(1237) FACTORS INFLUENCING SERVICE QUALITY AMONG DISTANCE LEARNERS IN KENYA. A CASE STUDY OF KCA UNIVERSITY DISTANCE LEARNING STUDENTS

摘要

In the recent past customers have become quality conscious and are no longer requesting for qualityservice but they are demanding for it. Organizations in the service industry have realized theimportance of service quality. It is only through the provision of quality services that service providerscan stay in business, be competitive, and be able to satisfy their customers.Education institutions that are offering education service must emphasize on provision quality service.They must pursue a quality conscious approach that is aimed at satisfying their customers.Educational service providers in Kenya are facing stiff completion due to a number of higherinstitutions being set up. Most institution of higher learning in Kenya are now pursuing distancelearning mode in order to be competitive in proving education service to students who may not havethe time to attend regular classes due to various commitments. For universities to survive in this stiffcompetitive environment, service quality must be the mantra. Irrespective of the mode of study,whether institutions of higher learning are in the conventional mode or distance learning, quality ofeducational service should be the key consideration. This study therefore will seek to find out thefactors influencing educational service quality among distance learners in Kenya.The study adopted a case study of study of students who are pursuing their studies through distancelearning. Data collection instrument that was used was a questionnaire well-structured in a Likert scaleof 1 being strongly disagree and 5 strongly agree. The researcher used a non-probability sampling. Asample size of sixty students was conveniently selected from a population of student undertaking adistance learning program. Data was analyzed using factor analysis to find out the factors with thehighest loading. This was done to reduce to the meaningful few factors that determine service quality.