School of Management and Business

(SOMB)

Bachelor of Business Administration

“QUALITY OF ACADEMIC PROGRAMS AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS

SATISFACTION AT MANIPAL INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY”

AMELIA MACHIMBO PECHO: 1201151007

Course: Research Methods for Business

Course Code: BUS 3414

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Abdul Jumaat bin Mahajar

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ABSTRACT

This study shows the correlation between the quality of business program and satisfaction
of Manipal International University (MIU) students toward the business program in MIU
(tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy) and student’s satisfaction.
That contributes most to the satisfaction of the students. This study was conducted using a
set of questionnaire to 100 Bachelor Degree students from the MIU. This study contributes to
existing theories by confirming or adding value to the relationships that are involved
in student satisfaction, program quality and several dimensions. It provides results that
could be useful to managers in business organizations for strategic planning.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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4
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background with Statistics

Manipal University is well recognized in India in the medical field and it has established few
campuses in other countries as well. Manipal University has taken a step ahead by established
Manipal International University in Malaysia in various fields, which will give opportunity to
the students to explore many courses other than medical course.

MIU was first established in year 2011, located in Kelana Jaya. It was new in the education
field in Malaysia compared to the other universities, which well recognized in Malaysia. At
that time, there were only few students and lecturers. Few years later, in year 2013 MIU was
shifted to Nilai area and they have a big university with a better environment to be compared
with the old building in Kelana Jaya.

In Nilai, there are two big and well-recognized private universities, which are INTI and Nilai
University. However, MIU took risk to establish their name among student’s not only local
but international students. By the time pass, MIU was spoken in the education field by the
advertisements in the social media, newspaper and many more.

MIU only have students for few hundreds when it was established in Nilai. The numbers keep
increasing over the years after MIU was known for its good quality of academic and
professional lecturers. MIU have combination of local and international students and
lecturers, which give chance for them to learn new cultures.

Besides that, MIU offer courses such as engineering, business, and biotechnology and media
communication in foundation, diploma and degree. Now, the amount of the students are more
than 1000 which give them quality of academic by experiencing new environment of
education because MIU has given the opportunity to the students to explore themselves. Not
only in the class but they are given the chances to do the activities outside of the classroom.

This has given the students to explore themselves by sharpened their skills in communication,
confidence and many more. MIU is now well-recognized international university in Nilai,

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which give strong challenges to its rivals because of the quality of MIU itself in the education
and the lecturers.

Most of the students are major in engineering field by 80% and the other 20% are major in
business and biotechnology field. Moreover, MIU is given the environment to the students to
do internship by exploring themselves in the working lines, which give the ideas about the
challenges faced in the working environment. Besides that, MIU also expose the students
through research method, which gives the ideas to sharpen their critical thinking and
innovation, which will benefit them in the near future. Therefore, MIU have given new
experience to the students to explore themselves not only in education field and produce
students by sharped their skills in other field which will be their strength in the future (MIU
Page, n.d.).

1.2 Research Problem

Academic advising is an essential part of any university or college degree program and
becomes especially important in programs where there is competitive and limited admission
to professional courses. This requires that academic advisors have ready access to student
scholastic and demographic data for counseling and statistical purposes. The use of
computers in creating a database for student records has become routine in most universities
and colleges. Computerization of these records through the registration process creates a
university database with the potential for many different applications (Bingham, n.d.).

Students’ satisfaction has been identified to have a significant impact on maintaining

students’ loyalty and service quality in education had a greater impact on customer
satisfaction. Students in the different academic programs classifications in the selected
private universities have reported differing levels of satisfaction. In Covenant University and
Crescent University, students in Science and Technology are more satisfied with their
academic facilities than students in Social Science and Humanities whereas in Babcock
University, students in Humanities are more satisfied than those in Science and Technology
and Social Science. However, in Redeemer’s University, Social Science students are more
satisfied than students in other colleges. This means that students’ faculty has significant
effect on their level of satisfaction. This phenomenon should not be overlooked. It therefore

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implies that it must be taken into consideration while making plans for students’ loyalty and
retention in order to meet the minimum level of enrolment of students (Oluwunmi, 2015).

