1. PVC, External Relations
Expectations and perceptions: the rhetoric and reality of the ABS Placement Programme – support service and placement year
Nicola Bullivant
Placement Manager
Aston Business School
Prof. Helen Higson
PVC, External Relations

2. Background to the project
Placement Office conducts annual student surveys – views on their experiences (perceptions) and the quality of the service
Given the steep rise in student numbers, is the service fit for purpose?
Salient – increase in students’ fees is likely to lead to increases in demands/expectations of the student experience
However, little work has been undertaken to understand the expectations students have of the service

3. Literature
Wealth on literature on service quality; a growing literature on service quality in HE
“The service experience that is Higher Education is complex, and students undergoing Higher Education likewise have a complex set of expectations” (Oldfield and Barron, 2000
Students have “a dependency orientation, suffering from an overestimate of what can be done for them…in these consumer-oriented times, many quite rightly want their money’s worth out of their attendance” (Barnett, 1992).
Slack et al (2004) emphasise the need to understand quality from the customers’ perspective – “to the customer, the quality of a particular product or service is what he or she perceives it to be”

4. MBA project and dissertation identified:
That the espoused service process type and the delivered service process are different (staff perceptions) – see handout
That the ideal service process type is different to what is actually available (staff perceptions) – see handout
that there are no formal mechanisms in place to gain insights into the students’ expectations of the service and recommended that further work is carried out to ascertain if there is indeed a gap between students’ expectations and their perceptions

5. Service Quality and SERVQUAL
The service quality model (Parasuraman et al, 1985), offers a framework for understanding and exposing the “gaps” between what is expected to be delivered and what is received in reality – see handout
SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al), – a tool to survey “customers”
Five dimensions (see handout)
Expectations - scale of 1-7; 1 if not at all essential or 7 if absolutely essential
Perceptions - scale of 1-7; 1 if strongly disagree that PO has that feature; 7 if strongly agree

6. Data Carried out SERVQUAL survey: Expectations – 1st and 2nd years
Perceptions – 3P and finalists

7. Findings
Cautionary note – SERVQUAL is usually administered to the same cohort of “customers” over time.
Response rate
Expectations = 3.6%
Perceptions = 4%

8. Analysis - Gaps
“Gaps” between expectations and perceptions in each of the 22 dimensions
All but one are negative gaps
Largest gaps are:
Performs the service right first time (Reliability)
Has operating hours convenient to all its students (Empathy)
Understands your specific needs (Empathy)
One is positive:
Employees of excellent placement support offices will be neat looking”. (Tangibles)

9. Implications and further work
Expectations are consistently higher than perceptions
Do we:
Lower students’ expectations?
Better manage students’ expectations?
Increase service delivery?
Focus groups/focussed interviews
Further analysis of survey results and focus groups

10. Contact details Nicola Bullivant n.s.bullivant@aston.ac.uk Ext. 3247
Helen Higson
Ext. 3191