The purpose of this study is to validate the higher education service quality (HESQUAL) scale using a confirmatory approach and test an improved structural model that predicts student loyalty from image, perceived value, satisfaction and service quality. In addition to validating the HESQUAL scale using a confirmatory approach, two other main limitations in the extant literature are addressed.,The model is tested using data collected from 501 students enrolled in different higher education institutions in Mauritius. A two-stage approach to structural equation modeling is used whereby the measurement model is first tested using confirmatory factor analysis and followed by the assessment of the structural model.,Importantly, results indicate that student satisfaction is influenced by technical service quality, image and perceived value, but not by functional service quality. Both dimensions of service quality however are significant predictors of image and perceived value. The study uses a comprehensive measure of service quality and demonstrates that it is worthwhile to consider functional service quality as higher-order model and clearly distinguish between functional and technical quality, as both the technical and functional aspects play an important role in shaping students’ perceptions and behaviors.,First, in the existing literature, service quality has not been considered as a second-order factor model in structural models of student satisfaction and loyalty, thus lacking either precision or parsimony. Second, the transformative quality aspect of higher education has been largely neglected in previous research testing such predictive models. The model delineates service quality into the functional and transformative (technical) aspects and treats functional service quality as a second-order factor comprising nine sub-dimensions.

中文翻译：

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高等教育服务质量，学生满意度和忠诚度

这项研究的目的是使用一种验证方法来验证高等教育服务质量（HESQUAL）规模，并测试一种改进的结构模型，该模型可以通过图像，感知价值，满意度和服务质量来预测学生的忠诚度。除了使用验证方法验证HESQUAL量表外，还解决了现有文献中的其他两个主要局限性。使用从毛里求斯不同高等教育机构招收的501名学生收集的数据测试了该模型。结构方程建模采用两阶段方法，首先使用验证性因子分析对测量模型进行测试，然后对结构模型进行评估。重要的是，结果表明，学生的满意度受技术服务质量，图像和感知能力的影响价值，但不是由功能服务质量决定的。但是，服务质量的两个维度都是图像和感知价值的重要预测指标。该研究对服务质量进行了全面的衡量，并证明了将功能性服务质量视为高阶模型并明确区分功能性和技术质量是值得的，因为技术和功能性方面均在塑造学生的认知方面起着重要作用。首先，在现有文献中，服务质量在学生满意度和忠诚度的结构模型中还没有被认为是二阶因素模型，因此缺乏精确性或简约性。其次，在以往的研究中，高等教育的变革质量在很大程度上已经被忽略。