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The purpose of this paper is to study Bayesian dependency modelling (BDM) to validate the model of educational experiences and the student-customer orientation questionnaire (SCOQ), and to identify the categories of educatonal experience in which students expect a higher educational institutions (HEI) to be student-customer oriented.

This paper employs a cross-sectional quantitative survey study, mixed methods research, exploratory factor analysis and BDM.

The validated model of educational experiences and the SCOQ; results indicate that students expect to be treated as customers in some, but not all categories of educational experience.

The authors contribute to existing literature on two fronts: the validated model of educational experiences and the categories of educational experience in which students expect to be treated as customers.

The validated SCOQ presented in the paper may be used by other HEIs to assess the degree to which students expect a particular HEI to be customer oriented. Also, HEIs should assess students’ expectations concerning student-customer orientation before employing such an approach.

The paper presents a validated model of educational experiences and a SCOQ. Additionally, the study does not investigate whether students expect a HEI as such to be student-customer oriented (as most studies have done so far); instead, the aim is to find out whether, in which categories of educational experience and to what extent students expect a HEI to be student-customer oriented. Thus, the study explores the phenomenon of student-customer orientation at a deeper level, i.e. separately at the level of educational experiences.

The paper's purpose is to test: whether there are significant differences between England and Israel, in terms of perceptions of market orientation (MO) in higher education (HE); which MO dimensions (student, competition, intra‐functional) indicate more positive attitudes and whether the differences are significant; and the reliability of the instrument for using a larger sample of respondents internationally.

A comparative (online) survey of 68 academics in England and Israel was conducted during the academic year 2007. The MO questionnaire used comprises 32 factor items rated on a six‐point scale, categorised using three headings: market (student‐customer) orientation; competitor orientation; and inter‐functional coordination.

Overall, academics in both countries indicated that their HE institution is oriented towards meeting students' needs and desires, and cares for students' well‐being, teaching and learning. In addition, the respondents alluded to their contribution to internal marketing, i.e. to the promotion of their university through their own work tasks and performance.

The study was restricted to a comparison of only two universities, one in Israel and one in England, and the sample size is small.

The meeting of student needs, and a student centred approach can be an institutional mission, as well as a government driven initiative imposed on universities through the introduction of a market.

As MO frequently underpins the development and implementation of successful organisation‐environment relationships, the current paper is a first attempt to trace the contextual determinants of this orientation by comparing its frequencies and elements in two different HE systems.

Changes are inevitable and organisations should develop their organisational capacity for change (OCC) to survive. This paper aims to test the effect of market orientation on OCC (learning, process and context), as well as the impact of OCC on organisational performance.

This research used a survey of 314 heads of study programmes in Indonesia’s highest-ranked universities to test the proposed hypotheses.

The results of this research demonstrate that OCC is determined by customer orientation and cross-functional coordination (market orientation), while competitor orientation influences the learning dimension of OCC. Moreover, only the context dimension of OCC positively influences organisational performance in addition to serving as a mediator between market orientation (customer orientation and cross-functional coordination) and organisational performance, whereas competitor orientation positively influences organisational performance.

This paper empirically tested the three dimensions of OCC (learning, process and context) that had previously been discussed only conceptually. Furthermore, the organisation should be market-oriented to possess the capacity for change. Finally, the paper proposes and demonstrates that organisational context (culture) plays a significant role in OCC in developing organisational performance.

MBA education in India is facing the same challenges as business. Upheaval of technology, changing customer expectations, global competition, online courses and societal responsibility are the major concerns. Failure to adapt to these challenges will question the academic contribution to business practice. Business school (B‐school) branding is crucial to distinguish the services provided by one B‐school from another. Considering the importance and relevance of adapting to the changing market forces, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual model of brand‐building for Indian B‐schools.

A range of published literature related to the topic is thoroughly searched. The paper examines the viewpoints of various scholars with regard to the role of a student in a B‐school. The services marketing perspective is analyzed and the gaps are identified through a robust literature survey. Based on the literature survey, an original conceptual model for brand‐building for B‐schools is proposed.

Some B‐schools have adopted certain branding activities, but extant literature review reveals that B‐schools in India do not practice an organized holistic approach to branding activities.

The proposed conceptual model is stage one in the process of understanding what goes into building a B‐school brand. Stage two would empirically test the proposed conceptual model of brand‐building. The proposed model is holistic, considering the role of important stakeholders such as students, faculty and corporate. This conceptual model will help B‐school management to understand the role and importance of branding B‐schools. It will provide an insight into the various parameters on which a B‐school brand has to be built.

