Higher Education Service Quality as Predictors for International Students’ Continuance Intention of Study In Private Universities: The Mediating Role of Trust

The internationalization of higher education and intense level of competition among tertiary education providers require universities to continuously improve its service quality. The national agenda to achieve 250,000 international students enrolment by year 2025 as projected in the Malaysia Higher Education Blueprint 2015 to 2025 (MEBHE) provides opportunity to consistently increase the enrolment of international students. However, the scenario experienced by the nation is continuous declining trend of international student enrolment since 2018. The literature showed that many studies have been undertaken in the past, but little has explored the integration between the mediating role of trust in the context of higher education service quality in Malaysia. This study is one of the preliminary attempts to study the HESQUAL model with an integration of the Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing and the IS Continuance Theory within the context of private universities in Malaysia. The research objectives are, RO1: To investigate the influence of HESQUAL on trust in Malaysia’s private universities; RO2: To investigate the influence of trust on the continuance intention of study; and RO3: To analyse the mediating role of trust between HESQUAL and international students’ continuance intention of study. Positivism worldview using quantitative method guided this research. Data collection was administered through web-based survey questionnaire and a total of 395 respondents contributed to the survey out of which 346 data were usable. SPSS and SmartPLS software were used to analyse the data. The findings confirmed the significance of mediating role of trust with the HESQUAL dimensions towards continuance intention of study except the support facilities quality. Statistical findings proved the conceptual model with medium predictive power that signifies its replication for future research.