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Customer Journeys Through the Eyes of Undergraduate College Students
Abstract
Communicating the value associated with an undergraduate degree is one of the most vexing problems facing universities’ administrators. Universities are at an important crossroads, one that arguably confronts the soul of the academy. One fork in the road is to “stay the course” of traditional liberal education seeking well-roundedness and lifelong learning. The other fork is to acquiesce to growing marketization pressures that emphasize practitioner-related knowledge and skills in support of employment opportunities and efficacy. The current study uses the lens of service dominant logic (SDL) to view this dilemma, because SDL is the emerging general marketing logic based on a standard of achieved value and a stakeholder orientation (which may or may not be perceived equally across stakeholder groups). This exploratory descriptive study evaluates the preferences for perceived value based on marketization versus liberal education approaches using both descriptive and predictive techniques. The results suggest that the marketization versus liberal education choice may prove in the end to be a false choice! This suggests the possibility that the current controversy between advocates of marketization versus marketing may both be placated (to a degree) by creative solutions that merge liberal education with marketization pedagogical goals and measures of success. We believe that our findings provide useful insights for better higher education at this controversial time, particularly vis-à-vis student satisfaction. We also hope our study spurs further examination of the issues related to the marketization and marketing perspectives in higher education.References
Bibliography
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Beerkens, Maarja, and Maiki Udam. "Stakeholders in higher education quality assurance: Richness in diversity?" Higher Education Policy 30.3 (2017): 341-359.
Boateng, Agyenim, George Lordofos, and Keith W. Glaister. "Motives for European mergers and acquisitions." Mergers and Acquisitions in Practice (2016): 5.
Brener, Nancy D., John O. G. Billy, and William R. Gready. "Assessment of factors affecting the validity of self-reported health-risk behavior among adolescents: Evidence from the scientific literature.” Journal of Adolescent Health 33 (2003): 436-457.
Bunce, Louise, Amy Baird, and Siân E. Jones. "The student-as-consumer approach in higher education and its effects on academic performance." Studies in Higher Education (2016): 1-21.
Chan, David. "So why ask me? Are self-report data really that bad." Statistical and methodological myths and urban legends: Doctrine, verity and fable in the organizational and social sciences (2009): 309-336.
Dean, Alison M., Matthew Griffin, and Alicia Kulczynski. "Applying service logic to education: The co-creation experience and value outcomes." Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 224 (2016): 325-331.
Díaz?Méndez, Montserrat, Evert Gummesson, "Value co?creation and university teaching quality: Consequences for the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)", Journal of Service Management, 23.4 (2012): 571-592.
Dziewanowska, Katarzyna. "Value types in higher education–students’ perspective." Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 39.3 (2017): 235-246.
Festinger, Leon. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 1957.
Fishman, Rachel, Manuela Ekowo, and Ernest Ezeugo. "Varying degrees: New America’s annual survey on higher education." New America, 2017 https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/policy-papers/varying-degrees/, [online], Accessed August 24, 2017.
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Gawronski, Bertram, and Fritz Strack, eds. Cognitive consistency: A fundamental principle in social cognition. Guilford press, 2012.
Gummesson, Evert. "Extending the service-dominant logic: From customer centricity to balanced centricity." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 36.1 (2008): 15-17.
Hendrick, Tamara A. M., Arnout R. H. Fischer, Hilde Tobi, and Jynn J. Frewer. "Self-reported attitude scales: Current practice in adequate assessment of reliability, validity, and dimensionality." Journal of Applied Social Psychology 43 (2013): 1538-1552.
Homburg, Christian, Danijel Jozi?, and Christina Kuehnl. "Customer experience management: Toward implementing an evolving marketing concept." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 45.3 (2017): 377-401.
Jain, Rajnish, Rajnish Jain, Jayesh Aagja, Jayesh Aagja, Shilpa Bagdare, and Shilpa Bagdare. "Customer experience–a review and research agenda." Journal of Service Theory and Practice 27.3 (2017): 642-662.
Judson, Kimberly M., and Steven A. Taylor. "Moving from marketization to marketing of higher education: The co-creation of value in higher education." Higher Education Studies 4.1 (2014): 51.
Kumar, V., and Werner Reinartz. "Creating enduring customer value." Journal of Marketing 80.6 (2016): 36-68.
Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale, and Joseph A. Allen. "Modeling temporal interaction dynamics in organizational settings." Journal of Business and Psychology (2017): 1-20.
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Lujan, Heidi L., and Stephen E. DiCarlo. "Too much teaching, not enough learning: What is the solution?" Advances in Physiology Education 30.1 (2006): 17-22.
Lusch, Robert F., and Stephen L. Vargo. Service-dominant logic: Premises, perspectives, possibilities. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
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Malhotra, Naresh K., Tracey King Schaller, and Ashutosh Patil. "Common method variance in advertising research: When to be concerned and how to control for it." Journal of Advertising 46.1 (2017): 193-212.
Naidoo, Rajani, Avi Shankar, and Ekant Veer. "The consumerist turn in higher education: Policy aspirations and outcomes." Journal of Marketing Management 27.11-12 (2011): 1142-1162.
Osborne, Stephen P. "From public service-dominant logic to public service logic: Are public service organizations capable of co-production and value co-creation?" (2017): 1-7.
Payne, Adrian, Pennie Frow, and Andreas Eggert. "The customer value proposition: Evolution, development, and application in marketing." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2017): 1-23.
Ranjan, Kumar Rakesh, and Stuart Read. "Value co-creation: Concept and measurement." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 44.3 (2016): 290-315.
Runté, Mary, and Robert Runté. "The evolving discourse of the purpose of higher education: The rhetoric of higher education reform." Handbook of Research on Administration, Policy, and Leadership in Higher Education. IGI Global, 2017. 532-548.
Schulze-Cleven, Tobias, Tilman Reitz, Jens Maesse, and Johannes Angermuller. "The new political economy of higher education: Between distributional conflicts and discursive stratification." Higher Education 73.6 (2017): 795-812.
Stahl, Ashley. "Six reasons why your college major does not matter." Forbes, 2015. (Online –Leadership, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2015/08/12/six-reasons-why-your-college-major-doesnt-matter/#4302095635a0, [online].
Taylor, Steven A. (2016), “Student Satisfaction with Value Co-Creation in Higher Education,” Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction & Complaining Behavior Biennial Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, June 16th – June 18th, 2016.
Taylor, Steven A, Gary L. Hunter, Horace Melton, and Stephen A. Goodwin. "Student engagement and marketing classes." Journal of Marketing Education 33.1 (2011): 73-92.
Taylor, Steven A., Hulda Black, Leigh-Anne Novak Donovan, and Kimberly Judson. "Social involvement and social well-being in attainment of millennial flourishing." Journal of Happiness and Well-Being 3.2 (2015): 126-141.
Taylor, Steven A., and Kimberly M. Judson. "A service perspective on the marketization of undergraduate education." Service Science 3.2 (2011): 110-126.
Taylor, Steven A., and Kimberly M. Judson. "The nature of stakeholder satisfaction with marketing education." Higher Education Studies 4.4 (2014): 89.
Tomlinson, Michael. "Student perceptions of themselves as ‘consumers’ of higher education." British Journal of Sociology of Education 38.4 (2017): 450-467.
Vargo, Stephen L., Paul P. Maglio, and Melissa Archpru Akaka. "On value and value co-creation: A service systems and service logic perspective." European management journal 26.3 (2008): 145-152.
Vargo, Stephen L., and Robert F. Lusch. "Institutions and axioms: An extension and update of service-dominant logic." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 44.1 (2016): 5-23.
Williams, Larry J., Nathan Hartman, and Flavia Cavazotte. "Method variance and marker variables: A review and comprehensive CFA marker technique." Organizational Research Methods 13.3 (2010): 477-514.
Williams, Larry J., and Alyssa K. McGonagle. “Four research designs and a comprehensive analysis strategy for investigating common method variance with self-report measures using latent variables.” Journal of Business and Psychology 31 (2016): 339-359.
Woodall, Tony, Alex Hiller, and Sheilagh Resnick. "Making sense of higher education: Students as consumers and the value of the university experience." Studies in Higher Education 39.1 (2014): 48-67.
Yang, Zhilin, and Robin T. Peterson. "Customer perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty: The role of switching costs." Psychology & Marketing 21.10 (2004): 799-822.
Zakaria, Fareed. In Defense of a Liberal Education. New York: W. W Norton & Company, 2015.