This paper focuses on the determinants of student satisfaction and retention in a college or university that are assumed to impact students' college experience.

Using empirical data and Herzberg's two‐factor theory, a modified version of the questionnaire developed by Keaveney and Young was administered to approximately 160 undergraduate business students at a state university in South Central Pennsylvania. Using path analysis, the hypothesized effects were tested empirically by incorporating a comprehensive set of independent variables and self‐reported experiential assessments to predict experience, which in turn related to student satisfaction.

The results indicate that the path coefficients from faculty and classes to students' partial college experience are consistent with the assumption that these are key factors that influence student partial college experience. Also, the path coefficient from student partial college experience to satisfaction was consistent with Herzberg's two‐factor theory. In addition, students who have a positive college experience are more likely to be satisfied with the college or university than students who do not have a positive college experience.

By focusing on antecedents of student satisfaction, colleges and universities can align their organizational structure, processes and procedures to become more customer‐oriented. Small sample size and self‐explicated retention data are the limitations of this study.

It is recommended in this study that the changing nature of the higher education marketplace encourages college administrators to apply the customer‐oriented principles that are used in profit‐making institutions.

Using a satisfaction model and a comprehensive set of independent variables and self‐reported experiential assessments to predict experience, this paper provides empirical findings to understand student satisfaction in higher education institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and interpret the critical quality attributes of core educational services at the course level both with student and lecturer involvement. Significant differences between the viewpoints of these two directly involved stakeholder groups are also demonstrated to provide a better understanding of student expectations.

Students of quality management courses were invited to collect those attributes that could have an impact on their perceived educational service quality. The compiled list of 23 characteristics has been formed on the basis of a four-point Likert scale-based questionnaire. With approximately 360 responses, thorough statistical analyses have been executed to investigate whether any significant differences could be detected between the quality attributes perceived by the different student segments. A group of lecturers has also been invited to fulfil the same questionnaire to compare their viewpoints with those of the students.

The results allow us to identify critical quality attributes which may be used in all platforms and interactions with students. The conclusions can be implemented on the course level to adjust the plan-do-check-act-based improvement of courses in which lecturers are directly interested.

As the new generation of students increasingly regard themselves as customers, they have become more aware of how they are taught and how they participate in the learning process. Institutionalizing this approach may contribute to the shaping of the organizational quality culture by emphasizing student focus and may result in the identification of best practices and standardization of processes at the course level.

This paper aims to corroborate the importance of university social responsibility (USR) for universities and to establish a rationale for their investment in a strategically implement socially responsible initiatives and programmes and gain returns from such investments. This purpose can be achieved by examining a complex conceptual model connecting USR with many desired student-related outcomes that leverage the university's competitiveness, long sustainability and contribution to the triple bottom line – “people, planet, and profit”.

The authors conducted a cross-country comparative study using quantitative techniques. Their analysis was guided by a holistic conceptual model constructed and experimentally evaluated using obtained primary data. The robustness of the suggested model was evaluated using structural equation modelling with partial least squares.

The findings validate the hypothesized associations and indicate that adopting USR initiatives increases student satisfaction and alumni loyalty through student-university identification, perceived university image, and service quality. In addition, the cross-country analysis finds no variation in the strength of the connections owing to cultural variations, except for the association between service quality and institution image.

Incorporating USR at the centre of university's strategy not only complements its teaching and research goals but also answers the requirements and expectations of stakeholders, increases competitiveness and assures sustainable performance.

This cross-cultural USR study uses a mix of methods to show that, even though USR is important, until now, its importance has been overlooked.

There have been many research studies on students’ satisfaction of services in universities in developed countries. However, students’ expectation and satisfaction of public and private higher education institutions (HEIs) with regard to service quality in Eastern Europe have been under-researched. Therefore, this study aims to offer an empirical examination of student satisfaction of the service quality of public and private HEIs in Albania by evaluating the gap between students’ expectation and perception and the effect of student satisfaction on retention in HEIs.

The survey instrument used in this study was the student satisfaction inventory in the USA. Primary data were collected from a survey of students in two private and four public HEIs in Albania. A total of 554 valid responses were collected from the survey.

The findings suggested that there were performance gaps between public and private HEIs. Public universities performed well in terms of concern for the individual, campus support services, student-centeredness and instructional effectiveness. Private HEIs scored well in terms of concern for the individual, academic advising effectiveness, instructional effectiveness and safety and security (parking). There is a significant difference in students’ perception of the overall satisfaction of HEIs. Students’ overall satisfaction positively impacts their retention.

