Student satisfaction and impact of leadership in private universities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the differing views of the students studying in private universities in Pakistan about quality and the gap that exists between their expectations and actual experiences from the services provided. Design/methodology/approach The research has been conducted in seven private universities of Pakistan using quantitative survey for data collection and data analysis. SPSS has been used to apply exploratory factors technique to identify satisfying and dissatisfying factors in customers of higher education through six service quality indicators (teaching, management, leadership, campus life, academic services and infrastructure). Findings The multivariate effects of satisfaction across universities were measured through MANOVA. Discriminant analysis has been the most critical tool used for analysis, as not only could it distinguish between satisfied and dissatisfied students across seven universities, but predicted the strength of the word of mouth and intentions to stay in the university. Originality/value A model has been proposed to understand dynamics of student satisfaction and loyalty in private universities of Pakistan. The model suggests that two leading factors, which influence students’ perception of service quality are either related to leadership and effective planning or to management, the actual process of service delivery.