Cultures’ consequences in the assessment of higher education service quality : the case of CQU, Australia

This study aims to compare students’ cultural influence on the assessment of service quality in a higher education context. In particular, this study considered two cultural dimensions, power distance and individualism, and analysed their influences on student perception of service quality in the context of Central Queensland University (CQU), Australia. A random technique was adopted and the survey link was sent to 3000 full-time students of CQU. The response rate was 7.6% with 227 usable responses for data analysis. The findings show that there is no significant difference in academic service quality across cultures. However, students’ perceptions about administrative service quality and physical facilities service quality vary across these cultural dimensions. The paper is among the first few to examine the differences of cultures in perceived service quality in a higher education context. Universities attempting to understand the role of culture on student and staff management, and its impact on sustainable existence in the higher education industry and resource allocation could get some useful guidelines from this study.