaction

Product innovation as a key success factor to build sustainable brand equity

In highly competitive markets, building brand equity has become one of the first priorities for many organizations as it brings several benefits and reputation for them. Past researches have acknowledged that consumers look for brands which provide them with differential values through innovative product and service features. However, despite the importance of product innovation in determining an organization’s success, very limited studies have intended to examine its effect on brand equity.In the present study, we aim to examine the effect of product innovation on brand equity in Malaysian automotive market. The data were collected from 287 passenger cars owners through self-administered questionnaire at several shopping malls in northern Malaysia.The findings revealed that product innovation had significant positive effect on overall brand equity and its dimensions namely; brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand image, and brand leadership.Based on the results of this study, several implications are discussed to enlighten our knowledge on important innovation activities that could develop favorable brand equity. Finally, limitations and future research suggestions are highlighted to gain better insights on brand equity development

The impact of advertising on relationship quality: empirical evidence from Malaysia

This study examines the effect of advertising on relationship quality in Malaysian automotive market.Relationship quality in this study consists of three main elements namely; brand trust, brand commitment and brand satisfaction.The review of literature shows that past research has paid very less attention to examining the role of advertising in affecting relationship quality.The data in this study were collected from 287 passenger car users in Northern region of Malaysia (Penang, Kedah and Perlis) using systematic random sampling technique.The data were coded and analyzed using SPSS and Structural equation Modeling (AMOS).The findings indicated that advertising spending has significant positive effect on brand trust, brand commitment, brand satisfaction and overall relationship quality. These findings provide useful insights and suggestions for business practitioners to learn developing successful relationships with customers using innovative advertising techniques

The impact of product quality on relationship quality: Empirical evidence from automotive industry

Building and maintaining successful relationship with customers has become the prime focus for many organizations.The ability of a brand to successfully manage customer relationships provides it with better opportunities for improving its competitive advantage. Past research paid less attention to examine the effect of product quality on relationship quality and its dimensions; brand trust, brand commitment, and brand satisfaction.Therefore, this paper intends to fill this gap and examine the effect of product quality on creating relationship quality in Malaysian automotive market. Several shopping centres in Northern region of Malaysia were utilized to conduct this study, whereby a survey using systematic sampling technique was administered to 384 passenger car users.The empirical results, using structural equation modeling (SEM), supported all the hypotheses. Particularly, the results revealed that product quality has significant positive effect on brand trust, brand commitment, and brand satisfaction. The results also indicated that product quality plays an important role in affecting overall relationship quality.The study is limited to individual customers in Northern region of Malaysia.Future studies may apply this work to organizational level, and expand it to other industry and country contexts in order to grasp better insights on role of product quality in influencing customer brand relationship

Analyzing the relationship between advertising and sales promotion with brand equity

In today’s competitive business environment, customers are considered to be the source of brand success. Customers have numerous choices to form among alternative products, and they apply a high level of effect in the market with regard to several aspects such as quality, product size, services, and price. Hence, it is very important for manufacturers to meet customers’ needs in order to stay competitive. Advertising and sales promotion are considered as the main tools of marketing communication which is influential in attracting the attention of the customer and building brand equity. Advertising and sales promotions are highly effective in affecting consumer purchase decisions of a particular brand. The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the link between advertising and sales promotion with brand equity. It reviews the past studies on the above-mentioned variables and provides some clarification to the nature of relationship existing between them

Direct and indirect effects of product innovation and product quality on brand image: Empirical evidence from automotive industry

This study examines the effect of product innovation and product quality on brand image with brand trust as mediator.Past studies paid less attention to empirically determine the relationship between the said variables on brand image and using brand trust as mediator between such independent and dependent variables. Therefore, this study aims to fill up this gap and contribute to the body of knowledge by examining the relationship between them.Data is collected using questionnaire from 287 passenger car users at shopping malls in Northern region of Malaysia. Specifically, systematic sampling procedure was followed during data collection.The data is analyzed using structural equation modeling (AMOS).The findings indicate that product innovation and product quality have significant relationship with brand image.The findings also reveal that product innovation and product quality have significant relationship with brand trust. Additionally, brand trust mediates the relationships between product innovation and brand image.It is also found that brand trust mediates the relationship between product quality and brand image.Based on these findings, several conclusions were made with some recommendations for future researches to strengthen our understandings toward the process of developing brand image