179878371 A STUDY ON STUDENTS PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE QUALITY OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE STUDENTS RESIDENTIAL HALL

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE
QUALITY OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE STUDENTS’
RESIDENTIAL HALL,
UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA

NURUL HAMIZA BINTI HAMZAH

UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA
2009

A STUDY ON STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION TOWARDS THE
QUALITY OF SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE STUDENTS’
RESIDENTIAL HALL,
UNIVERSITI UTARA MALAYSIA

A thesis submitted to the College of Business in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree Master of Science (Management)
Universiti Utara Malaysia

by
Nurul Hamiza Binti Hamzah

©Nurul Hamiza Binti Hamzah, 2009. All right reserved

In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of requirements for a post graduate degree from
Universiti Utara Malaysia, I agree that the University Library may make it freely available for
inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis in any manner, in whole or in
part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by my supervisor or, in his absence, by the Assistant
Vice Chancellor of College of Business, UUM. It is understand that any copying or publication
or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall due recognition shall be given to me
and to Universiti Utara Malaysia for any scholarly use which maybe of any material from thesis.

Request for permission to copy or to make other use of materials in this thesis, in whole or in
part, should be addressed to:

Assistant Vice Chancellor
College of Business
Universiti Utara Malaysia
06010 Sintok
Kedah Darul Aman

ii

Quality is an ongoing process of building and sustaining relationships by assessing,
anticipating and fulfilling stated and implies needs. Quality is one of the core functions for
service organizations. Customers’ satisfaction is depending on the service quality that they
received from the service provider. Poor service quality will lead to bad impressions to the
organization itself. It also will reduce the popularity to the organization. Besides that, it will give
a bad image and low reputation to the organization in long term. The main purpose of this study
is to determine Students’ Perception towards Service Quality of Students’ Residential Hall,
College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia. Ninety six respondents participated in this
survey. Questionnaires were distributed to eight UUM Residential Halls. The findings showed
that “Tangible” has been identified as the most important indicator of good service quality as
compared to other four (4) dimensions; reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.
Based on the regression analysis, results showed that only “assurance” dimension showed a
significant relationship towards the perception of students on the total services provided by the
Residential Halls. This indicates that students need knowledgeable and courteous staff to deal
with them. Some recommendations for future studies are also discussed. It is hope that the
outcome of this study can be a benchmark for the management to improve their quality of
services that are provided to the students.

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Kualiti adalah suatu proses yang berterusan untuk mengekalkan hubungan dengan pelajar
serta untuk menjangkakan dan memenuhi kehendak-kehendak mereka yang sentiasa berubahubah. Kualiti merupakan salah satu fungsi teras bagi organisasi perkhidmatan. Kepuasan
pelanggan bergantung kepada kualiti perkhidmatan yang diterima oleh pelanggan. Kualiti
perkhidmatan yang tidak memuaskan akan mengakibatkan tanggapan yang buruk terhadap
organisasi itu sendiri. Ia juga akan mengurangkan kepopularan kepada organisasi tersebut. Selain
itu, ia akan memberikan gambaran/imej yang buruk dan reputasi yang rendah kepada organisasi
untuk jangkamasa yang panjang. Tujuan utama kajian ini adalah untuk menentukan Persepsi
Pelajar terhadap Kualiti Perkhidmatan di Dewan Penginapan Pelajar, Kolej Perniagaan,
Universiti Utara Malaysia. Seramai 96 responden terlibat di dalam kajian ini. Dapatan kajian
menunjukan bahawa dimensi “Tangible” adalah yang terpenting jika dibandingkan dengan lainlain dimensi iaitu “Kebolehpercayaan” (Reliability) “Kecepatan Bertindak” (Responsiveness),
“Jaminan” (Assurance) dan “Empati” (Empathy). Keputusan analisis regresi menunjukkan hanya
dimensi “Jaminan” (Assurance) mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan terhadap persepsi pelajar
tentang keseluruhan perkhidmatan yang diberikan oleh Dewan Penginapan Pelajar. Ini
menunjukkan bahawa para pelajar memerlukan kakitangan yang berpengetahuan dan bersopansantun ketika berurusan dengan mereka. Cadangan kajian di masa hadapan turut dibincangkan.
Harapan dari hasil kajian ini akan dijadikan sebagai tanda aras untuk pihak pengurusan
memperbaiki kualiti perkhidmatan yang dibekalkan kepada para pelajar.

