Assessing the Causal Relationship of Service Quality, University Image, Student Satisfaction and Student Loyalty: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

Scholars are progressively focusing on the service quality its impact of higher educational institutions, acknowledging that quality has become a foremost and persistent topic of discussion. The viewpoint on service quality stresses its growing importance in shaping student experiences and institutional reputations. However, the links between service quality, institutional image, on students’ satisfaction and students’ loyalty are still confusing and inconsistent. Thus, the study focuses on to understand the influence of service quality and corporate image on students’ satisfaction and loyalty. the study employed a census survey using a structured questionnaire based on the Faculty of Management and Finance, University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka. The study population comprised 2,400 undergraduates, and a census survey method was employed. Of these, 1,378 responses were considered for the final analysis. The study confirmed the existence of a positive and significant relationship of service quality on students’ satisfaction, there is a positive and significant relationship of corporate image on students’ satisfaction, there is a positive and significant relationship of service quality on loyalty, there is a positive and significant relationship of corporate image on loyalty, there is a positive relationship between students’ satisfaction and loyalty. furthermore, a study established a partial mediation of students’ satisfaction on the relationships between service quality-loyalty and corporate image-loyalty. the originality of this study has been confirmed that there are only a few studies that considered all these influences in a single study including indirect effect of students’ satisfaction in the service quality field of education. This study offers more robust empirical evidence on the role of service quality and corporate image on student satisfaction and loyalty. It identifies the key quality dimensions within higher education institutions that significantly impact student satisfaction. Future researchers are stimulated to perform similar studies across other state universities and private universities to ensure the consistency and generalizability of the findings.