1.3 Research Questions

1. Is there any correlation between the efficiency of academic programs and the impact
of the students’ satisfaction?
2. Is there any significant relationship between the efficiency of academic programs and
the students’ satisfaction?
3. Is there any correlation between the effectiveness of academic programs and the
students’ satisfaction?
4. Is there any significant relationship between the effectiveness of academic programs
and the students’ satisfaction?
5. Is there any correlation between the attractiveness of academic programs and the
impact of the students’ satisfaction?
6. Is there any significant relationship between the attractiveness of academic programs
and the impact of the students’ satisfaction?

1.4 Research Objectives

1. To find the correlation between the efficiency of academic programs and the impact
of the students’ satisfaction.
2. To find the significant relationship between the efficiency of academic programs and
the students’ satisfaction.
3. To find the correlation between the effectiveness of academic programs and the
students’ satisfaction.
4. To find the significant relationship between the effectiveness of academic programs
and the students’ satisfaction.
5. To find the correlation between the attractiveness of academic programs and the
impact of the students’ satisfaction.
6. To find the significant relationship between the attractiveness of academic programs
and the impact of the students’ satisfaction.

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1.5 Research Hypothesis

H1 There is no correlation between the efficiency of academic programs and the impact of
The students’ satisfaction.
H2 There is no significant relationship between the efficiency of academic programs and
the students’ satisfaction.
H3 There is no correlation between the effectiveness of academic programs and the
students’ satisfaction.
H4 There is no significant relationship between the effectiveness of academic programs and
the students’ satisfaction.
H5 There is no correlation between the attractiveness of academic programs and the impact
of the students’ satisfaction.
H6 There is no significant relationship between the attractiveness of academic programs
and the impact of the students’ satisfaction.

1.6 Limitation of Research

Throughout the research study, i faced a lot of limitations or i can say that as challenges for
me to complete the research:

1. Some of the respondents did not want to cooperate in our research study because they
think it is not important for them, as their intention joining MIU just to get the
certificate to get a job.
2. The respondents simply answer the questionnaire survey without read the questions,
understand the questions and answer the survey properly.
3. The limitation of time. Because of first time in doing research study and we still in the
learning progress, we feel that the time given is not sufficient for us to spend in doing
this research study.

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1.7 Contribution of Research

In this research paper, we enlighten about the quality of academic programs that can affect
the students’ satisfaction. Academic programs should be excellent because it help the
students to get a bright future in working environment. Thus, the academic programs must be
provide an acute and unbiased assessment of an academic unit’s programs and activities
which support its educational, research, and service mission. Academic programs should be
successful with a few characteristics which are the academic programs should combine with
expert assessment providing by reviewers outside of the unit, be forward looking and also be
evaluative, not just descriptive. The university is the responsible for developing and
promoting best academic programs of quality. The quality and effectiveness of programs, the
extent to which planned objectives have been met, the priority that the University attaches to
the programs and the costs of these activities must be considered as the University proceeds
with its continuous review and adjustment of institutional plans, activities, and resource
allocation.

In this case, Manipal International University (MIU) ensured the top quality of academic
programs with recruits best lecturers for their student. The management had chosen the best
lecturers according to the programs from the different expertise, countries and culture to able
make convenience for the students. Besides that, the academic programs itself also should be
attraction and useful for student future in working world. For example in Manipal
International University (MIU), they offer courses such as Engineering, Business,
Biotechnology in Foundation Diploma and Degree. Other than that, they also make the
student involved in more events that make sharp of their confidence and communication
skills, which will make the students more opportunity to explore their working environment.

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1.8 Operation Definition

1.8.1 Academic Programs

According to the article from Learn.org, academic programs comprise the core, required and
elective courses that lead to a degree or certificate. Whether you are joining the university or
college for a year foundation programs, or pursuing a graduate degree, you will be involved
in academic programs. Some universities are offering great and beneficial academic programs
to their students. When the quality of the academic programs is good, students will be
satisfied and it will give a good outcome for students and the university as well. It is because,
when the students satisfaction at the higher level, they will get a good results for their studies
and the university could raise their reputation.

