Abstract
The growing internationalisation of Higher Institutions of Education and the proliferation of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have increased the competitive challenge facing local public universities and MBA programs. Service quality is the key challenge facing local universities to compete at international level. To achieve service quality however, managers of Higher Institutions of Education and/or MBA programs have to understand the service quality perceptions of students and set service quality standards and strategies that meet these quality perceptions.
Most studies assessing service quality of MBA programs and/or of the education sector have utilised SERVQUAL, SERVPERF and HEdPERF models. Although these models offer reliability they are limited in providing practical understanding of service quality in specific contexts. This study replicated the Top-of-mind expression technique that uses unaided free expressions of respondents to investigate MBA service quality criteria of 31 MBA postgraduates of a public university. The analysis discovered two new MBA service quality criteria and that includes management of the MBA program and image which are not conceptualised for measurement in existing service quality models. The results further confirmed other service quality dimensions of MBA programs; syllabus, lecturing quality, reliability of program, academic facilities and outcomes. The results designate that using the Top-of-mind technique which involves analysing free top-of-mind expressions of respondents can identify key service criteria in specific contexts. The specific terms may offer very useful insights for managers and practitioners to formulate specific strategies to improve attractiveness and competitiveness of the service provided and in this case, MBA programs.
Key words: Service quality, MBA, service quality measurement.
