Communicating a quality position in service delivery: an application in higher education

This paper describes a method uniquely suited to the problem of coordinating quality service delivery with service quality positioning. The means‐end chain model is used to develop a marketing communications strategy for a university. In this study, first‐year students were asked about their goals in attending college as well as what attributes a college would have to have in order to be able to satisfy their goals. Because the means‐end chain approach provides information about the linkage between attributes, benefits, and personal goals, it is well suited to the needs of service developers as well as those charged with the responsibility for designing the marketing communications that position those services.