1.8.2 Students Satisfaction

Student satisfaction is very important for every university and college. According to Oliver
(1997), satisfaction can be defined as pleasurable fulfillment that means the customers
perceive that “consumption fulfills some need, desire, goal, and etc. Thus, satisfaction is the
sense of the customers that consumption provides outcomes against a standard of pleasure
versus displeasure. So, student is the customer for the university and college that must to take
care of and make sure they are satisfied and comfortable throughout their studies. To make
sure the satisfaction of the students, university or college must offer a great and a quality of
academic programs that could be beneficial for the students.

1.8.3 Efficiency
Efficient is defined as: "capable of producing desired results without wasting materials, time,
or energy. It measures relationship between inputs and outputs or how successfully the inputs
have been transformed into outputs (Low, 2000). To maximize the output Porter’s Total
Productive Maintenance system suggests the elimination of six losses, which are: (1) reduced
yield – from start up to stable production; (2) process defects; (3) reduced speed; (4) idling
and minor stoppages; (5) set-up and adjustment; and (6) equipment failure. The fewer the
inputs used to generate outputs, the greater the efficiency.

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1.8.4 Effectiveness
Effectiveness oriented companies are concerned with output, sales, quality, creation of value
added, innovation, cost reduction. It measures the degree to which a business achieves its
goals or the way outputs interact with the economic and social environment. Usually
effectiveness determines the policy objectives of the organization or the degree to which an
organization realizes its own goals (Zheng, 2010).

1.8.5 Impact
Impact is a term we use so often in so many different contexts, has it lost its meaning and is it
still useful. This is what we found in The Methods Lab research project. When we first set
out to develop and test innovative approaches to impact evaluation, we expected there would
be most need for innovation around data analysis and causal inference. But, working with
several aid programmers, we found there was confusion around what ‘impact’ meant, and
that the greatest need was for support on the up-front parts of evaluation planning and the
definition of this term in particular.

1.8.6 Quality
Quality itself has been defined as fundamentally relational: ‘Quality is the ongoing process of
building and sustaining relationships by assessing, anticipating, and fulfilling stated and
implied needs.’

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 EDUCATION SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS

Owlia and Aspinwall (2011) highlight the role of students in higher education. According
to them, service quality consists of tangibles, competence, attitude, content, delivery and
reliability. Study conducted by Gruber, Fuß, Voss and Gläser-Zikuda (2010) at
German’s universities showed that student satisfaction was related to person-environment
relationship at their universities. Duque and Weeks (2010) indicate that support resources,
educational quality and learning outcomes positively influence student satisfaction.
Student involvement has a significant effect on the learning outcomes which contributed to
student’s perception on service quality and satisfaction. Therefore, it is important to
evaluate student learning outcomes that reflect student satisfaction (Duque & Weeks,
2010). Positive feedback on student learning environment is associated with better learning
outcomes and higher level of satisfaction.

Organizations have to focus on perceived service quality determinants for the reason that,
perceived service quality is an antecedent to customer satisfaction (Lassar, Manolis et al. 2000).
In the eyes of a customer, service quality is like beauty; it means that service quality has
different meanings for different people and is person-dependent. However, when quality
applies to services most of its definitions consider as customer entered. So, perceived quality
is a function of customer satisfaction or customer satisfaction is a function of perceived quality.
In educational institutions, the curriculum has considered as academic program given to
students. Also, the curriculum dimension in various articles is known as subject content,
program issues, academic concerns and course content. Based on the findings of LeBlanc and
Nguyen (1997), the appropriateness of course content and educational programs, the number
of courses offered as well as the range to which the purposes of the educational programs are
described to the students have related to curriculum. The curriculum also has been stated as
one of the factors of perceived service quality by students. In addition, several articles have
shown that there is an optimistic association among overall student perceived quality and
curriculum (Athiyaman 1997, Russell 2005, Ling, Chai et al. 2010). In universities, courses are
usually grouped under diverse classifications such as college primary courses, university-wide

