Hardi MULYONO, Arief HADIAN, Nelvitia PURBA, Rudy PRAMONO /
Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business Vol 7 No 10 (2020) 929–938 929 929
Print ISSN: 2288-4637 / Online ISSN 2288-4645
doi:10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no10.929
Effect of Service Quality Toward Student Satisfaction
and Loyalty in Higher Education
Hardi MULYONO
1
, Arief HADIAN
2
, Nelvitia PURBA
3
, Rudy PRAMONO
4
Received: August 01, 2020 Revised: September 06, 2020 Accepted: September 12, 2020
Abstract
This study analyzes the effect of quality of services provided to the students’ in relation to their satisfaction and loyalty. Respondents in this
study were seventh semester students of Universitas Muslim Nusantara Al-Washliyah, the total number of students was 312. Data analysis
techniques in this study used was SEM (Structural Equation Modeling) using the SmartPLS program. The results showed that students’
satisfaction significantly mediated the correlation between academics and students’ loyalty, between non-academic and students’ loyalty,
between reputation and students’ loyalty, and between campus access and students’ loyalty; on the other hand, students’ satisfaction was not
significant in mediating the correlation between program issues and students’ loyalty. The findings suggest that it is necessary to improve
the quality of lecturers to improve students’ academic abilities and communication skills. As far as non-academic aspects are concerned,
conducting training and development efforts and increasing awareness programs for administrative staff is important. For the reputation
aspect, to carry out several marketing campaigns which predict to have an effect upon students in building positive perceptions of campus
has to be executed as well. Meanwhile for access aspect, it should be made certain that every student can have direct access to staff
employees, and it is necessary to improve dimensions which can increase students’ satisfaction so that students are convinced of their choice
of campus and then they are likely to recommend their chosen university and spread positive things about their institutions.
Keywords: Service Quality, HedPERF, Student Satisfaction, Student Loyalty, University Student
JEL Classification Code: E44, F31, F37, G15
existing higher education institutions (Angell, Heffernan, &
Megicks, 2008). Therefore a higher education institution,
which aims at gaining a competitive advantage in the future,
needs to find an effective and creative way to attract, maintain
and foster stronger relationships with students (Hasan, Ilias,
Rahman, & Razak, 2008).
For this reason Universities as academic institutions
should continue to innovate, diversify their structures and
find new ways to provide their services more effectively to
their customers (Rain, Sinha, & Sahney, 2011; Rahman et al,
2020). The occurrence of this phenomenon was challenging
the Universities to provide the best service to students in order
to win the competition. As the market have become more
competitive for universities, Universitas Musim Nusantara
Al-Washliyah as a private university in Medan has kept on
improving the quality of services provided to the students
so that it can maintain students’ satisfaction and loyalty.
Quality of service has a big role for various institutions as
a way of maintaining the number of students by capturing
the education market (Yeo, 2008). Providing the best service
is a key to success in surviving the competition (Zeithaml,
1. Introduction
At present, the competition among private universities is
so high, that students’ satisfaction has to be prioritized by the
universities. Attracting new students and retaining existing
students has become an urgent and important goal for many
1
First Author. Universitas Muslim Nusantara Al Washliyah, Indonesia.
Email: hardimulyono@umnaw.ac.id
2
Universitas Muslim Nusantara Al Washliyah, Indonesia.
Email: ariefhadian@umnaw.ac.id
3
Universitas Muslim Nusantara Al Washliyah, Indonesia.
Email: nelvitiapurba@umnaw.ac.id
4
Corresponding Author. Lecturer, Pelita Harapan University,
Indonesia [Postal Address: MH Thamrin Boulevard 1100, Klp. Dua,
Kec. Klp. Dua, Tangerang, Banten 15811, Indonesia]
Email: rudy.pramono@uph.edu
© Copyright: The Author(s)
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original work is properly cited.