Measuring Online Teaching Service Quality in Higher Education in the COVID-19 Environment

José M. Ramírez-Hurtado, Alfredo G. Hernández-Díaz, Ana D. López-Sánchez and Víctor E. Pérez-León
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José M. Ramírez-Hurtado: Department of Economics, Quantitative Methods and Economy History, Faculty of Business, Pablo de Olavide University, Ctra. de Utrera, Km. 1, 41013 Seville, Spain
Alfredo G. Hernández-Díaz: Department of Economics, Quantitative Methods and Economy History, Faculty of Business, Pablo de Olavide University, Ctra. de Utrera, Km. 1, 41013 Seville, Spain
Ana D. López-Sánchez: Department of Economics, Quantitative Methods and Economy History, Faculty of Business, Pablo de Olavide University, Ctra. de Utrera, Km. 1, 41013 Seville, Spain
Víctor E. Pérez-León: Department of Applied Economics II, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Seville, Avenida Ramón y Cajal, 1, 41018 Seville, Spain

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: The use of the Internet to develop new technologies has generated a considerable change in teaching and student learning in higher education. The pandemic caused by COVID-19 has forced universities to switch from face-to-face to online instruction. Furthermore, this transfer process was planned and executed quickly, with urgent redesigns of courses originally conceived for live teaching. The aim of this work is to measure the service quality of online teaching delivered during the COVID-19 period. The methodology was based on an importance-performance analysis using a structural equations model. The data were obtained from a sample of 467 students attending a university in southern Spain. The results reveal five priority attributes of online teaching that need to be improved in order to enhance the service quality of the virtual instruction provided to students. Universities need to redefine their online format by integrating methodological and technological decisions and involving collaboration between teachers, students and administration staff and services. The results do not apply to educational institutions that exclusively teach courses online, but to those institutions that had to rapidly adapt, and shift course material originally designed for face-to-face training.

Keywords: service quality; higher education; online teaching; importance-performance analysis; structural equations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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