Zhang, Jonathan Z., George F. Watson IV, Robert W. Palmatier, and Rajiv P. Dant. "Dynamic Relationship Marketing." Journal of Marketing 80.5 (2016): 53-75.
Baporikar, Neeta. "Stakeholder approach for quality higher education." Handbook of Research on Quality Assurance and Value Management in Higher Education (2016): 1-26.
Beerkens, Maarja, and Maiki Udam. "Stakeholders in higher education quality assurance: Richness in diversity?" Higher Education Policy 30.3 (2017): 341-359.
Boateng, Agyenim, George Lordofos, and Keith W. Glaister. "Motives for European mergers and acquisitions." Mergers and Acquisitions in Practice (2016): 5.
Brener, Nancy D., John O. G. Billy, and William R. Gready. "Assessment of factors affecting the validity of self-reported health-risk behavior among adolescents: Evidence from the scientific literature.” Journal of Adolescent Health 33 (2003): 436-457.
Bunce, Louise, Amy Baird, and Siân E. Jones. "The student-as-consumer approach in higher education and its effects on academic performance." Studies in Higher Education (2016): 1-21.
Chan, David. "So why ask me? Are self-report data really that bad." Statistical and methodological myths and urban legends: Doctrine, verity and fable in the organizational and social sciences (2009): 309-336.
Dean, Alison M., Matthew Griffin, and Alicia Kulczynski. "Applying service logic to education: The co-creation experience and value outcomes." Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 224 (2016): 325-331.
Díaz?Méndez, Montserrat, Evert Gummesson, "Value co?creation and university teaching quality: Consequences for the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)", Journal of Service Management, 23.4 (2012): 571-592.
Dziewanowska, Katarzyna. "Value types in higher education–students’ perspective." Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management 39.3 (2017): 235-246.
Festinger, Leon. A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press, 1957.
Fishman, Rachel, Manuela Ekowo, and Ernest Ezeugo. "Varying degrees: New America’s annual survey on higher education." New America, 2017 https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/policy-papers/varying-degrees/, [online], Accessed August 24, 2017.
Gaurav, Rajesh, and Shainesh G. “The changing face of customer centricity.” In: Ellermann H., Kreutter P., Messner W. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Managing Continuous Business Transformation. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. DOI https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60228-2_8
Gawronski, Bertram, and Fritz Strack, eds. Cognitive consistency: A fundamental principle in social cognition. Guilford press, 2012.
Gummesson, Evert. "Extending the service-dominant logic: From customer centricity to balanced centricity." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 36.1 (2008): 15-17.
Hendrick, Tamara A. M., Arnout R. H. Fischer, Hilde Tobi, and Jynn J. Frewer. "Self-reported attitude scales: Current practice in adequate assessment of reliability, validity, and dimensionality." Journal of Applied Social Psychology 43 (2013): 1538-1552.
Homburg, Christian, Danijel Jozi?, and Christina Kuehnl. "Customer experience management: Toward implementing an evolving marketing concept." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 45.3 (2017): 377-401.
Jain, Rajnish, Rajnish Jain, Jayesh Aagja, Jayesh Aagja, Shilpa Bagdare, and Shilpa Bagdare. "Customer experience–a review and research agenda." Journal of Service Theory and Practice 27.3 (2017): 642-662.
Judson, Kimberly M., and Steven A. Taylor. "Moving from marketization to marketing of higher education: The co-creation of value in higher education." Higher Education Studies 4.1 (2014): 51.
Kumar, V., and Werner Reinartz. "Creating enduring customer value." Journal of Marketing 80.6 (2016): 36-68.
Lehmann-Willenbrock, Nale, and Joseph A. Allen. "Modeling temporal interaction dynamics in organizational settings." Journal of Business and Psychology (2017): 1-20.
Lemon, Katherine N., and Peter C. Verhoef. "Understanding customer experience throughout the customer journey." Journal of Marketing 80.6 (2016): 69-96.
Lujan, Heidi L., and Stephen E. DiCarlo. "Too much teaching, not enough learning: What is the solution?" Advances in Physiology Education 30.1 (2006): 17-22.
