Service quality in higher education: The role of student expectations Roediger Voss a , Thorsten Gruber b , Isabelle Szmigin c, ⁎ a University of Education Ludwigsburg, Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg, Institut für Bildungsmanagement Postfach 220, 71602 Ludwigsburg, Germany b The University of Manchester, Manchester Business School, MBS West, Booth Street West, Manchester M15 6PB, United Kingdom c The University of Birmingham, Birmingham Business School, University House, Birmingham B15 2TT, United Kingdom Received 1 June 2006; received in revised form 1 December 2006; accepted 1 January 2007 Abstract The study aims to develop a deeper understanding of the teaching qualities of effective lecturers that students desire and to uncover the constructs that underlie these desire expectations to reveal the underlying benefits that students look for. An empirical study using the means–end approach and two laddering techniques (personal interviews and laddering questionnaires) gives a valuable first insight into the desired qualities of lecturers. While the personal laddering interviews produced more depth in understanding, the results of the two laddering methods are broadly similar. The study results indicate that students want lecturers to be knowledgeable, enthusiastic, approachable, and friendly. Students predominately want to encounter valuable teaching experiences to be able to pass tests and to be prepared for their profession. This study also shows that students' academic interests motivate them less than the vocational aspects of their studies. © 2007 Published by Elsevier Inc. Keywords: Service quality; Higher education; Means–end; Laddering 1. Introduction In January 2005, Germany's highest court overturned a federal law that had banned the introduction of fees, thereby paving the way for universities to charge student tuition fees for the first time. By 2009/2010 German universities will also switch to the two-cycle system of higher education (bachelor– master) to achieve the Bologna objectives; all German students will be able to complete a Bachelor degree at one university and follow this with a master's degree at a different university. One consequence of these changes is that German universities need to pursue a more customer friendly approach with the aim of retaining students for postgraduate study as evidence shows that the recruitment of students is several times more expensive than their retention (Joseph et al., 2005). The new environment will also force German universities to compete for the best students and to monitor the quality of the educational services they offer more closely in order to retain current students and attract new ones. Students in Germany will probably also become more selective and demanding, making the understanding of student expectations a priority for universities. Student expectations are a valuable source of information (Sander et al., 2000; Hill, 1995). New undergraduate students may have unrealistic expectations of the university experience and if higher education organizations have a good understand- ing of such students' expectations, they should be in a better position to both manage and bring them to a realistic level. Universities could for example inform students of what is realistic to expect from lecturers (Hill, 1995). The knowledge of student expectations can also help lecturers in the design of teaching programs (Sander et al., 2000). Hill (1995) finds that student expectations in general and the expectations of academic aspects of higher education services such as teaching quality, teaching methods, and course content in particular, are quite stable over time. Telford and Masson (2005) point out that the perceived quality of the educational service depends on students' expectations and values. They cite several studies that indicate the positive impact of expectations and values on variables such as student participation (Claycomb et al., 2001), role clarity, and motivation to participate in the service encounter (Lengnick-Hall et al., 2000; Rodie and Kleine, 2000). Such work clearly points to the importance of Journal of Business Research 60 (2007) 949 – 959 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: voss@ph-ludwigsburg.de (R. Voss), thorsten.gruber@mbs.ac.uk (T. Gruber), i.t.szmigin@bham.ac.uk (I. Szmigin). 0148-2963/$ - see front matter © 2007 Published by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.01.020