Overall, this study provides valuable insights to private and public HEIs’ administrators regarding to student satisfaction and retention. The findings will have far-reaching managerial implications for all groups of stakeholders in terms of the service delivery by universities in Albania and Eastern Europe.

The present field research aimed to assess whether gender differences exist in academic entitlement among college students of a society in rapid transition from a patriarchal system to one fostering gender equity. It then aimed to determine whether particular dimensions of academic entitlement or a simplified one-factor measure can be used as an early indicator of course-related academic difficulties.

College students completed a questionnaire about academic entitlement. Records of test and assessment performance, as well as attendance, were collected for the first half of an academic semester. Due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, instruction was delivered online synchronously.

A few gender differences were found that departed from the largely consistent finding in the extant literature of greater academic entitlement in males. For female students, selected dimensions of academic entitlement, but not class attendance, weakly predicted poor performance. For male students, dimensions of academic entitlement were ineffective predictors of both performance and attendance, thereby suggesting that demographic characteristics may define the sensitivity of academic entitlement measures to early, course-related academic difficulties.

The current study has limitations to be addressed in future research. For instance, the insensitivity of male students' academic entitlement to early performance measures needs to be investigated further. It may be the byproduct of the weakening of the view of male superiority typical of patriarchal societies, which arises from top-down interventions intended to promote gender equity. Yet, it may also underline males' reluctance to express a view that is counter to institutional messages of gender equity as well as religious and cultural values of modesty (Al-Absi, 2018), and personal responsibility (Asrorovna, 2020; Smither and Khorsandi, 2009). Another limitation is the extent to which specific items or dimensions of academic entitlement map into specific cultural dimensions, such as individualism and collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity and femininity (Hofstede, 2011).

Academic entitlement is of concern to educators at universities and colleges across the world for several reasons. High levels of stress (Barton and Hirsch, 2016) and frustration (Anderson et al., 2013) usually accompany academic entitlement along with students' self-reports of lower exerted effort (Kopp et al., 2011). In self-reports, academic entitlement is found to be correlated with an external locus of control, lower academic motivation and lower ratings of class attendance (Fromuth et al., 2019). Boswell (2012) has also reported it as linked to lower students' confidence in their ability to complete with success the courses in which they are enrolled (i.e. course self-efficacy). Thus, the availability of early measures of academic risk in core courses, which prepare students for advanced courses in their major, can be particularly valuable to educators and administrators.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) represents a society in rapid transition (Nowak and Vallacher, 2019) from a gender-segregated system to one in which gender equity in educational as well as occupational opportunities and choices is promoted and sustained through top-down institutional changes (e.g. decrees, declarations, investments, etc.; Mansyuroh, 2019). The study’s findings suggest that college students, the main targets of institutional efforts promoting gender equity, may be responsive to such efforts.

The present study is a snapshot of a moment at which the impact of top-down institutional actions for gender equity has become palpable mostly due to its spreading across the large youth population of KSA (Assaad and Roudi-Fahimi, 2007). In this research, the authors asked how the target recipients (i.e. college students) of institutional gender-equity efforts might react.

This paper explores some management concepts and how applying these concepts from business to higher education can be problematic, let alone incompatible, particularly in relation to measuring quality in higher education.

It provides a conceptual understanding of the literature on quality in the higher education context. It does so by examining the literature on students as customers, customer expectations, customer satisfaction and other management theories that have been applied to higher education.

It argues that the current bases for perceiving quality such as meeting customer expectations, satisfying the customer, ensuring quality control, meeting standards and assessing the cost associated with poor quality are in disagreement with the principal aims and measures of quality in higher education.

This paper can certainly benefit from many other concepts in business that have been applied in higher education, which it lacks. It only focussed on a number of key and popular ideas in management theory that have been used in higher education more broadly.

Student-focussed quality initiatives can be devoid of the student as customer concept. How programs, subjects and experiences are curated can be solely for the purpose of continuous improvement. Second, universities that choose to treat the student as a customer may find it beneficial to apply a relationship marketing approach to higher education. Lastly, those against the student as customer concept may focus on the long-term impact of quality initiatives such as promoting lifelong learning, building long-term relationships with alumni and employers and those that further promote academic integrity.

Some considerations have been offered. These considerations revisit the basic notions of teaching and learning in higher education. It puts an emphasis on sidestepping the student as customer metaphor, that learning is not expressed in dollar terms, and that the quality of the student experience cannot be measured by student evaluation alone because it is felt much later in life.