European model of satisfaction: a case study with students from a Higher Education Instituition

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the overall satisfaction determinants of the student’s body of a higher education institution in the northwest of Rio Grande do Sul/Brasil. To do so, a descriptive quantitative research was performed, which used a model based on a Survey with 402 students, being the instrument used to conduct the survey based on the European model of satisfaction. Represented by a structural equation (PASWAN YOUNG, 2002, apud VIEIRA et al., 2008), the ECSI (European Customer Satisfaction Model), focuses on: (i) evaluating the influence of perceived quality, the expectation of quality, image and perceived value in the overall student satisfaction; (II) evaluating the influence of the general satisfaction of students in the level of loyalty and retention of students in the educational institution, and (III) pointing key areas as well as a set of indicators for the management and maintenance of the students’ satisfaction from the institution being analyzed. Thus, with the application of the instrument, three factors able to explain 78% of student’s satisfaction towards the university were found: the first and most representative factor was called the student perceived value, which is the perceived value or level of teaching quality for the price paid by the students, the second factor is the image of the university, and the third factor are the expectations of the student.

Keywords

• Satisfaction. European Model. Students. ECSI.