In partial fulfillmento f the requirements for the degree of master of arts in management of farketing education
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Date
2010-06
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
These days most service organizations are realizing the significance of customer
centered philosophies. One of the key challenges for them is how they manage
service quality, which holds a great importance for customer satisfaction. The
purpose of this research was to identify the gap between customers' expectations
and their actual perception of the service performance of Alpha University College,
College of Distance Studies thereby measuring the gap between these elements in
order to identify the level of the service quality. A questionnaire for this investigation
is addressed to a sample population of 31180 and sample size of 380. Out of the
380 questionnaires distributed, 320 of them were returned which resulted in a
response rate of 84.2% which was administered in 6 branches with relatively
larger number of clients (learners). The sampling procedure used was a nonprobability
and adopted purposive stratified sampling technique. The measurements
used were based on the widely accepted SERVQUAL model. A descriptive
statistical analysis (mean and percentage) was used to see the gap between clients
actual perceptions and their expectations. The data were analyzed using both
quantitative and qualitative method. A computer data storage program, the Spss
was employed for the quantitative data and a critical analysis was made to refine
the qualitative ones. Conclusion with remarks was shown that customers'
perceptions were consistently lower than their expectations especially in the
empathy dimension. The most important focal point for competitive advantage is
shown in the responsiveness dimension. Recommendations were forwarded in the
areas of employee empowerment, provision of guidance and counseling for distance
learners; creating efficient distribution system; establishment of sound record
management system; and the need for a continuous market research to improve
service quality and to measure and evaluate clients perceptions towards the level of
service quality of the institution.
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Keywords
Marketing (Education)