Volume 05 Issue 11-2024
148
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
–
2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
11
Pages:
148-153
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
ABSTRACT
We used the SERVQUAL method to analyze the quality of service in undergraduate marketing programs in Uzbek state
higher education institutions. Weighted gaps of average were calculated based on the difference in the expected and
perceived quality of education among senior-year students consistent with a framework based on the SERVQUAL
method. According to our study, marketing programs are less individualized and lack critical resources to convey
practical skills to students. This may widen the gap between labor market requirements and the organization of skill
delivery in marketing programs.
KEYWORDS
SERVQUAL method, marketing education.
INTRODUCTION
The quality of economic education is important,
particularly in countries that are transforming into
market economies. Many methods are attempted to
check for inconsistencies in the quality of economic
education to align the curricula with global standards
and improve the delivery of necessary knowledge. In
the recent years there has been a growing interest in
the ability of SERVQUAL model to reflect holistic
picture of higher education programs.
Literature review
SERVQUAL is an external measurement of service
quality, that correlates with customer satisfaction. The
model calculates the difference gap between
customer perceptions and expectations according to
Research Article
THE QUALITY OF MARKETING EDUCATION IN UZBEKISTAN:
SERVQUAL MODEL
Submission Date:
November 20, 2024,
Accepted Date:
November 25, 2024,
Published Date:
November 30, 2024
Crossref doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/pedagogics-crjp-05-11-30
Firdavs Ibrokhimov
PhD candidate at the Center for the Research on the Development of Higher Education, Uzbekistan
Orchid: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6039-6798
Journal
Website:
https://masterjournals.
com/index.php/crjp
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
Volume 05 Issue 11-2024
149
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
–
2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
11
Pages:
148-153
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
different indicators. Originally, the key indicators
included wide range of components, including
reliability, responsiveness, access, courtesy, security,
credibility, communication and et cetera. Yet, it has
been modified into a construct consisting of five critical
components of service quality:
-
Reliability
–
accuracy of service provision
-
Assurance: customer trust in employees
concerning the service
-
Tangibles: material-technical base of the
organization concerning the service provided.
-
Empathy: the extent of an individualized
approach to each customer.
-
Responsiveness: the extent of prompt
service
Each component may include several questions [1, 420-
429].
The SERVQUAL model has been used to assess the
quality of service in different sectors, such as,
healthcare [2, 420-429], banking, finance and
telecommunications industry [3], delivery services[4],
tourism [5, 259-275] and others. There are ample
studies that incorporated SERVQUAL in education
research [6, 1570-1577], [7, 2299-2304], [8, 5285-5289],
[9, 132-140].
Why SERVQUAL is relevant in higher education
research
Uzbekistan is one of the post-socialist countries
striving to embrace market economy. Since 2016 the
government allowed private higher education
institutions to operate. Private and public participation
in higher education is known to ensue stiff competition
between these two sectors [10, 18]. This is where the
dimensions of tuition fees, quality of education, and
student satisfaction come to determine the survival of
higher education institutions in the open market. Thus,
the SERVQUAL model may be an adequate method to
assess the performance of educational programs in the
era of market-driven higher education. The importance
of SERVQUAL may be more relevant in the context of
marketing and economic education, which are
relatively new fields of study for post-socialist
countries than other programs.
METHODS
We use a survey based on the framework of the
SERVQUAL model among undergraduate marketing
students. The survey includes 16 questions covering
students’ expected and perceived education quality
according to the four indicators of SERVQUAL model
(Table 1).
Table 1. Survey Structure
SERVQUAL
Indicators
Variables
Scale
Weighted Gap
of Averages
Expected
(Scale)
Perceived
(Scale)
Tangibles
Facilities
1 to 7
1 to 7
Learning resources
1 to 7
1 to 7
Reliability
Timely service
1 to 7
1 to 7
Assessment and grading
1 to 7
1 to 7
Volume 05 Issue 11-2024
150
CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
–
2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
11
Pages:
148-153
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
Empathy
Individualized attention
1 to 7
1 to 7
Student-oriented syllabi
1 to 7
1 to 7
Assurance
Knowledge of teachers
1 to 7
1 to 7
Pedagogical skills of
teachers
1 to 7
1 to 7
Weighted Gaps between the averages of expected and
perceived quality are calculated to identify the weaker
points of marketing programs: Expected (averages)
–
Perceived (averages) = Weighted Gap of Averages.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
93 students participated in the survey 41 percent male,
59 percent female (Diagram 1). For the majority of
students, the language of instruction was Uzbek
(Diagram 2).
