Achieving service quality and students loyalty through intimacy and trust of employees of universities: A test case of Kenyan universities

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of employees’ behavioural factors in increasing students’ loyalty. It specifically examines the direct and indirect mediations between employees’ service quality, trust and intimacy. The focus is on the effects of constructs of service quality (SQLTY), trust (TRUS) and intimacy (INTIMACY) on student loyalty (STLOY).

Design/methodology/approach

This study depended on a positivist research paradigm. A total of 800 structured questionnaires were administered. However, 743 were retrieved and coded for the final analysis. The analytical tool used in this study is the ADANCO 2.0.1 software and in terms of statistical processing, the PLS–SEM technique was utilised.

Findings

The findings on direct relationships reveal that INTIMACY is a strong predictor of STLOY, whereas service quality (SQLTY) is a predictor of trust (TRUS). The effect of indirect mediation between service quality (SQLTY), trust (TRUS) and intimacy (INTIMACY) on STLOY was not confirmed.

Research limitations/implications

The study like any academic work has limitations. Despite these limitations, this study offers theoretical as well as practical value for the research community and administrators of universities and higher educational administrators as a whole.

Practical implications

The study emphasises the critical need for administrators of higher educational institutions to understand that the behaviours of their employees during the service encounter significantly affect intimacy and student loyalty.

Originality/value

The present study is unique because it quantitatively examined how the above-mentioned behavioural factors of employees lead to INTIMACY and STLOY. The use of a university for the research helped to develop a much better explanation of some of the salient considerations for STLOY. The value of this work rests in the complex quantitative relationships studied.

Citation

Amegbe, H., Hanu, C. and Mensah, F. (2019), "Achieving service quality and students loyalty through intimacy and trust of employees of universities: A test case of Kenyan universities", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 33 No. 2, pp. 359-373. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-09-2017-0251