Perceptions and expectations of service quality in graduate medical education: a case study of Aga Khan University
Date
2023
Authors
Kamya, D.
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Good Service Quality (SQ) builds a foundation for consumer loyalty and competitiveness. It is recognized that a differentiation strategy focused on great service quality can give a strong competitive advantage. The need to measure the quality of service in medical education is increasingly important as, globally, the number of institutions offering medical education grows. This growth is reflected in the Kenyan context, posing a strong competitive threat for existing institutions of higher medical education such as the Aga Khan University, Nairobi. There is a lack of knowledge about how graduate medical students and academic staff feel about service quality in medical education and competitiveness. The study objectives were to explore medical students and academic staff’s expectations and experiences of service quality of the medical education at AKU, N. and to discover their opinions about the importance of service quality for competitiveness in graduate medical education. Employing a qualitative research design and using a modified SERVQUAL tool, in-depth interviews with AKU, N. students and academic staff were conducted. Inductive thematic analysis of the data yielded key themes. The findings show that although SQ at AKU, N. is high in tangibility and assurance, there are gaps – both in the students’ perceptions and expectations of SQ and in faculty and managers’ understanding of what students value. Although tangibility was rated highly by both, it was seen as the least important of all dimensions of SQ. There were differing opinions between students and managers about the relative importance of the five dimensions of SQ and both these stakeholders related different aspects of SQ to competitiveness in GME. The study concludes that although service quality is well rated in tangibility and assurance at AKU, N., there are gaps which are amenable to managerial input and improvement. Recommendations are that there should be initiatives to measure and mitigate service quality gaps where possible, as part of ongoing quality assurance and improvement at AKU, N. More broadly, this first-of-its-kind study offers a basis for further investigation, and perhaps strategic changes in direction to focus on SQ as a competitive force in education.
Key words: Graduate medical education, service quality, competitive advantage.
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Full- text thesis
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Citation
Kamya, D. (2023). Perceptions and expectations of service quality in graduate medical education: A case study of Aga Khan University [Strathmore University]. http://hdl.handle.net/11071/13441