WHAT FACTORS MOST? IMPACT OF PROGRAMME QUALITY DIMENSIONS ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION WITH BIOSYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY PROGRAMME IN SRI LANKA

In general, education quality can be conceptually determined by the evaluation of students’ satisfaction. In fact, satisfying the students in programme of studies is a key element which directly effect on future students’ intake to a programme or course. The purpose of present study was to determine the impact of programme quality on students' satisfaction amongst the Sri Lankan senior secondary schools students and to analyze which dimensions of programme quality contribute the most in achieving students' satisfaction. This study used quantitative method and administered a questionnaire to 410 Biosystems Technology students from senior secondary schools in the central province of Sri Lanka. The findings revealed that programme quality is an important antecedent and determinant of the students' satisfaction with their programme of study. Interestingly, the findings indicated that subject availability for electives is the critical factor that contributes the most on students' satisfaction followed by subject content in major, classroom environment and class size and also school facilities and learning resources. Thus, the findings of the present study have provided significant contribution to the body of the knowledge in programme quality and students' satisfaction and also relevant authorities in general education such as policymakers, curriculum developers, and other relevant personnel to make necessary amendments to be improve the quality of existing programme that ensures the students' satisfaction.  Article visualizations

Factors influencing buying behavior of piracy products and its impact to Malaysian market

The primary attempt in this study was to explore the influencing factors of the Malaysian consumers toward the pirated products. To explore these factors, this study has conducted a survey among the Malaysian consumers. The results of the study showed that there is significant relationship between the consumers’ perception and the social influence, personality or believe, pricing and the economy toward the piracy. Results also show that society has strong influence on the consumers’ personality and believes, that leads to grow consumers’ perception. On the other hand, it is revealed that most of the respondents are willing to buy pirated product because cost effective. Since, price plays a key role to convey individuals toward price sensitive, therefore it is important for the marketers or producers to be attentive of pricing. More importantly marketer can decrease the production cost and secondly, they shows intention to reduce their profit margin. To perform all those necessary steps need to set up the price by considering the all income groups. That will help to reducing the consumers’ consumption of pirated goods. Though, there is no doubt about the quality of original products but they should look at the price

EXAMINES ACADEMIC LIBRARY USERS’ EXPERIENCE TOWARDS LIBRARY PATRONAGE IN STATE UNIVERSITIES IN SRI LANKA

Libraries and information centers are service units held with the responsibility of providing varied information services based on a number of resources. It covers tangible assets, namely library building, equipment, furniture, information resources and staff. The intangible element has been the information services provided by the libraries. The tangible assets and intangible services of libraries are changing greatly due to the development and changes in the area of information technology. The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate to accomplish the relationship between Service Quality dimensions, customer experience (CE) library patronage (LP) and library user attitude (LUA) in the context of university library service quality in Sri Lanka. In addition, it investigates the mediating effect of customer experience in the relationship between dimensions of library service quality and the library patronage.  Article visualizations

ACADEMIC LIBRARY USERS’ EXPERIENCE: A REVIEW ON RELATED CONCEPTS AND EMPIRICAL IMPLICATION

In order to answer the questions raised to guide this study, there is need to review previous literature that relates to variables understudied. Also, to operationally define key concepts used for this study to ensure clarity of the concepts. Literature review shows a vibrant section and significant untouched materials to structure the infrastructure of a precise subject component in whichever category of a research study. It is conducted to obtain a clear consideration about the precise area of study. The literature review is arranged developing themes directly drawn from the literature, chronologically and thematically in this study. Researchers followed literature Review as the main methodology to review the existing empirical knowledge to build conceptual content to support for the proposed research directions. The findings provide the insights on how empirical findings being shared in literature reviews connecting the concept of Band Citizenship behavior and related concepts and implications. Based on the discussion, postulate the future research directions in line with the empirical knowledge gaps found within.  Article visualizations

Historical Evolution from Measuring Service Quality to Library User Experience:: A Conceptual Review of Related Concepts

Experience reflects customers’ overall assessment of value rather than in relation to expectations, highlighting the importance of these perceptual attributes. These attributes reflect customers’ higher-order objectives leading to purchasing behavior better than technical aspects of service do, the latter subject to frequent changes due to technology and competition. Therefore perceptual attributes are more stable as the focus of evaluation of experience SERVQUAL focuses largely upon customers’ assessment of the service process and human interactions Individual components of a service encounter may be assessed as ‘good quality’, but that does not automatically mean that the overall experience is judged high quality, nor does measuring the components of service quality ensure that customers achieve their desired outcomes