iv

All praise due to Allah SWT, the Lord of the world that makes it possible for me to
complete this project paper. Blessing and salutation also be on Prophet of Allah SWT,
Muhammad SAW.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and appreciation to the
following individuals whose guidance and contribution in preparing this paper.
Firstly, I would like to express my gratefulness and appreciation to my supervisor, Assoc.
Prof. Dr. Nor Azila binti Mohd Noor for her guidance, encouragement and advices throughout
the process of completing this project paper. Word of appreciation also goes to Tuan Haji
Mohamad Zainol Abidin bin Adam of UUM COB and Dr. Nor Idayu binti Mehat for their
tolerance and concerns. I am truly indebted for their contribution in terms of time, patience,
attentions and efforts for the completion of this project paper.
A very special thank to my beloved husband, Kissman bin Rahmat and my daughter,
Nurul Aniss binti Kissman whose love, faith, patience and continuous supports have gave me the
encouragement to complete this study. I also would like to express my gratefulness to my
beloved parents, Assoc. Prof. Hamzah bin Samat and Puan Hamidah binti Hussain and my
siblings, Mimie, Farah and Hafiz for their constant demonstrations of love and continuous moral
supports throughout my years of study. I would like to thank all respondents of this study
without which this study would not have been successful. Last but not least, my thanks to all of
my friends especially to Kak Lina and Kak Milia, my colleagues and all individuals who are

involved direct and indirectly in the process of completing this study.
Thanks a million to all of you.

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CONTENTS

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Certification of Project Paper ..

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Abstract..

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Abstark..

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Acknowledgement.. ..

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Table of Contents..

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List of Tables..

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List of Figures ..

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1.1 Introduction and Background of Study.. ..

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1.2 Problem Statement..

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1.3 Research Objectives..

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1.4 Significance of Study..

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1.5 Scope of the Study..

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1.6 Limitation of Study..

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1.7 Definition of Terms..

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction..

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2.3 The Role of Consumers in Service Delivery..

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2.4 Service Quality.. ..

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2.5 Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality..

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2.6 Research Framework..

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2.7 Research Hypothesis..

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2.2 The Importance of Service Quality..

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CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction..

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3.2 Research Methodology.. ..

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3.3 Population and Sample.. ..

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3.4 Questionnaire Design..

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3.5 Data Collection and Procedures.. ..

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3.6 Technique of Data Analysis..

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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction..

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4.2 Profile of the Respondents..

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4.3 The Average and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Service Quality

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4.4 Correlation between Dimensions of Service Quality and Total Quality

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4.5 Regression Analysis between Dimensions of Service Quality and
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CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATION AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Introduction..

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5.2 Discussions..

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5.3 Recommendations..

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5.4 Conclusion..

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REFERENCES..

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APPENDICES:..

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Table 1: Number of students according to Residential Hall ..

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Table 3: Likert Scale Score for SERVQUAL items.. ..

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Table 3.1: Likert Scale Score for Question 1 and 2 in Section 3..

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Table 4: Background of Respondents..

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Table 4.1: The Average and Standard Deviation of Dimension of
Service Quality (Tangible)..

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Table 4.2: The Average and Standard Deviation of Dimension of
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Table 4.3: The Average and Standard Deviation of Dimension of
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Table 4.4: The Average and Standard Deviation of Dimension of
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Table 4.5: The Average and Standard Deviation of Dimension of
Service Quality (Empathy)..

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Table 4.6: The Average and Standard Deviation of Dimension of
Service Quality (Overall Quality)..

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Table 4.7: Correlations between Dimensions of Service Quality and
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Table 4.8: Regression Analysis between Dimensions of Service Quality and

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Total Quality..

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Figure 1: Schematic Diagram for Theoretical Framework.. ..

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__________________________________________________________________
1.1 Introduction and Background of Study

Customer satisfaction is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company
met or surpassed customers’ expectation. It has been accepted as a key performance indicator for
business organization. In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers,
customers’ satisfaction is a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of
business strategy.

Customers’ satisfaction is an ambiguous and abstract concept and the actual manifestation of the
state of satisfaction will vary from person to person and product/service to product/service. The
state of satisfaction depends on a number of factors, both psychological and physical variables,
which correlate with satisfaction behaviors such as return and recommend rate. The level of
satisfaction can also vary depending on other options the customer may have and other products
against which the customer can compare the organization's products.

In the context of education, satisfaction of existing students towards the university’s services
would transfer a positive impact to the public and this will make the university acquire a
competitive advantage (DiDomenico and Bonnici, 1996).

1

Universiti Utara Malaysia is situated in Northern of Peninsular Malaysia. It offers many types
of services to their “main customers” which are the students.

Universiti Utara Malaysia is concerned about quality and accountability and it aims to achieve
their vision which is to be “The World Class University”. The service provided must fulfill
customers’ needs and wants in order to help the customers to achieve their satisfaction to the
fullest.

After the transition that has been made by top management of the university in the year of 2007,
this universiti is divided into three (3) main academic colleges namely, College of Business
(COB), College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) and College of Law, Government and International
Studies (COLGIS) that have been organized under one university (UUM). It is one of the higher
learning institutions in this country that educates the professionals in management. In this
relation, UUM should increase its efficiency, effectiveness and productivity in order to serve
their customers the best services.

Hence, this study intended to determine the level of satisfaction achieve by its customers through
the services that is being provided.