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prescriptions, essential courses and electives in major. So, when universities provide numerous
course offerings for their students and provide more options and choices for them it can make
students more satisfied with curriculum (Tessema and Ready 2014

2.2 STUDENT’S SATISFACTION

Satisfaction; is a feeling of happiness or pleasure because you have achieved something or
got what you wanted. (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English), the good feeling
that you have when you have achieved something or when something that you wanted
to happen; something that gives you this feeling. (Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary). Customer satisfaction is a measure of how an organization’s total product
performs in relation to set of customer’s expectations. (Hill, Nigel, Alexander, Jim,
1996, p: 18) Customer satisfaction depends on the product’s perceived performance
relative to a buyer’s expectations. If the product’s performance falls short of
expectations, the customer is dissatisfied. If performance matches expectations, the
customer is satisfied. If performance exceeds expectations, the customer is highly
satisfied and delighted. (Amstrong/Kotler2005, p:17) Most of the schools which make a
giant mistake face a lot of difficulties because they don’t pay enough attention to their
customer satisfaction. The best competitive advantage against competitors is to keep
customer satisfied. The marketing and consumer behaviour literature has traditionally
suggested that customer satisfaction is a relative concept, and is always judged in relation to
a standard (Olander,1977). Consequently, in the course of its development, a number of
different competing theories based on various standards have been postulated for
explaining customer satisfaction. The theories include the Expectancy-Disconfirmation
Paradigm (EDP), Value Precept Theory, the Equity Theory, the Comparison Level Theory,
the Evaluation Congruity Theory, the Person-Situation-Fit model, the Performance-
Importance model, the Dissonance, and the Contrast Theory (Yuksel and Yuksel,2001).

Since many private institutions do not enjoy access to large endowments, they are driven
by tuition revenue (Kyle 2005). A reduction in student numbers, therefore, leads to a
reduction in budgeted funds available to operate, maintain, and grow a private institution.
This situation has led to the eventual closing of some private liberal arts colleges as well as
program retrenchment in many private and public institutions of higher learning (Gumport
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1993). This creates not only an economic impact, but it also reduces the amount of
institutional options for the student (Kyle 2005). Now, more than ever, higher education
institutions have embraced the marketing concept and the idea of the student as consumer,
the customer who is involved in the purchase of higher education programs and services
(Kotler and Levy 1969; Conway, Mackay and Yorke 1994; Kyle 2005).

As no common definition of student satisfaction exists, and as models are derived from
the business world (Elliott & Shin, 2002), it is important that students' voices be included in
studies that aim to understand satisfaction as it pertains to education. If we want to
understand student satisfaction, then students need to be part of the process; furthermore,
student satisfaction cannot really be understood unless it is in terms students themselves
can understand. For undergraduate students, three conceptualizations of satisfaction have
been proposed: customer service; investment; and, happy-productive (Carter, 2014). The
happy-productive model likens students to employees, who, if they are satisfied with their
working conditions will be loyal to the company, produce better work, and change employer
less frequently (Cotton et al., 2002); the investment model (Hatcher, Kryter, Prus, &
Fitzgerald, 1992) posits that students view their time and effort in the same way that
investors do their money – in other words, they seek a return on what they expend; and
the customer service model considers teacher-student interactions to be a “transaction or
service encounter” (Athiyaman, 1997, p. 531) . satisfaction. The theories include the
Expectancy-Disconfirmation Paradigm (EDP), Value Precept Theory, the Equity Theory,
the Comparison Level Theory, the Evaluation Congruity Theory, the Person-Situation-Fit
model, the Performance-Importance model, the Dissonance, and the Contrast Theory
(Yuksel and Yuksel,2001).

