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Using multiple theoretical lenses, the paper develops and empirically tests a service design-based framework of effective customer participation (CP) in service delivery. Particularly, the paper examines the impact of customer education on effective CP, besides the latter's effect on service quality. The direct and moderating effect of service modularity on the association between customer education and effective CP is also studied.

Covariance-based structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses using the survey data collected from the healthcare industry within Pakistan.

The results lend support for the presence of individual and mutually reinforcing effects of customer education and service modularity on effective CP in service delivery, ultimately affecting service quality.

Building on the CP and customer learning literature, this research extends the work on antecedents and consequences of effective CP in the larger domain of the service design and service delivery literature.

The findings reveal that service managers should design services such that by design, CP is ingrained within service delivery processes so that it is effectively managed during service delivery for superior service quality.

Given the already scant research that has either taken a narrower view of CP (mostly in pre- or post-service delivery), the current research makes one of the initial attempts to identify, theorize and empirically test the service design level antecedents for holistic CP spanning over the physical, behavioral and informational participation during the service delivery.

The purpose of this paper is to consider the dynamics of customer education by exploring the relationship between education and customer expertise and their combined effects on customer loyalty in a high involvement investment services context. The paper also considers the service context within which customer education initiatives are delivered. More specifically, it explores the moderating effects of increasing levels of customer expertise (the outcome of customer education) on the relative importance of technical service quality (what is delivered) and functional service quality (how it is delivered) in determining the loyalty decision. In doing so, the paper aims to provide implications for the investment service firm for managing the service offering as customers develop expertise over time.

The paper proposes a conceptual model that formalises the research objectives as a series of testable hypotheses. This is followed by an outline of the research design and method. The hypotheses are tested using a sample of 1,268 high value clients from a global investment services firm. An analysis of the model and the results is presented.

Customer loyalty was found to be positively and significantly related to technical service quality, functional service quality, and customer education. Contrary to expectations, however, customer expertise was not negatively related to customer loyalty. Customer education was found to be positively associated with customer expertise. The main effect of customer education on loyalty was significant; however it did not diminish when customer expertise was entered into the third equation. In other words, the conditions for partial mediation were not satisfied. Finally, the positive and significant interaction coefficient between technical service quality and expertise implied that the positive effect of technical service quality on consumer customer loyalty was indeed stronger when customer expertise was high. Conversely, and consistent with expectations, the interaction term between functional service quality and customer expertise was significant and negative, indicating that the positive relationship between functional service quality and customer loyalty is diminished as customer expertise increases.

Where there is a significant amount of research on customer knowledge and expertise, there is relatively less understanding of how customers acquire such knowledge. It is hoped that this paper can shed some additional light on the subject of customer education, its impact on customer expertise and, ultimately, on the way in which service quality is perceived.

Customer education is considered as an appropriate communication strategy for promoting green products. This paper aims to elaborate on the characteristics of customer education that are suitable for green products by identifying what messages must be delivered, sources and channels that must be used to achieve the greatest effect. Moreover, this study uses a repeated cross-sectional approach by using the same research model in 2008 and 2019.

A questionnaire was arranged based on the research model. In 2008, the data were collected at 12 shopping malls in Jakarta. The 2019 data were collected online, using Google forms, from citizens of Jakarta and five nearby cities. Then, the data were processed using structural equation modeling.

Data analysis of both years shows that education containing messages that are both informational and transformational can increase customers’ perceptions of the benefits and economic accessibility of green products, as well as environmental concerns. This study’s results also indicate that customers’ intentions to buy green products are influenced by their attitudes toward buying. However, the impact of customers’ perceptions of benefit and economic accessibility on their attitudes toward green purchasing varied between 2008 and 2019.

Sustainable consumption can be pursued through customer education once a community’s economic conditions have reached a certain level. This study shows how changes have unfolded in Indonesia in several areas, therefore it should also be necessary to pursue green behavior via policies that are tailored to changes in the community.

This study shows how changes have unfolded in Indonesia in several areas, therefore it should also be necessary to pursue green behavior via policies that are tailored to changes in the community.

Investigation of the role of customer education in green products using a repeated cross-sectional study.

The Education Reform Act and, in particular, the Local Management of Schools will demand different skills, understanding and differing roles of senior management in educational establishments. This text draws on written assignments and experience of teachers and headteachers who piloted an MBA programme, designed specifically for senior teachers. Topics such as customers, product, price, promotion and the notion of teachers as a salesforce are unfamiliar to educators. They draw attention to the kind of strategic planning which will take place in schools as they take over responsibility for delegated budgets. All of this is new territory for the majority of state schools and this collection hopefully provides a useful resource.

In keeping with the socio‐economic and cultural transformation that has placed newer demands on the educational system, in terms of greater responsibility and accountability and increased expectations by stakeholders, the system has been pressurized to shift its focus from one in quantitative expansion to one with emphasis on quality. Such shifts and changes are being witnessed not only in the developed countries, but also in the developing countries of the world. The education system, and more so the higher education system in particular, in an attempt to react to the demands and ever increasing pressures from its stakeholders, finds itself in a market‐oriented environment, with internal and external customers; wherein, “delighting the customer”, is the rule for survival in the long run. “Delighting the customer”, is the core message of total quality management (TQM) and, hence, there is a need to identify and apply the relevant concepts of TQM to each and every aspect of academic life; that is, to the teaching, learning and administrative activities. The paper is a theoretical attempt at conceptualizing TQM in education.

This paper seeks to evaluate the arguments for and against the proposition that students in higher education are “customers” and should be treated as such.