Students’ Residential Hall, College of Business consists of eight (8) residential halls namely DPP
MAS, DPP TNB, DPP PROTON, DPP TRADEWINDS, DPP PETRONAS, DPP EON, DPP
TM and DPP SIME DARBY.

2

The functions of Students’ Residential Hall College of Business, UUM is to provide the
conducive accommodations and best facilities to almost 8,000 students who are staying in these
eight (8) of the residential halls that has been organized under College of Business itself.

Besides providing the conducive accommodation to stay, all the students who is staying at
Students’ Residential Hall, College of Business provide facilities such as food courts, cafeterias,
common rooms, computer labs, shops, laundry facilities, recreation and sports facilities and
others to fulfill students’ needs and wants.

Table 1 showed the total number of students registered in Students’ Residential Hall, College of
Business as at 1st February 2009. The sample of this study would focus on the students who are
registered and stayed in all eight (8) Students’ Residential Hall, College of Business, UUM.

Table 1: Number of students according to Residential Hall

No.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Students’ Residential Hall
DPP MAS
DPP TENAGA NASIONAL BERHAD
DPP PROTON
DPP TRADEWINDS
DPP PETRONAS
DPP EON
DPP TM BERHAD
DPP SIME DARBY
TOTAL

Number of students
1,218
1,045
1,021
1,160
986
1,029
1,030
1,055
8,544

Source: “SAIS” (Students’ Affairs Information System), 1st September 2009.

3

1.2 Problem Statement

Education services are difficult to be standardized due its tangibility (DiDomenico and
Bonnici, 1996). Tangible can be described as the appearance of physical facilities, equipment,
personnel, printed and visual communication materials. Despite of the services given to the
students, the top management of the Higher Education (HE) institution should measure their
service quality in order to function efficiently and effectively. Satisfaction of existing students
towards the university services would bring the positive impact to the outsiders/public. Beside
that, it will encourage the university to acquire a competitive advantage (DiDomenico and
Bonnici, 1996).

This study intended to determine the students’ perception towards the quality of services
provided at Students’ Residential Hall, College of Business, UUM. In order to discover on how
to determine the students’ perception towards the quality of services provided at Students’
Residential Hall, College of Business, UUM, this study will identify whether five (5) dimensions
of service quality (tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) have significant
influence on the service quality that is being perceived by the students of UUM COB.

4

1.3 Research Objective

Firstly, the purpose of this study is to determine the students’ perception towards the
quality of services provided at Students’ Residential Hall, College of Business, UUM based on
five (5) dimensions of service quality. These dimensions have been introduced by Parasuraman
et al. (1985, 1989). Hence, the outcome of this study can be a benchmark for the management to
improve the quality of services that is being provided to the students.

Secondly, this study intends to identify the relationship between the five (5) dimensions of
service quality with the total (overall) service quality.

5

1.4 Significance of Study

Quality is the customers' perception of the value of the suppliers' work output. We
cannot separate the process and the human factor. When Quality has been built into a product, it
will generate emotions and feelings within those who have taken part in its creation. When we
have made something that we are proud of, or when we have produced a product that brings
smiles to our customers, then we have achieved Quality.

This study contributes to both the students and the organization. Academically, it will widen the
dimensions of quality service in organization. For the purpose of this study, the primary
participants in the service of education are the students. Poor service quality can reduce the
popularity of the organization. Besides that, in the long term it will give the bad image and low
reputation of the organization itself.

As been discussed earlier, this study focus on the students’ perception towards the quality of
services provided by Students’ Residential Halls, College of Business, UUM. In general, the
findings of this study will help the management of the Students’ Residential Hall, College of
Business, UUM to get a better understanding on students perception and impression of the
service quality that is being provided by the Residential College.

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1.5 Scope of the Study

The respondents of this study are only UUM students. The sample of this study are
students who registered and stayed in all eight (8) Students’ Residential Hall, College of
Business, UUM only.

Respondents that are selected are those students who are legally registered at their current
residential hall. In this relation, there are more than 8,000 students who are legally registered at
UUM COBs’ Residential Halls.

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1.6 Limitation of the Study

There are some limitations for this study. Firstly, the study is only limited to determine
students’ satisfaction towards service quality at Students’ Residential Hall, UUM COB. The
sample of this study is only limited to the students who are staying at Students’ Residential
Halls, UUM COB.

Perception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information.
Perception to service quality is subjective, so, it is difficult to measure. The outcomes of this
study will help the management of Students’ Residential Halls, UUM COB to improve their
quality of services that provided to the students. The other limitations of the study are the
constraints of time. This is because the study took only less than five months to be completed.

Last but not least since this study is a cross-sectional study, then the result is only true at the time
the study is being conducted.

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1.7 Definition of Terms

Quality

: Quality is the ongoing process of building and sustaining relationships by
assessing, anticipating, and fulfilling stated and implied needs.

Service

: A service is the diametrically opposed non-material counter piece of a
physical good.