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2.3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

QUALITY OF
LECTURER

QUALITY OF
COURSES

FACILITIES STUDENT’S
PROVIDED SATISFACTION

DESIGN OF
CURRICULUM

DEPENDENT VARAIBLE
EFFICIENCY OF
MANAGEMENT

INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

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CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The main aim of the study is to see the correlation between the quality of business program
and satisfaction of Manipal students towards the business program in Manipal
International University, Nilai are satisfied with their program. Since we want to be able to
generalize, as well as reach out to as many students as possible, we used a quantitative
study. Additionally, since our study aims to measure the relationships between the
dependent (customer satisfaction) and independent variables (service quality, and positive
news), an explanatory research was chosen. Also, we wanted to have a structured and
objective research. The choice of selecting an appropriate and suitable research design is
a significant decision as it will influence the research and it lays the foundations of the
study (Rosengren & Arvidson, 2005). Research efficiency will depend on whether the
research design is decent (Malhotra, 2010).

Moreover, the research design acted like a blueprint (Royce, 2004) and it provides the basis
of framework in which how the specific information are to be gathered, data sources
and procedures of collecting data (Kinnear & Taylor, 1983). Dimensions or factors that
determine service quality in Manipal International University, Nilai. The students identified
a number of factors that important to them in their perception of service quality in
universities. The 5 most important factors arranged in order to importance are Administrative
quality, academic quality, program quality, student support and availability of resources in
that order. Student’s perception of relating to the University administration, the rotated
factor scores for the important determinants of service quality within University resulted
in four important factors arranged in order of importance as follows:

i. Confidence (students agreed that the university administration respected their

confidential disclosures and kept their information (transcripts) confidential);
ii. Empathy (students agreed that administration staff kept their promises, had
positive attitude towards them, communicated well with them, dealt with their inquiries
/complaints efficiently and promptly; and that the staff were always courteous and
polite);
iii. Speed and accuracy (students agreed that administrative staff kept accurate records

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 and were retrievable; release transcripts on time; and provided prompt services);
iv. Tangibles (students agreed that physical facilities in relation to administration are
visually appeal.

Hence, the quality of business students relating to the students satisfaction with academic
staff revealed that academic staff were professional had knowledge relating to course, were
highly educated and experienced in their respective fields, were caring and courteous, had
positive attitude towards students, communicated well in class and were always ready to help
and were available for students by allocating sufficient and convenient time for consultation,
were easily contacted by phone, respected students confidentiality and provided feedback on
time.

Therefore, Student’s relating to institution factor analysis of statements that relating to

institution condensed the statements into only three factors which were generally
named reliability students felt secure and confident while dealing with their institutions,
agreed that graduates were easily employed and provided services within expected time
frame, flexibility institutions offered wide range of programs with various specialization,
offered programs with flexible syllabus and structure, classes were kept to minimum to
allow for personal attention, had ideal location with excellent campus layout and
appearance; and offered highly reputable programs and adequate facilities had
standardized and simple service delivery procedures, hostel facilities and equipment
were adequate, health services were adequate, recreational facilities and equipment were
adequate, academic facilities and equipment were adequate and their institutions promoted
excellent counselling services. This study gathers knowledge pertaining to the existing
theories and principles using descriptive research, survey method approach or hypothesis
testing (Sekaran, 2003).

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3.2 POPULATION AND SAMPLING

3.1.1 Population

According to Zikmund (2003) the population is a comprehensive group of entities

sharing common set of characteristics. The population is all the undergraduate of Business
students in Manipal International University, Nilai. The study focused on business
program and satisfaction of Manipal students towards the business program in MIU, who are
expected to be a homogeneous group as their programmes are similar. The sample frame
(list) is the undergraduate students of Manipal International University, Nilai.

Quantitative research approach investigates samples that reflect the population (Rosengren
& Arvidson, 2005) and its normally investigate numerical relationship between
numbers of measurable qualities (Hartman, 1998). This study utilizes the quantitative
methods as it uses statistical numbers in analyzing the research concept explained by the
major variables used to predict loyalty intention and how are variables disseminated among
peoples of the population (Hair et al., 2003; Sekaran, 2003). To get these done,
questionnaires are developed and analysis are carried out to produce measurable result using
survey methods which is the most universal techniques applied in marketing in order to
observe behavior and exploring loyalty (Hair et al., 2003; Wiersma, 1995). The sampling
technique for this research is utilized by using probability sampling under simple random
sampling technique.

