Factors Affecting Perceived Learning, Satisfaction, and Quality in the Online MBA: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The authors examined how six factors related to content and interaction affect students' perceptions of learning, satisfaction, and quality in online master of business administration (MBA) courses. They developed three scale items to measure each factor. Using survey data from MBA students at a private university, the authors estimated structural equation models to explore these relationships empirically. The findings suggest that course content is the strongest predictor of all three outcomes (perceived learning, satisfaction, and quality); it is the only significant factor affecting perceived learning. They also found that professor-student interaction had a significant positive impact on satisfaction, but not on perceptions of quality. Perceptions of quality were influenced significantly by student-student interaction and mentoring-support.