The weighted gap of averages between the averages
of the expected and perceived quality ranged from -
0,24 to
–
0,74. None of the indicators showed a positive
trend in the weighted gaps between the expected and
perceived quality (Table 2, Diagram 3). The largest gap
was identified in the empathy section of SERVQUAL
indicators, such as, -0,74 for student-oriented syllabi
and -0,61 for individualized attention to each student
variables. The lowest gap was identified in the
assurance section of the SERVQUAL model, such as, -
0,24 for the knowledge of teachers and -0,57 for the
pedagogical skills of teachers variables (Table 2,
Diagram 3).
59%
41%
Diagram 1. The percentage of
students by gender
Female
Male
88%
8%
4%
Diagram 2. The percentage of students
according to the language of instruction
Uzbek
Russian
English
Volume 05 Issue 11-2024
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CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
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VOLUME
05
ISSUE
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Pages:
148-153
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
Higher education institutions mostly lack elective
courses in their curricula in Uzbekistan. This may
partially explain why the largest gap lies in the variable
of
student-oriented syllabi
and
individualized
attention. Our previous research found that marketing
programs are not tailored to convey to students
practical skills necessary in the labor market [11, 86-94].
The lack of elective courses and less attention to
practical skills may be explained by the outdated
nature of some rigid and unresponsive syllabi to
students’ interests and to the latest trends in the labor
Facilities
Learning
resource
s
Timely
service
Assesme
nt and
grading
Individu
alized
attention
Student-
oriented
syllabi
Knowle
dge of
teachers
Pedagog
ical
skills of
teachers
Expected (Average)
5.16
5.39
5.24
5.43
5.40
5.36
5.44
5.48
Perceived (Average)
4.6
4.77
4.82
4.80
4.79
4.62
5.20
4.91
Weighted Gap of Averages
-0.56
-0.62
-0.42
-0.63
-0.61
-0.74
-0.24
-0.57
-0.80
-0.70
-0.60
-0.50
-0.40
-0.30
-0.20
-0.10
0.00
4.00
4.20
4.40
4.60
4.80
5.00
5.20
5.40
5.60
A
v
er
ag
e
p
o
in
ts
Diagram 3. Survey Results
Table 2. Survey Results
SERVQUAL
Indicators
Variables
Averages
Weighted Gap
of Averages
Expected
(Average)
Perceived
(Average)
Tangibles
Facilities
5,16
4,6
-0,56
Learning resources
5,39
4,77
-0,62
Reliablity
Timely service
5,24
4,82
-0,42
Assessment and grading
5,43
4,80
-0,63
Empathy
Individualized attention
5,40
4,79
-0,61
Student-oriented syllabi
5,36
4,62
-0,74
Assurance
Knowledge of teachers
5,44
5,20
-0,24
Pedagogical skills of
teachers
5,48
4,91
-0,57
Volume 05 Issue 11-2024
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CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
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2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
11
Pages:
148-153
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
market. Uzbekistan is to integrate its qualification
frameworks into the global labor market demands [11,
1001-4055] [12, 86-94]. In the wake of such
transformation, reforming current modules to make
them responsive to student interests and labor market
trends is crucial.
The weighted gaps between the expected and
perceived quality of tangibles (facilities and learning
resources) didn’t yield satisfactory results either (
-0,56
and -0,62 respectively). But, participants of the survey
are mostly from state higher education institutions.
Therefore, this outcome was not unexpected.
CONCLUSION
Marketing programs are less individualized and lack
critical resources to convey essential practical skills to
students in state higher education institutions in
Uzbekistan. It may result in less student satisfaction
and difficulties in finding employment. Higher
education institutions are recommended to increase
the number of elective courses.
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CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PEDAGOGICS
(ISSN
–
2767-3278)
VOLUME
05
ISSUE
11
Pages:
148-153
OCLC
–
1242041055
Publisher:
Master Journals
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