Student experiences of service delivery in an academic department at a higher education institution in South Africa

Abstract

This research was undertaken to determine the actual level of student satisfaction with service delivery levels in an academic department at a higher education institution in South Africa. A quantitative research approach was used employing survey research through a questionnaire. The target group consisted of 1 033 Public Administration students from which a sample of 194 students was randomly drawn. Data was subjected to descriptive statistics and all the constructs were tested for reliability and validity by conducting the Cronbach's alpha. To check for significant differences between the demographics of population and age, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. A major result revealed that the respondents had overall high expectations for service delivery. They also perceived the experiences of service delivery as overwhelmingly positive. It was found that empathy and accessibility do not make considerable contributions to students' experiences of quality services. These results support the principles of the SERVQUAL model, implying that the general experiences of the respondents can be classified as new knowledge in service delivery literature. The results may serve as guidelines to a follow-up study and may be extended to other academic modules in the same academic department. The results may also contribute to better comprehension of service delivery matters.