A Service Perspective on the Marketization of Undergraduate Education

Higher education in the United States is rapidly moving toward a marketized model of service provision, one emphasizing marketing practices based upon relevance and student satisfaction. The results of the study reported herein suggest that such strategies may not ensure equal balance between service quality and the quality of education as a service. Specifically, a study is presented suggesting that grades (an indicant of learning) are neither endogenous (positively related to) nor exogenous (antecedent to) a typical service quality/customer satisfaction model vis-à-vis Introduction to Marketing courses. If student service quality perceptions, satisfaction judgments, and engagement practices are indeed unrelated to grades at the classroom level, then a question exists as to how well a focus on student satisfaction (and relevance) actually engender student involvement in the value co-creation process in education delivery. The following study suggests diligence in balancing the quality of the educational service versus service quality practices within the context of the marketization of education, and continued efforts by service marketers to better understand the unique service marketing characteristics of the educational product. The research and managerial implications of the reported study are presented and discussed. [<i>Service Science</i>, ISSN 2164-3962 (print), ISSN 2164-3970 (online), was published by Services Science Global (SSG) from 2009 to 2011 as issues under ISBN 978-1-4276-2090-3.]