Stakeholder perception of quality in higher education and its links with societal culture

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to find out more about the relationship between national culture and Service Quality, and its practical implications for Higher Education. The main direction of this research was to investigate the dynamic nature of quality and the different “stakes” of University stakeholders (students, academic and administrative staff, employers) meaning the key quality indicators of each stakeholder category for Higher Education. Then it intended to examine the influence of national culture dimensions on these key quality determinants and develop areas for improvement for the Greek Higher Education system. The first objective is to capture the quality perceptions of the different stakeholder groups according to their role in the educational process. We need to find out the determinants of quality which they consider important and the reasons for which these attributes are important. We will also try to identify characteristic patterns for each stakeholder group. The second objective is to answer the question of whether the quality perception of University stakeholders is affected by Societal Culture dimensions. It is important whether some or all categories are affected by Societal Culture dimensions and whether there is congruence or difference in their cultural perceptions. The third objective is to propose one or more frameworks for managing quality based on specifis Service Quality and Societal Culture factors which seem to affect the different University stakeholder categories. The fourth objective is to recommend areas for quality improvement in Higher Education taking as a case the Athens University of Economics and Business. In order to achieve the above objectives, we formulated theory and literature-based assumptions regarding quality of services and societal perceptions and expectations of the above mentioned stakeholder groups which will inform the basis of our empirical study.