3.1.2 Sampling

The purpose of sampling, as mentioned by Gorard (2003:57), is to use a relatively small

number of cases (the sample) to find out about and draw conclusions relating to a much
larger number (population). Population, according to Bryman (2008:168), is the universe of
units from which the sample is to be selected. Sample is the segment of the population
that is selected for investigation. The sampling procedure used for the sample is purposive
sampling because of the problem of obtaining accurate of business program and
satisfaction of Manipal students towards the business program in MIU. The defects of
census is where it can be impractical due to minimal respond of questionnaire by the
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populations (Aaker, Kumar, Day, & Leone, 2010; Bryman & Bell, 2011). Therefore, this
study is organized using sample to make inferences about the whole population (Aaker et
al., 2010; Bryman & Bell, 2011).

3.3 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN

In this study, questionnaire was used to gather information from the respondents. The
questionnaire was developed using questions from surveys on the business program
and satisfaction of Manipal students towards the business program in MIU. The
questions were modified. Basically, there are three ways of administering a
questionnaire: the face-to-face interview, the telephone interview, and the self-
administered questionnaire (Corbetta 2003:142). In this study the last option was
adopted. The questionnaires incorporated were based on the presumptions already taken
from other researchers theories based on deductive research whereby, carrying research
on what has already known about a particular field on theoretical considerations in
relations to the particular field, deduces hypotheses that will be connected to the empirical
findings (Bryman & Bell, 2003).

The questionnaire is divided into two main sections namely Section A and Section B. All
the participants were given the same questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 15
questions and required about 15 minutes to complete. The questionnaire contained
questions indicating two dimensions, academic and social. Besides the ones mentioned
above, there was one optional question where the students were asked to suggest
improvements of any aspects towards the business program in MIU.

The levels of student satisfaction were measured by assessing three types of answers
(poor/fair/good/excellent), yes/no; or answers in which respondents marked the sentences
that applied to him/her. Factors that affect business program and satisfaction the most.
Among them are academic advising, students support services, library facilities, quality
of instructions, computer facilities, general climate, social integration, academic
experiences, campus infrastructure, classroom facilities, feedback and assessment and
student workload. According to Wiers-Jenssen et al. (2002:185) student‟ satisfaction is

23
their assessments of the services provided by universities and colleges. That is why we
designed our questionnaire to help us gather student assessments of the factors mentioned
above.
The sum of the questions used in the questionnaire can shed a light on the current
tendencies of the correlation between the quality of business program and satisfaction of
Manipal students towards the business program in MIU. A total of 100 questionnaires
were distributed. Fifteen international students shed a light on some common tendencies in
the attitude of international students. The gender of the respondents was: 60 Female and 40
Male. It can be questioned why the majority of the respondents were female students.

All the items in the questionnaire are to improve the validity and the reliability of the
research findings to help better understanding of the respondents on what it is intended
to measure (Hulland, 1999; Hussey & Hussey, 1997). Furthermore, the researcher tried
to avoid complexity in this questionnaire by arranging it in simple sentences. The
questionnaire is written in a precise manner just to make it clear to be interpreted by the
respondents as what it is intended (Synodinos, 2003). Prior to the implementation of the
pre-test, the questionnaire was fully inspected by experts in the field of cooperatives
comprising senior officer from the Malaysia Cooperative Society Commission, The
Cooperative College of Malaysia, Public and Private Universities to enhance the accuracy of
the questions. The questionnaire is summarized as below:

3.1.1 Questionnaire Structure

Questionnaire is structured into two different section as follows;

SECTION A – Respondents demographic background and profile as the members of
the consumer cooperatives is assessed in this section. Questions are developed to
understand the pattern of the respondents consisted of location of the cooperative, gender,
age, race, marital status, highest academic qualification, current occupation, monthly
household gross income and total investments in cooperative.

SECTION B - This section directs all the independent and dependent variables and
the construct items for the questionnaire adopted from previous research.