Lusch, Robert F., and Stephen L. Vargo. Service-dominant logic: Premises, perspectives, possibilities. Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Ma, Jennifer, Matea Pender and Meredith Welch. "Education pays 2016: The benefits of higher education for individuals and society," Trends in Higher Education, The College Board, 2016 https://trends.collegeboard.org/sites/default/files/education-pays-2016-full-report.pdf, [online].
Malhotra, Naresh K., Tracey King Schaller, and Ashutosh Patil. "Common method variance in advertising research: When to be concerned and how to control for it." Journal of Advertising 46.1 (2017): 193-212.
Naidoo, Rajani, Avi Shankar, and Ekant Veer. "The consumerist turn in higher education: Policy aspirations and outcomes." Journal of Marketing Management 27.11-12 (2011): 1142-1162.
Osborne, Stephen P. "From public service-dominant logic to public service logic: Are public service organizations capable of co-production and value co-creation?" (2017): 1-7.
Payne, Adrian, Pennie Frow, and Andreas Eggert. "The customer value proposition: Evolution, development, and application in marketing." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (2017): 1-23.
Ranjan, Kumar Rakesh, and Stuart Read. "Value co-creation: Concept and measurement." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 44.3 (2016): 290-315.
Runté, Mary, and Robert Runté. "The evolving discourse of the purpose of higher education: The rhetoric of higher education reform." Handbook of Research on Administration, Policy, and Leadership in Higher Education. IGI Global, 2017. 532-548.
Schulze-Cleven, Tobias, Tilman Reitz, Jens Maesse, and Johannes Angermuller. "The new political economy of higher education: Between distributional conflicts and discursive stratification." Higher Education 73.6 (2017): 795-812.
Stahl, Ashley. "Six reasons why your college major does not matter." Forbes, 2015. (Online –Leadership, https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2015/08/12/six-reasons-why-your-college-major-doesnt-matter/#4302095635a0, [online].
Taylor, Steven A. (2016), “Student Satisfaction with Value Co-Creation in Higher Education,” Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction & Complaining Behavior Biennial Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, June 16th – June 18th, 2016.
Taylor, Steven A, Gary L. Hunter, Horace Melton, and Stephen A. Goodwin. "Student engagement and marketing classes." Journal of Marketing Education 33.1 (2011): 73-92.
Taylor, Steven A., Hulda Black, Leigh-Anne Novak Donovan, and Kimberly Judson. "Social involvement and social well-being in attainment of millennial flourishing." Journal of Happiness and Well-Being 3.2 (2015): 126-141.
Taylor, Steven A., and Kimberly M. Judson. "A service perspective on the marketization of undergraduate education." Service Science 3.2 (2011): 110-126.
Taylor, Steven A., and Kimberly M. Judson. "The nature of stakeholder satisfaction with marketing education." Higher Education Studies 4.4 (2014): 89.
Tomlinson, Michael. "Student perceptions of themselves as ‘consumers’ of higher education." British Journal of Sociology of Education 38.4 (2017): 450-467.
Vargo, Stephen L., Paul P. Maglio, and Melissa Archpru Akaka. "On value and value co-creation: A service systems and service logic perspective." European management journal 26.3 (2008): 145-152.
Vargo, Stephen L., and Robert F. Lusch. "Institutions and axioms: An extension and update of service-dominant logic." Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 44.1 (2016): 5-23.
Williams, Larry J., Nathan Hartman, and Flavia Cavazotte. "Method variance and marker variables: A review and comprehensive CFA marker technique." Organizational Research Methods 13.3 (2010): 477-514.
Williams, Larry J., and Alyssa K. McGonagle. “Four research designs and a comprehensive analysis strategy for investigating common method variance with self-report measures using latent variables.” Journal of Business and Psychology 31 (2016): 339-359.
Woodall, Tony, Alex Hiller, and Sheilagh Resnick. "Making sense of higher education: Students as consumers and the value of the university experience." Studies in Higher Education 39.1 (2014): 48-67.
Yang, Zhilin, and Robin T. Peterson. "Customer perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty: The role of switching costs." Psychology & Marketing 21.10 (2004): 799-822.
Zakaria, Fareed. In Defense of a Liberal Education. New York: W. W Norton & Company, 2015.
Zhang, Jonathan Z., George F. Watson IV, Robert W. Palmatier, and Rajiv P. Dant. "Dynamic Relationship Marketing." Journal of Marketing 80.5 (2016): 53-75.
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