Achieving service quality and students loyalty through intimacy and trust of employees of universities A test case of Kenyan universities

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of employees' behavioural factors in increasing students' loyalty. It specifically examines the direct and indirect mediations between employees' service quality, trust and intimacy. The focus is on the effects of constructs of service quality (SQLTY), trust (TRUS) and intimacy (INTIMACY) on student loyalty (STLOY). Design/methodology/approach This study depended on a positivist research paradigm. A total of 800 structured questionnaires were administered. However, 743 were retrieved and coded for the final analysis. The analytical tool used in this study is the ADANCO 2.0.1 software and in terms of statistical processing, the PLS-SEM technique was utilised. Findings The findings on direct relationships reveal that INTIMACY is a strong predictor of STLOY, whereas service quality (SQLTY) is a predictor of trust (TRUS). The effect of indirect mediation between service quality (SQLTY), trust (TRUS) and intimacy (INTIMACY) on STLOY was not confirmed.