Quality of service

: Can be defined as level of customer satisfaction towards quality of
service provided

Customer

: Customer is also a client, a buyer or a purchaser is the buyer or user of
the paid products of an individual or organization, mostly called the
supplier or seller.

Satisfaction

: Satisfaction refers to the situation where people feel their perception
exceeds the expectation.

Perception

: Perception is the process by which organisms interpret and organize
sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world.

DPP

: DPP also known as “Dewan Penginapan Pelajar” which means
“Students’ Residential Hall” in English.

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Tangible

: Appearance of physical facilities, equipments, personnel, printed and
visual and communication materials.

Reliability

: Ability to perform promised service reliably and accurately.

Assurance

: Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust
and confidence.

Responsiveness

: Willingness to help customers to provide prompt service.

Empathy

: The firm provides care and individualized attention to its customers.

UUM, COB

: Universiti Utara Malaysia, College of Business.

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__________________________________________________________________
2.1 Introduction

This chapter reviews literatures in the context of this study. In this section, discussion
will be based on the importance and the dimensions of service quality, the role of consumer in
service delivery, service quality and customer satisfaction. Research framework and research
hypothesis are also discussed in this chapter.

2.2 The Importance of Service Quality

Service quality often makes the difference between a successful and unsuccessful
business. In fact, service quality has become the great differentiator, the most powerful
competitive weapon and the most service organization possesses.

Quality is defined as “conformance to specifications,” but this phrase can be misleading. Quality
as conformance to customer specification is the customers’ definition of quality which is
important to business to consider and deliver.
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There are several researchers who studied about customers’ satisfaction and perception.
According to Zeithmal and Bitner, (2000), service quality differs from quality of goods, in that
services are intangible while goods are tangible. This presents a challenge to marketers. Services
cannot be easily communicated to customers, and hence quality may be difficult for customers to
assess. Services are characterized as being tangible, perishable, produced and consumed
simultaneously, and heterogeneous. A major challenge for companies is to deliver service quality
consistently and at all times.

Service and product quality is in the mind of customer. This means that measuring quality
requires talking to customers. Quality reflects the extent to which product or service meets or
exceeds customers’ expectations. Rust and Oliver (1994), found that for companies to understand
how customers perceive their quality, they must measure customers’ satisfaction with their
products and services. Perceived service quality is considered as a component of students’
satisfaction (Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996). Parasuraman et al., (1998) concluded that customers’
satisfaction led to perceived service quality. They also concluded that service quality and
students satisfaction is highly correlated.

Another study conducted by Pariseau and McDaniel (1997) found that the most important
determinants of overall service quality for students are assurance dimensions. This is because
assurance dimensions are important since it concerns with knowledge, courtesy and the ability to
inspire trust.

On the other hand, Frost and Kumar (2000), found that responsiveness influenced service quality
the most. However, Curry and Sinclair (2002) found that reliability is the most important
determinants in service quality.
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2.3 The Role of Consumers in Service Delivery

One distinctive aspect of services is that consumers are often part of the production and
delivery processes. In many services, the consumer is required to contribute information and/or
effort before the service transaction takes place (Kelly et al., 1990). The consumer’s input
constitute the raw material that is transformed by the service organization’s employees into a
service product.

Consequently, the consumer contributes directly to the quality of service delivered, and to his or
her satisfaction/ dissatisfaction (Mills et al., 183, p.302). If the inputs provided by the consumer
are inadequate and or inappropriate, this may well lead to service problems and failures.

Zeithmal et al., (1990) also identified some factors which can influence the consumer’s
perception of service performance. These include tangibles, such as the food eaten in the
restaurant, the physical surroundings which the service transaction takes place, the equipment
involved, and so on; the perceived competence and credibility of service providers, and their
responsiveness, reliability and courtesy.

The customer is an integral part of the service and uNless he or she performs his or her role
effectively, the desired service outcome is not possible. In addition to contributing to their own
satisfaction by improving the quality of service delivered to them, some customers simply enjoy
participating in service delivery. These customers find the act of participating to be untrinsically
attractive (Bateson, 1983, 1985; Dabholkar, 1996).

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Another role that customers can play in service delivery is that they can contribute to their own
satisfaction and the ultimate quality of the services they receive. Customers may not bother
whether they have increased the productivity of the organization through their participation, but
they probably do bother a great deal about whether or not their needs are fulfilled (Kelly et al.,
1990).

In addition, many services require close personal interaction between the service provider and
the consumer. Whether or not such interaction is perceived by the consumer to be satisfactory
may depend on a variety of factors, ranging from the appearance of the service provider (by the
top management of the organization and the supporting staffs) and their perceived competence,
to the personality characteristics of, and the interpersonal attraction between, the participants.
Although some of these factors may contribute to service heterogeneity and variability, they are
not easy to control (Mills et al., 1983).

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2.4 Service Quality

Perceived service quality is defined as the consumers’ judgment about an entity’s overall
excellent or superiority (Zeithaml, 1987). It differs from the objective quality which is defined by
Garvin 1983 and Hjorth- Anderson (1994) as a form of attitude, related but not equivalent to
satisfaction, and results from a comparison of expectations with perceptions of performance.

