| Abstract [eng] |
The last several years have seen a radical transformation of the higher education sphere due to rapid digitalisation and the use of online and hybrid learning styles, and the COVID-19 epidemic has only intensified it. The expectation of the students in terms of human interaction, as well as the technological infrastructure, has shifted with the educational institutions involving technology in delivering academic services to an increasing rate. Hence, it is now important to understand the impact of aspects on the service quality on the students in terms of their perceptions, confidence, and happiness and their most preferred modes of learning. Despite the abundance of research on the topic of service quality in the educational sector, past studies have largely been on satisfaction as opposed to behavioral consequences such as preferred learning mode. Moreover, the study has largely discussed physical and online learning settings separately and has been very intensive on the traditional SERVQUAL measures. Accordingly, this thesis aims to explore the relationship between human and technological dimensions of service quality with the perceptions of service quality, satisfaction, and trust shown by students on the preference of learning styles. The theoretical framework of the study is the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-OR) framework of psychological investigations where the preference of learning modes is considered a form of behavioral response, the psychological responded is considered an organismic state and the facets of service quality is perceived as a form of stimuli to achieve objectives of the research. To collect data, a systematic survey of questionnaires was administered to students in the institutions of higher learning to fill. Measurement and structural models were evaluated by using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) that enables investigation of complex interactions, mediation pattern, and latent variables. Although vital elements of quality of service such as, dependability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, tangibles and technical usability were analyzed, the outcome variables were perceived service quality, trust, contentment and preferred learning style. The findings indicate that the perceptions of the students about the quality of the services provided by the learning institutions are medium and high with human related factors such as empathy, responsiveness and dependability scoring high. It was discovered that technological aspects like the design of websites, usability, and security were significant driving forces, although it might have been the case that online learning experiences also led to increased heterogeneity. Students use the results of the structural model demonstrating that human and technology component of service quality significantly influence the perception of service quality to evaluate the overall quality of the services offered by educational institutions. Moreover, it is also found that the perceived service quality predicts trust that has a significant effect on satisfaction significantly. Their satisfaction in students was identified as the strongest predictor of the preferred learning mode with physical, online, or hybrid learning mode being chosen more based on the overall experience with the services, rather than on its features. The mediation study also indicates that trust is one of the major aspects of transforming the perception of service quality into satisfaction, though there is no mediation of perceived service quality between service factors and the selection of learning mode. The implication of this finding is that individual convenience, emotional comfort, and trust in institutional institutions is more influential in determining the choice of learning mode than individual technical and instructional quality. In general, by presenting a composite paradigm that combines the human and technical features of the quality of services with. |
