AN INVESTIGATION ON THE DIMENSIONS OF SERVICE QUALITY IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS

The study was conducted to investigate the level of service quality for different dimensions based on the perception of private school teachers towards service quality. The investigation indicated level of perception for different dimensions namely tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, reliability and assurance. A questionnaire on Service Quality (SERVQUAL) was administered to a total of 93 teachers in private schools in Selangor, Malaysia. The findings indicated that teachers at the selected private schools had significant higher perception when the level of perception was compared with the middle score of the scale (middle score =5.5 with full scale ranging from ‘1’ to ‘10’). On the other hand, the results indicated that the teachers’ perceptions for all the dimensions were significantly more than the middle scale of ‘5.5’. The dimensions in the service quality were significantly correlated. Dimensions of assurance and empathy have been identified as important dimensions in the service quality. These two dimensions were highly correlated with responsiveness as well.