Researchers such as Garvin (1983), Dodds and Monroe (1984), Holbrook and Cofman (1985),
Jacoby and Olson (1985) and Zeithaml (1987) have emphasized the difference between the
objective and perceived quality. For example, Holbrook and Cofman (1985), noted that
consumers do not use the term of quality in the same way as researchers and marketers, who
define it conceptually. The conceptual meaning distinguishes between mechanistic and
humanistic quality. “Mechanistic” (quality) involves an objective aspect or feature of thing or
event while “humanistic” (quality) involves the subjective response of people to object and is
therefore a highly relativistic phenomenon that differs between judges” (Holbrook and Cofman,
1985, p.33).

Another key in defining the service role is to use every opportunity to communicate and
reinforce services standards such as in meetings and training sessions; in internal media such as
wallet cards, desk signs and wall posters; and in performance measurement, appraisal and reward
system.

Defining employees’ service role clearly, consistently and credibly is important to any
organization’s efforts to improve service. The behavior guiding and motivational benefits of
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service standards are well worth the investment necessary to develop and reinforce them. Service
employees need to know what excellent service means and why they should care about
delivering it. The delivery of quality in goods and services has become a marketing priority of
the 1980s (Leonard and Sasser, 1982; Rabin, 1983).

Marketers of tangible goods defined and measured quality with increasing level of precision. On
the other hand, marketers of services experience difficulty in understanding and controlling
quality. This is because services are performances rather than objects, precise manufacturing
specifications for uniform quality rarely can be established and enforced by the firm. Quality in
services is not engineered at the manufacturing plant, then, delivered intact to the customer.
Furthermore, the performance of service especially those with a high labor content often differs
among employees, among customers and from day to day. In most services, quality occurs
during service delivery, usually in an interaction between the customer and contact personnel of
the service firm. For this reason, service quality is highly dependent on the performance
employees, an organizational resource that cannot be controlled to the degree that components of
tangible goods can be engineered (Crosby, 1979; Garvin, 1983).

Thompson et. al., (1985) noted that delivering high service quality produces measurable benefits
in profit, cost savings and market share. Therefore, an understanding of the nature of service
quality and how it is achieved in organizations has become a priority for research. Joseph &
Joseph (1997) noted that when dealing with physical facilities, students consider quality
universities as being those that have excellent academic, accommodation, as well as excellent
campus layout.

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Specific variables related to management commitment to service quality include the proportion
of resources committed to service quality (rather than to other goals), the existence to which
managers believe their attempts to improve service quality will be recognized and rewarded in
the organization (Leonard and Sasser , 1982). Though the contact person maybe totally
committed to serving the consumer, he or she cannot perform well because control over the
service has been dispersed among multiple organizational units, which is a major problem in
service businesses (Zeithaml, Parasuaraman and Berry, 1985). Pariseau and McDaniel (1997)
found that the most important determinants of overall quality for students are assurance,
reliability and empathy.

Curry and Sinclair (2002) found that is “reliability” is the most important determinant in service
quality. Assurance dimensions become important as this factor is related to with knowledge,
courtesy and an ability to inspire trust and confidence.

As noted by Oldfield and Baron (2000), any attempt to deliver quality service, those who exert
control or influence upon any of the customer groups needs to be constantly aware that
interaction between students and staff lies at the heart of good service delivery. This is because
students would view the member of staff dealing with them as the sample to generalize their
perception towards the institution.

17

2.5 Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality

Research conducted by Oliver and Swan (1989) to study the level of satisfaction towards
the salesperson found that buyer inclination interact with the salesperson in the future is the only
function of satisfaction. Satisfaction in this case was viewed as a function of fairness where
fairness significantly mediated the role of outcomes and input effect of satisfaction. This
suggested that satisfaction is directly sensitive to equity and indirectly to the component in
equity. A study comparing the utilities of four (4) attributes by Ostrom and Lacoucci (1985)
suggested that the price of fees on the students on the services given by the college and
university were the least attributes compare to the quality and friendliness.

Smith and Ennew (2001) outlined interesting aspect about Gronross Model. They highlighted
that there was a hidden aspect in the choice of satisfaction perception of customer between which
is more the affective indignation and the technical functionality. For example the particular
facility obtained by the students could be judged according to how reliable they are (technical
functionality) or according to their ages, appearance, courtesy and empathy (affective). The
perfect reliability facility which is not up to date, but are capable of carrying out the task, may
still be negatively rated if users expect the university to provide up to date facility.

18

2.6 Research Framework

This study involves five (5) variables. Five (5) variables are the independent variables
and one (1) is dependent variable.

Independent variables consists of five (5) dimensions of service quality namely tangibles,
reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. On the other hand, the independent variable
is the overall service quality.

Those variables can be shown in Figure 1.

INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

DEPENDENT VARIABLES

TANGIBLE
RELIABILITY
OVERALL
QUALITY
OF SERVICE

RESPONSIVENESS

ASSURANCE

EMPATHY

Figure 1: Schematic Diagram for Theoretical Framework Model

19

2.7 Research Hypothesis

The hypotheses for this study are:

H1

: The higher the tangibility of the service provided, the higher is the service quality
perceived by the students.

H2

: The higher the reliability of the service provided, the higher is the service quality
perceived by the students.

H3

: The higher the responsiveness of the service provided, the higher is the service quality
perceived by the students.

H4

: The higher the assurance of the service provided, the higher is the service quality
perceived by the students.

H5

: The higher the empathy of the service provided, the higher is the service quality
perceived by the students.

20

______________________________________________________________________________
3.1 Introduction

This chapter explains the method that is being used in this study. It includes the research
design, population and samples, instrumentation, data collection procedures and technique of
data analysis.

3.2 Research Methodology

This study is the cross-sectional study whereby data are collected once. In addition, this
study looks at the relationship between all the five (5) dimensions of service quality such as
tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (independent variables) with the
overall quality of service (dependent variable).

21

3.3 Population and Sample

The population of this study are all the students at Universiti Utara Malaysia with the
average total of 20,000 students. It includes students from the entire program offered and from
the first until the final year students.

The sample of this study is the undergraduate and postgraduate students of UUM COB.
Respondents are selected based on the convenience sampling due to the time constraints.
Respondents were the students that are dealing with Students’ Residential Hall, College of
Business, UUM.

The respondents are limited to those who are staying only at the Students’ Residential Hall,
UUM COB. Students’ Residential Hall which is consist of eight (8) Students’ Residential Hall
namely DPP MAS, DPP TNB, DPP PROTON, DPP TRADEWINDS, DPP PETRONAS, DPP
EON, DPP TM and DPP SIME DARBY. The total of UUM COB students who are legally
staying at all the eight (8) DPPs are more than 8,000 student altogether.

22

3.4 Questionnaire Design

This study adpoted the instruments that have been developed by Parasuraman et. al.,
1985. It is argued that with the minor modification, these instrument can be adapted to any
service organizations (Parasuraman et. al., 1985, 1998; Brown et. al., 1993; Joseph & Joseph,
1997; Pariseau & McDaniel, 1997; Oldfield & Baron, 2000; Wisniewski, 2001).

The survey involved statements relating to students’ perceptions, evaluated on a five (5) point of
Likert Scale ranging from 5-strongly agree and 1-strongly disagree. Questionnaires will be
divided into three (3) sections, where Section A captured demographic information; Section B
captured information about students’ perception towards service provided. On the other hand,
Section C captured information regarding overall and personal perception towards service
provided.

Section 1: Demographic Information

This section consisted of six (6) questions to obtain respondents’ demographic
information. Questions asked are related to age, gender, race, level of study at UUM, current
semester of the students and highest level of education.

23

Section 2: Students’ Perception of Service

This section consisted of 25 statements to assess student’s perception towards service
received across five (5) dimensions that are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and
empathy.

Section 3: Summary Information

This section consisted of two (2) items of overall evaluation about quality of service and
personal level of satisfaction on quality of services provided by the administrative or
management of College of Business, UUM.

For each statement in Section 2, Likert Scale score is being used ranging from 1 to 5 represented
in Table 3 as stated below:

Table 3: Likert Scale for SERVQUAL items

SCALE
Strongly Agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly Disagree

24

SCORE
5
4
3
2
1

Each statement in Section 3 used Likert Scale score ranging from 1 to 5 represented as
shown in Table 3.1 as stated below:

Table3.1: Likert Scale Score for Question 1 and 2 in Section 3
__________________________________________________________
SCALE
Excellent
Good
Neutral
Poor
Very Poor

SCORE
5
4
3
2
1

3.5 Data Collection Procedures

The data collected for this study is based on two (2) types of data namely Primary Data
and Secondary Data. The Primary Data is collected through questionnaires while Secondary Data
is collected through library research from the journals, thesis and books.

Data collections were done within 1-2 weeks. 100 self-administered

questionnaires were

distributed at the counter of this Students’ Residential Hall such as DPP MAS, DPP TNB, DPP
PROTON, DPP TRADEWINDS, DPP PETRONAS, DPP EON, DPP TM and DPP SIME
DARBY.
25

3.6 Technique of Data Analysis

Data in this study were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical methods.
Descriptive methods were used to describe behavior of data in general and some inferential
analysis was performed to understand the relationship among variables.

All the premier data in this study were processes by using the Statistical Packages for Social
Science (SPSS) version 12.0 software.

Descriptive statistics were used to describe or understand about demographics profile of
respondent. Besides that, the same method was used to study about dimensions of variables. This
indicates the used of mean and median. Meanwhile correlation and regression analysis were used
to measure relationship between dimensions of two (2) studied variable.

26

______________________________________________________________________________
4.1 Introduction

This chapter discussed the results obtained from this study.

