School of Marketing, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania.
Department of Statistics and Econometrics, The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 2;19(9):5527. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19095527.
In today's world, the higher education system represents a means of developing the national and global economy by providing individual and collective benefits. Student loyalty is a critical measure in the success of higher education institutions that aim at retaining students until graduation and then attracting them back. As they fuel the knowledge economy, universities create a more educated labor market, providing employment and higher salaries. Having this major significance, it is vital to study the key determinants that persuade stakeholders to form long-term relationships with universities, revealing high loyalty. Aiming to stay competitive and survive the drastic, ongoing changes, successful universities thrive on building loyalty among all stakeholder groups, especially students. Despite the importance of the higher education institutions (HEIs), little research has been conducted on student loyalty. Therefore, the main objectives of this study are to empirically examine the key factors influencing student loyalty by testing two models, namely perceived quality, brand associations, satisfaction, trust, and commitment, and to test the relationships among them. To analyze the data, a confirmatory factor analysis was applied where it explored the associations between items and constructs and, then, utilized a structural equation model (SEM) to investigate the relationships existing between constructs with the application of the STATA program. A structured questionnaire comprising of 66 questions was developed, using a five Likert scale. A total of 682 students from the Bucharest University of Economic Studies filled in the questionnaire. In both cases, the findings reveal that commitment has the most significant direct impact on loyalty. The other factors have an indirect effect, satisfaction having the most significant total effect, followed by trust and commitment. Therefore, universities must focus on improving service quality to develop positive brand associations, student satisfaction, trust, and commitment in developing student loyalty.
在当今世界，高等教育系统通过提供个人和集体利益来发展国家和全球经济。学生忠诚度是高等教育机构成功的关键衡量标准，这些机构旨在留住学生直到毕业，并吸引他们回来。随着他们推动知识经济的发展，大学创造了一个受过更多教育的劳动力市场，提供就业机会和更高的工资。由于具有如此重大的意义，因此研究促使利益相关者与大学建立长期关系并表现出高度忠诚度的关键决定因素至关重要。为了保持竞争力并在持续的剧烈变化中生存，成功的大学热衷于在所有利益相关者群体中建立忠诚度，尤其是学生。尽管高等教育机构（HEIs）非常重要，但对学生忠诚度的研究却很少。因此，本研究的主要目的是通过测试两个模型，即感知质量、品牌联想、满意度、信任和承诺，实证检验影响学生忠诚度的关键因素，并检验它们之间的关系。为了分析数据，应用了验证性因素分析，该分析探讨了项目与结构之间的关联，然后利用结构方程模型（SEM）通过应用 STATA 程序调查结构之间存在的关系。开发了一个包含 66 个问题的结构化问卷，采用了 5 级李克特量表。共有 682 名来自布加勒斯特经济研究大学的学生填写了问卷。在这两种情况下，研究结果都表明，承诺对忠诚度具有最显著的直接影响。其他因素具有间接影响，满意度具有最显著的总效应，其次是信任和承诺。因此，大学必须专注于提高服务质量，以在培养学生忠诚度方面发展积极的品牌联想、学生满意度、信任和承诺。
