Perceived Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction – Employees’ Perspectives of Kenyan Private Universities

This paper reports on an empirical study conducted among a sample 133 employees of private higher education institution in Kenya, to examine the relationship between perceived service quality (SQ) and customer satisfaction (CS), using the HEdPERF instrument. Although service quality was measured using six dimensions namely: academic, non-academic, reputation, access, programmes and understanding, by using structural equation modelling (SEM), the six SQ dimensions needed to be collapsed into four, since these were significant to the employees of private universities. The employee is viewed as a ‘customer’ of the private higher education institution, thus service quality refers to the employee-customers’ perceptions. The results partially support the proposed conceptual model that non-academic, access, academic and reputation dimensions have a positive and significant influence on the employees’ SQ perceptions, and in turn influences their satisfaction. It can be inferred from the findings that university quality should not only be looked at in terms of academic activities alone, as non-academic aspects also need to be considered since they are deemed important to the employees. Since universities are in both national and international competition, they (management) should aim at ensuring that all services related to organizational life like physical, implicit and explicit are delivered to acceptable standards to realize increased satisfaction

Factors impeding African immigrant entrepreneurs’ progression in selected small and medium enterprises: Evidence from a local municipality in South Africa

This study examines factors inhibiting African immigrant entrepreneurs’ small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) growth in a municipality of South Africa. Understanding these factors is important to stakeholders as this is an area that plagues much of the immigrant entrepreneurship literature. The study is descriptive in nature, and data were sourced from active African immigrant entrepreneurs through a quantitative approach. Random sampling was used to identify a total of 75 businesses. The results indicated that access to credit from regulated financial institutions is a mirage and that Afrophobic attacks on businesses dwindles prospects of entrepreneurship, job and wealth creation, thus impacting on economic growth of the region. To help bring ‘long-lasting’ co-existence between immigrant entrepreneurs and natives, formulation and implementation of ‘liberal’ integrated public policy interventions and strategies are needed. This would help in having a positive impact on the region’s prosperity in terms of job creation, poverty reduction and economic growth, in turn improving the peoples’ well-being. Given the migratory patterns and greater human global mobility, debate on integrated approaches among or within government systems should never be obscure as it is one of the biggest challenges in the continent