4.2 Profile of The Respondents

This study has a total number of 96 respondents. The results are shown in Table 4. Table
4 shows that the highest percentage (90.6%) of respondents’ age ranges from 20-25 years old
followed by the students’ age in range between 20-30 years old. Only 4.2% respondents’ had the
age less than 20 years old.

Percentages of female students are higher than male students with 53.1% male and 46.9% female
students. From the race profiling, Malay students has the highest percentage (50%) as compared
to Chinese (26%), Indian (15.6%) and other races (8.3%).

27

In this study, the number for undergraduate students (92%) is higher than the postgraduate
students (7.3%). Majority of the respondents were in semester four (4) (36.5%), followed by the
semester two (2) students (27.1%), semester six (6) students (17.7%), semester three (3) students
(7.3%), semester five (5) students (5.2%), semester seven (7) and above students (4.2%) and the
lowest percentage (2.1%) was in semester one (1).

Table 4: Background of Respondents

Profiling

Percentage (%)

Age:
Less than 20 years old
20-25 years old
26-30 years old
Gender:
Male
Female
Race:
Malay
Chinese
Indian
Others
Study Level at UUM:
Masters Degree
First Degree
Semester:
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven and Above

28

4.2
90.6
5.2
46.9
53.1
50.0
26.0
15.6
8.3
7.3
92.7
2.1
27.1
7.3
36.5
5.2
17.7
4.2

4.3 The Average and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Service Quality

Students’ perception on the quality of service at Students’ Residential Hall, UUM COB are
measured on five (5) dimensions:

i.

Tangibles

iv. Assurance

ii.

Reliability

v. Empathy

iii.

Responsiveness

These perceptions are tabulated in Table 4.1 until Table 4.6. The first dimension (tangible) is
rated as satisfied by the students. The average score for this dimension is 3.8542 where students
tend to feel that the equipment at the halls were up to date. This is show as in Table 4.1:

Table 4.1: The Average and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Service Quality

Variables

Mean

Tangible:
P1: Students’ Residential Hall, UUM COB
should have up to date equipment.
P2: When students have problems,
universities should be sympathetic and
reassuring.
P3: The physical facilities at Students’
Residential Hall, UUM COB will be
usually appealing.
P4: The material associated with Students’
Residential Hall, UUM COB will be
usually appealing.
P5: Employees of Students’ Residential
Hall, UUM COB will be neat appearing.

3.8542
4.15

Standard
Deviations
0.69795
0.929

3.98

1.056

3.73

0.774

3.70

0.742

3.72

0.817

29

The second dimension (reliability) has the mean of 3.3208. This means that the student
moderately feels that there is no courtesy’s attitude among the UUM COBs’ employees. It
implies the employees are not always willing to help students when they have problems. This is
show as in Table 4.2:

Table 4.2: The Average and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Service Quality

Variables

Mean

Reliability:
P6: Employees of UUM COB are not
always willing to help students when the
students have problems.
P7: Students’ Residential Hall, UUM COB
will keep the accurate records in order to
serve the best services.
P8: Employees of Students’ Residential
Hall, UUM COB will provide their
services at the time they promise to do so.
P9: Employees of Students’ Residential
Hall, UUM COB will perform the service
right the first time.
P10: Student should be able to feel safe in
their transactions with the UUM COB
employees.

3.3208
3.01

Standard
Deviations
0.75029
1.174

3.48

0.870

3.32

0.923

3.29

1.015

3.50

1.016

30

“Responsiveness” is the third dimension for the research framework. From the mean score of
3.4542, it means that the students are satisfied with the quality of services that provided by the
UUM COBs’ employees This is show as in Table 4.3:

Table 4.3: The Average and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Service Quality

Variables

Mean

Standard
Deviations
Responsiveness: 3.4542
0.4855
0.869
P11: Employees of Students’ Residential 3.45
Hall, UUM COB will never be too busy
respond to the student request.
P12: Employees of Students’ Residential 3.42
0.925
Hall, UUM COB will always willing to
help students.
P13: Employees of Students’ Residential 3.36
0.860
Hall, UUM COB will give prompt to
student.
P14: The employees should not be expected 3.56
0.892
to have operating hours convenient to all
their students.
0.906
P15: Employees of Students’ Residential 3.48
Hall, UUM COB do not give you
individual attention.

31

The average score of the fourth dimension (Assurance) is rated 3.5125. It means that in average
the students also satisfied with the UUM COBs’ employees that provided the good quality of
services to the students itself. For example, most of the employees can be trusted and they are
knowledgeable. This is show as in Table 4.4:

Table 4.4: The Average and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Service Quality

Variables

Mean

Assurance:
P16: Employees of Students’ Residential
Hall, UUM COB will have knowledge to
answer the students’ questions.
P17: Employees of Students’ Residential
Hall, UUM COB will b courteous with the
students.
P18: The employees of your Students’
Residential Hall, UUM COB can be
trusted.
P19: The employees of your Students’
Residential Hall, UUM COB did not tell
students exactly when services will be
performed.
P20: When UUM COB promised to do
something by certain time, they
(employees) should do so.