A critical review of the relevant literature from the domains of total quality management and marketing.

The debate is polarised, with advocates regarding it as self‐evident that students are customers and should be treated as such, while critics regard it as self‐evident that the incursion of the “customer” concept into higher education degrades educational standards and damages educator/student relationships.

Researchers should investigate whether the adoption of the terminology, systems and processes of the “student‐as‐customer” leads to a degradation or improvement of the quality of education and level of service delivered to higher education students.

Ways are recommended in which the careful adoption of the term “customers” to refer to students could retain positive aspects – promoting the legitimate interests of students in the higher education system – while avoiding such potentially negative aspects as the problematic idea that “the customer is always right”.

The paper points towards a “middle way” by which educational policy‐makers and managers can obtain the benefits associated with a “customer orientation” while avoiding the difficulties associated with a simplistic interpretation of the customer concept.

This paper seeks to redress the lack of academic attention being given to the relationship between academia and industry in the competitive environment of international higher education‐related service delivery and use. It adopts a relational marketing approach to value creation in service interactions and explore the expectations and perceptions of employers and university academics and practitioners. The research focuses on a comprehensive mapping of gaps in the international higher education service at large, and specifically in the context of degree programme development, recruiting international students and associated service interactions with industry. It highlights some of the issues pertaining to service quality, customer orientation and sustainability in international higher education and associated service delivery.

This paper is an exploratory case study set in the context of Finnish higher education. It relies on qualitative research methods and applies the GAP model for the analysis of the empirical data.

Five gaps and a surplus gap are identified in the delivery of high‐quality customer service in the context of university‐industry interactions in international higher education. To close the gaps between academia and industry, the relationship marketing approach is proposed.

The paper contributes to the research stream on university‐industry relationships. The results should help to enhance understanding of customer service delivery in the linkage between academia and industry. The novelty of the paper lies in the integration of the language and logic associated with customer‐oriented service delivery into the operational context of higher education service interaction between academia and industry.

Reviews the role of non‐degree executive education in business schools. Suggests a focus on providing value to the external customer in executive education as a proactive way to force relevancy in teaching and research within business schools. Reviews strategies and policies associated with implementing such a focus on customer value. Discusses an executive education customer value‐determination system, which operationalizes some of these themes.

The growing popularity of quality management has left no sector untouched, and educational services are no exception. In the face of the innumerable demands that the stakeholders place, educational institutions like other organizations are realizing the significance of customer‐centered philosophies. The enhancement of quality and the attempt to define, conceptualize, implement and measure it are areas of focus, and are being addressed by policy makers, educational planners and administrators. This paper is an attempt towards identification of the elements that would help design quality for the higher educational system.

Based on a theoretical foundation, this paper is an empirical study conducted on select higher educational institutions to identify the various design characteristic constructs which would form the quality element/components for an educational system, and which, if implemented, would help design quality in education. The literature review helped conceptualize the variables that would constitute quality components for education. These were empirically tested and a comparative assessment made between internal and external customers of the educational system, the internal customers being the faculty and the administrative staff, and the external customers being students and the industry. Such an emphasis on customers of the educational system would assure a customer‐centric design of the educational system, something which is prima facie to “quality management”.

The study helped identify the quality components, which would help design quality for institutes of higher education.

The paper could be useful to policy makers, educational planners and administrators in developing a system that could lead to customer satisfaction.

While studies have been conducted on customer requirement and the constructs, research on what would comprise the quality components is lacking. A study on this could help design an educational system that would lead to quality management in education and thereby lead to customer satisfaction.

Educational institutes must embrace the principles of total quality management (TQM) if they seek to remain competitive, and survive and succeed in the long run. An educational institution must embrace the principles of quality management and incorporate them into all of their activities. Starting with a theoretical background, the paper outlines the results of a study conducted on both internal and external customers of the educational system, with select engineering and management institutes as foci of study. The study is an attempt toward developing an integrated customer-centric model of quality management in education, through the use of multiple methodologies so as to be able to evaluate service quality; prioritize improvement of service; and guide and develop educational services by incorporating the voice of the customer (VOC). The purpose of this paper is to establish the prioritization for improvement of service design of an educational system through incorporation of the VOC, be it internal or external customers, through the use of multiple methodologies, leading to generalization of results.

The study uses multiple methodologies with various techniques for analysis through the application of the SERVQUAL; quality function deployment (QFD); interpretive structural modeling (ISM); and path analysis. The SERVQUAL was applied to identify the gap and determine the level of service quality. Following this, QFD, ISM and path analysis were used to identify the set of minimum design characteristics/quality components that would meet the requirements the various internal and external customers of the educational system. The QFD was used to identify the set of minimum design characteristics/quality components that meet the requirements of the various internal and external customers of the educational system. The ISM and path analysis were used to identify and prioritize the design characteristics/quality components that would meet the requirements the various internal and external customers of the educational system.

The findings from the various techniques were amalgamated, and proposed as an integrated model of TQM in higher education. The study helped identify with a customer perspective, the quality components which would help design TQM for higher education institutions in India.

The paper could be useful to government bodies, funding agencies, policy makers and administrators in developing a system that could lead to satisfaction of both internal and external customers of the educational system.

The study includes within its scope the varied customers of the educational system, namely, internal and external customers of the educational system; the internal customers being the faculty and the administrative staff, and the external customers being the students and the industry (as the employer). This is yet to be seen in other research studies. Also, the integration of the multiple tools and their application to the field of higher education in India, has not yet been made available in the literature.