Examining Service Quality in Ghanaian Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis of Private and Public Universities
Samuel Smith Esseh 
, Lucy Afeafa Ry-Kottoh & Mary Mawufemor Denyo
Issue: Vol.5 No.7 Issue Article 25 pp.1391-1410
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20245725 | Published online 29th July, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Little is known about how students perceive the quality of service provided by Ghanaian tertiary institutions and how this perception influences their enrolment choices. Using the Higher Education Quality (HiEdQUAL) model for service quality measurement, this study examined service quality across five key dimensions; teaching and course content, administrative services, academic facilities, campus infrastructure, and support services in Ghanaian private and public universities. A structured questionnaire based on HiEdQUAL model consisting of 27 items with five dimensions, measured on a five-point Likert-Scale was used to gather data. Out of the initial 2,266 sampled respondents surveyed from private and public universities, a total of 1,758 correctly completed questionnaires were returned. This gave a high response rate of 76.43%. The paired t-test results that examined the equality of means between students’ perceptions of service quality at private and public universities across five dimensions, helped to determine the presence of statistically significant differences in some areas. The results suggested that public universities may be making better use of their resources or benefitting from their large numbers of enrollment and state financial support. Given that the quality of service provided by both private and public universities in Ghana falls short of students’ expectations, the paper provides administrators with practical insights to improve service quality in Ghanaian universities and suggests the need for continuous quality improvement in institutions of higher learning in Ghana.
Keywords: HiEdQUAL, Service Quality, Higher Education, Public Universities, Private Universities.
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Samuel Smith Esseh holds a PhD in Education from the University of British Columbia, Canada, an MA in Industrial Management from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana, and a Master of Publishing (MPub) from Simon Fraser University, Canada. He also has a Certificate in Project Management from Saunders School of Management, Canada, and a BA in Publishing Studies from KNUST. His research interests include Higher Education, Technology’s impact on Education, Scholarly Communication, Quality Management, Research Methodology, and Project and Operations Management. Currently, Samuel is a Lecturer in the Department of Publishing Studies at KNUST, teaching Operations Management, Print Production Management, and Communication Research Methodology. He has contributed to these fields through published research and active professional involvement.
Lucy Afeafa Ry-Kottoh is a senior lecturer on the Publishing Studies programme at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, (KNUST) Kumasi, Ghana. She holds a PhD in Publishing Studies from the University of Stirling, Scotland, an MBA in General Business Administration from the University of Hull, England and a BA in Publishing Studies, from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. Her research interests include print, digital and micro-publishing, and communication, scholarly communication, management, marketing, higher education institutions and education development.
Mary Mawufemor Denyo holds a Master of Publishing (MPub) from Simon Fraser University, Canada, and a BA in Publishing from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Her research interests include service quality, customer service management, and publishing technology. Mary has participated in various research projects on customer service quality and printing technology’s impact on the publishing industry. She has also studied customer onboarding’s effect on customer experience and business performance in the printing sector. Her work has been published in reputable journals like “Public Library of Science (PLOS One).” Mary remains active in collaborative research, aiming to connect technological advancements with practical applications in the publishing and printing industry.
Esseh, Samuel Smith, Lucy Afeafa Ry-Kottoh & Mary Mawufemor Denyo. “Examining Service Quality in Ghanaian Higher Education: A Comparative Analysis of Private and Public Universities,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.7 (2024): 1391-1410. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20245725
© 2024 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
