Purpose

Student loyalty is important if universities are to stay in business by recruiting and retaining satisfied students who provide positive evaluations of their university to others. The current study employed a theoretical framework established by consumer researchers to test the hypothesis that university social responsibility (USR) would predict student loyalty, but that this relation would be mediated by perceived service quality, student satisfaction, and student trust in their university.

Design/methodology/approach

Fee-paying university students in Pakistan (n = 608) completed a questionnaire to assess their perception of USR and service quality, their satisfaction with and trust in their university, and loyalty toward their university.

Findings

Structural equation modelling with partial least squares software supported the hypotheses that higher perceived USR would be related to higher student loyalty, and that this relation would be mediated by perceived service quality, student satisfaction, and student trust.

Originality/value

This study provides a novel contribution to the limited literature on USR and its relations with student loyalty. Several models have previously examined the relation between corporate social responsibility and general consumer loyalty, but these have limited applicability to the education sector. The data in this study support a model showing that USR supports student loyalty through its positive impact on perceptions of service quality, student satisfaction, and student trust. The findings suggest that USR could be a marketing tool that supports student loyalty, as long as USR initiatives increase students' perceptions of service quality, satisfaction and trust in their university.

中文翻译：

---

大学如何提高学生的忠诚度？大学社会责任，服务质量以及“客户”满意度和信任的作用

目的

如果大学要通过招募和留住对他人提供对大学的正面评价的满意的学生来维持业务发展，那么学生的忠诚度就很重要。当前的研究采用了由消费者研究人员建立的理论框架来检验以下假设：大学社会责任（USR）可以预测学生的忠诚度，但是这种关系将由感知的服务质量，学生满意度和学生对他们大学的信任来调节。

设计/方法/方法

巴基斯坦的付费大学生（n  = 608）完成了一份问卷，以评估他们对USR和服务质量的看法，对大学的满意度和信任以及对大学的忠诚度。

发现

使用偏最小二乘软件进行的结构方程建模支持以下假设：较高的感知USR与较高的学生忠诚度有关，并且这种关系将由感知的服务质量，学生满意度和学生信任度介导。

创意/价值

这项研究为有关USR及其与学生忠诚度关系的有限文献提供了新颖的贡献。先前有几种模型研究了企业社会责任与一般消费者忠诚度之间的关系，但这些模型在教育领域的适用性有限。本研究中的数据支持一个模型，该模型表明USR通过对服务质量，学生满意度和学生信任感的积极影响来支持学生忠诚度。研究结果表明，只要USR计划能增强学生对大学服务质量，满意度和信任度的认识，USR便可以成为支持学生忠诚度的营销工具。