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 3.4VALIDITY

It is necessary to mention the validity of this research. Bryman (2008) writes about the
relevance of validity in qualitative research. Moreover, writers who do take the view of criteria
are relevant that have considered to the possibility meanings of the terms needed to be altered.
Lincoln and Guba (1985) and Guba and Lincoln (1994) propose that it is necessary to specify
terms and ways of establishing and assessing the quality of qualitative research that provide an
alternative to reliability and validity. They purpose of two primary criteria for assessing a
qualitative study is trustworthiness and authenticity.

3.5RELIABILITY ANALYSIS

Reliability is also fundamentally concerned with issue of consistency of measures (Kleven

2008:63). Reliability testing is used to measure between multiple measurements of a construct
in order to understand its internal consistency (Hair et al., 2003). Since the Manipalian survey
was completed with amount of students (100 respondents), the questions were considered
reliable, and valid for the research is the correlation between the quality of business program
and satisfaction of Manipal students towards the business program in MIU, Nilai. Creswell and
Miller (2000) suggest that the validity is affected by the researchers’ validity in the study and
his/her choice of paradigm assumption. The fact that allows us to say that the research sample
is valid, and that further discussion on this topic can be achieved, is because the group of
respondents consists of:

1) Business students of MIU, Nilai (which is the main criteria of the sample)
2) Students that are enrolled in various business programs of the university, which makes the
survey reflect the tendency throughout different programs
3) Students from different countries, which demonstrates the diversity of students at the MIU,
Nilai.

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 3.6 PILOT TEST

In Section 2, all scale items were measured using poor/fair/good/excellent), On top of that, the
reliability of the questions that included in the set of questionnaire has been tested using
Cronbach’s alpha method. This method was suggested the minimum acceptable value for
Cronbach’s alpha of .7 (Gardner, 2001). In this study, the pilot test was done among 50
randomly selected students. Table 1 displays the alpha value for the variables towards the
expectation and perception.

Table 1 Reliability Analysis Result of Pilot Test

Variables Expectation (α) Perception (α)
Tangibles.
Reliability.
Responsiveness.
Assurances.
Empathy.

Subsequently, for data analysis the SPSS version 20.0 was used as a tool for analysis since the
research was based on a quantitative study. In this study both descriptive and inferential
statistics, and also one sample t-test were used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics were
used to find the frequencies and percentages of the respondents’ background and also to find
the mean for every item in the expectation and perception items. The mean was used to
determine which dimensions in each variable (expectation and perception) scored the highest
and the mean of the correlation between the quality and satisfaction of Manipal students
towards the business program in MIU, Nilai. On the other hand, inferential statistics were
performed to understand the relationship among variables (tangibles, reliability,
responsiveness, assurances and empathy) as the independent variables and the quality of
service provided by the university as the dependent variable. Besides, one sample t-test has
also been used to identify the significant values of the service quality for the gap analysis.

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28
APPENDIX

The Correlation Between the Quality of Business Program and Satisfaction of MIU
Students Toward the Business Program in MIU

Hi, I am a student from Research Methodology Class, I need your help to answer some
questions about the university for my research project. There are few questions and can take
very few minutes of your time.

Classification Questions
Please indicate the number that classifies you best.

1. Level:
1 Degree
2 Diploma
3 Foundation

2. Region of origin:
1 Chinese
2 Indian
3 Malay
4 others

3. Gender:
1 Male
2 Female

4. Age:
1 17-20
2 21-23
3 23-26

29
Perception measures
The lists below are some of the characteristics that could be used to describe MIU. Using
scale from 1 to 5, with 1 being strongly agree and 5 being strongly disagree. To what
extend do you agree or disagree that MIU has.

1. Quality services
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree

1 2 3 4 5

2. Good library
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree
1 2 3 4 5

3. Welcoming Staffs
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree

1 2 3 4 5

4. Good Computer Facilities

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree

1 2 3 4 5

5. Time Conscious Staff

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree

1 2 3 4 5
 6. Well Qualified Staffs
Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree

1 2 3 4 5

7. Well Qualified Academic Programs

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree

1 2 3 4 5

8. Satisfied with University

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree

1 2 3 4 5

9. Badly Impact The Student

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree

1 2 3 4 5

10. Recommended To Others.

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly
Disagree

1 2 3 4 5