3.5125
3.63

Standard
Deviations
0.60441
0.771

3.57

0.791

3.60

0.761

3.20

0.841

3.56

0.904

32

The last dimension in this study is empathy with mean = 3.5354. It is also rated as satisfied by
the UUM COBs’ students. It shows that students are willing to place their excellent Students’
Residential Hall at their heart. This is show as in Table 4.5:

Table 4.5: The Average and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Service Quality

Variables

Mean

Empathy:
P21: It is unrealistic to expect employees to
know what the needs of their students are.
P22: Students’ Residential Hall, UUM
COB does not have operating hours
convenient to all its students.
P23: An excellent Students’ Residential
Hall, UUM COB will have employees who
give students personal attention.
P24: Excellent Students’ Residential Hall
of UUM COB will always understand the
specific needs of students.
P25: Excellent Students’ Residential Hal of
UUM COB willingness to place the
interest of the student at heart.

3.5354
3.20

Standard
Deviations
0.64596
0.947

3.41

0.936

3.55

0.950

3.74

0.885

3.78

0.897

33

Finally, the overall quality was measured in order to identify whether UUM COBs’ Residential
Halls are in good performance. The obtained results in Table 4.6 showed that the overall quality
is good with the average score 3.1771. This value represents that the UUM COBs’ students are
satisfied with quality of service provided by the UUM COBs’ and their respective residential
hall.

Table 4.6: The Average and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Service Quality

Overall Quality
C1: Overall quality of services that provided
by Students’ Residential Hall, UUM COB.
C2: Students’ personal perception to the
quality of services that provided by
Students’ Residential Hall, UUM COB.

3.1771
3.17

0.67660
0.721

3.19

0.685

4.4 The Average and Standard Deviations of Dimensions of Service Quality

Table 4.7 shows the correlation analysis of the data of this study. It shows that only the
tangible dimension is significantly correlated to total quality of services. Other dimensions show
no significant relationship with quality.

34

The correlation table measured the linear relationship between each dimension and the total
quality. However, it is best to measure the total quality based on a single regression model with
all dimensions occur simultaneously. Result from regression analysis shows that the best fit
model is:

Total Quality = 0.884 Assurance.

This model has R2 = 0.942 and F-value= 1542.124**. This shows that the independent variables
contribute 94% to the dependent variable. In other words, it means that 94% of the perception on
service quality is contributed by the independent variable.

Table 4.7: Correlations between Dimensions of Service Quality and Total Quality

Dimensions of Service Quality
Tangible
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy

Total Quality
-2.19(*)
-0.20
.127
.180
.019

** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
*Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

35

4.5 Regression Analysis between Dimensions of Service Quality and Total Quality

From the five (5) dimensions of the independent variables, it shows that only assurance is
significantly related to service quality (β= 0.59). The other four (4) dimensions show nonsignificant result.

Table 4.8: Summary of Multiple Regression Analysis between Dimensions of Service
Quality and Total Quality (N= 96)

Dimensions of Service Quality
Tangible
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy

B
-.083
.113
.239
.538
0.98

SE B
.130
.121
.174
.208
.182

Β
-.100
.119
.259
.590
.108

Note: R2= 0.942; F= 1542.124**; Sig. F= .000
B= Unstandardized Coefficient; SE B= Standard error of coefficient; β= Beta coefficient

36

5.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the findings of this study. It also underlined some
recommendations and lastly an overall conclusion is being made.

5.2 Discussions

As stated earlier, the main purpose of his study is to determine the Students’ Perception
Towards the Quality of Services Provided by Students’ Residential Hall, College of Business,
UUM based on five (5) dimension of service quality which introduced by Parasuraman et. al
(1985. 1989). Hence, the outcome of this study can be benchmark for the management to
improve their quality of services that provided to the students of UUM COB.

This study also identify the relationship between the five (5) dimensions of service quality
(tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) with the overall service quality that
37

perceived by the students. Results from the correlation analysis showed that only tangibility is
significantly correlated to the total quality of services whereas, results from regression analysis
showed that assurance as an important indicator to explain the total of services.

Based on the correlation analysis, tangible has been identified as the most important indicator as
compared to other four (4) independent variables; reliability, responsiveness, assurance and
empathy. It shows that students in this campus especially for those who are staying at Students’
Residential Hall, College of Business, UUM will form their impression about quality of service
with the management of UUM COB that they deal through the tangibility aspect of the services
offered. Besides that, with all the equipments and facilities are up to date and in a good
condition, students will feel more comfortable and tend to satisfied with the services that they
perceived.

Based on the regression analysis, it showed that only the “assurance” dimensions showed a
significant relationship in explaining the perception on the total of services. This indicates that
students need knowledgeable and courtesy staff to deal with them. For students, they perceived
the quali