Study on consumer perception towards online ticketing in Malaysia

This paper gives a report of a study that investigated peoples‟ perception of online buying tickets (e-ticketing) as well as why some people use this facility while some who do not use it stick to the traditional way to fulfill their needs. In addition, factors such as what inform peoples‟ eagerness and unwillingness to use internet facilities are also examined. The outcome of this research showed a comprehensively integrated framework that can be utilized by policy makers and business enterprises to understand the dynamic relationships among dimensions of perceived risk, user trustworthiness, usefulness, familiarity and confidence. Also, this study considered how price perception and internet security can be utilized to understand the consumers‟ perception. However, further research is needed to examine these factors in Malaysia with additional samples before generalization can be made. Moreover, it is also necessary to review consumers‟ purchasing behavior in making the decision to use the internet as a means of buying online rather than the traditional way

STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION TOWARDS BIOSYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY; DOES PROGRAMME QUALITY MATTERS? (EVIDENCE FROM SRI LANKAN PERSPECTIVES)

In the competitive education setting, with declining students’ enrolment into the programme of study, the policy makers, curriculum developers and other relevant personnel should pay much attention to address the issue of attracting secondary students into job market demanded programmes. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between perceived programme quality and the students’ satisfaction in selected government schools in Sri Lanka. The present study applied quantitative design using 410 senior secondary students who studied Biosystems Technology. The conceptual framework has been formulated based on the comprehensive review of the past studies. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the relationships among the dimensions of programme quality and students’ satisfaction as hypothesized. The finding indicated that the dimensions of programme quality have been correlated significantly with secondary students’ satisfaction whilst there was a positive and significant relationship amongst the four dimensions of programme quality and students’ satisfaction towards Biosystems Technology programme. Thus, the finding of current study has provided significant contribution to the existing body of knowledge in terms of offering statistically established conceptual framework and a validated measuring scale in satisfaction to the general education system. Furthermore, the implications were provided for the policy makers and relevant personnel to make remedial measures in order to quality improvement of Biosystems Technology programme.  Article visualizations

Working with and for social enterprises: the role of the volunteer ethnographer

Purpose – This paper considers the specific opportunities and challenges of engaging in ethnographic research with organisations in which the researcher participates as a volunteer ethnographer. Design/methodology/approach – The findings in this paper are based on four years of ethnographic research within a social enterprise. Findings – This paper finds that there are significant benefits of the role of the volunteer ethnographer and suggests ways to address some of the challenges. Research limitations/implications – As the field of social enterprise and ethnography grows and researchers engage with methodological discussions about participant observation, the authors suggest that attention should also be paid to the specifics of the role of the volunteer ethnographer. Originality/value – There is growing interest in the use of ethnography in social enterprises. This paper offers unique insight into how this methodology has been applied in the context of self-reliant groups and the importance of the engaging with discussion about the specific role of the volunteer ethnographer

Critical factors for developing brand equity: an empirical investigation in Malaysia

The power of branding is most often powerful than the product itself. Renowned brands like Procter and Gamble paid Richardson-Vicks 2.6 times of its book value. Nabisco was sold for 3.2 times of its book value and General Motors was sold for 3.5 times its book value. Whilst these corporations succeeded in using their brand as a source for their company's worth, others lagged behind, trying to comprehend the real value of branding. This study draws upon past literatures in branding and proposes the use the brand equity concept towards formulating a meaningful plat for a Malaysian Internet service called TMnet, Jaring and Maxis to nest. This study develops a brand equity construct which nestles upon brand concept of functionality, image, perceived quality and brand loyalty. Developing brand equity is not an easy task. Therefore, this study tries to identify the important factors for creating brand equity. Results of this study shows that perceived quality is the most important factor for developing brand equity. The results of this study confirm the significant influence of these four utmost important factors on brand equity. In conclusion, practitioners can derive a better understanding of the activities that are undertaken by these organizations and how the way these activities are being dealt with. Keywords: Functionality, image of brand, perceived quality of brand and brand loyalt