Modelling the impact of online learning quality on students' satisfaction, trust and loyalty
International Journal of Educational Management
ISSN: 0951-354X
Article publication date: 10 January 2023
Issue publication date: 22 March 2023
Abstract
Purpose
Critically, to improve and manage online learning quality (OLQUAL), higher education providers need to regularly measure OLQUAL. Hence, a reliable measure of OLQUAL in higher education from the students' perspective is indispensable. Further, as a pioneer in examining OLQUAL outcomes in the online education context, we assert that satisfaction, trust and loyalty is a global assessment that follows the evaluation of OLQUAL. A model that delineates the perceived OLQUAL and its relationship with satisfaction, trust and loyalty are currently absent. Grounded on the cognition–affective–conation framework – this study presents the indicators of perceived OLQUAL and its influence on students' satisfaction and trust which further influences their loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach
To measure the OLQUAL instrument and proposed relationships – data were collected from 232 online undergraduate and postgraduate students. The results of confirmatory factor analysis measure five dimensions of perceived OLQUAL – comprising system quality, administrative quality, educational quality, transformative quality and social quality. Further, the proposed relationships were tested using structural equation modelling.
Findings
This study has successfully measured a second-order OLQUAL model on five primary quality dimensions (i.e. systems, administrative, educational, transformative and social). The findings confirm that students' satisfaction alone does not play a mediating role; rather, satisfaction and trust play a sequential mediating role between OLQUAL and loyalty.
Originality/value
Our new model provides a new tool for institutions and researchers to evaluate the quality of online education programs, as well as identify their strategy in developing and providing high-quality online learning to students.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all anonymous reviewers for their invaluable comments on the paper.
Funding: This research is funded by “Asia Pacific International College, Australia”.
Citation
Khan, E.A., Cram, A., Wang, X., Tran, K., Cavaleri, M. and Rahman, M.J. (2023), "Modelling the impact of online learning quality on students' satisfaction, trust and loyalty", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 281-299. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-02-2022-0066
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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