University students' knowledge of services and programs in relation to satisfaction A case study of a private university in Lebanon

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to survey students on their satisfaction with university services and programs in a coeducational Lebanese Catholic higher education institution. The study attempts to relate self-assessed knowledge of the university procedures, rules and regulations on six dimensions of satisfaction, being: academic experience, academic advisor, residential life, campus life, personal development opportunities, resources and student services. Design/methodology/approach - A cluster random selection procedure was used to select n = 870 students from within the university. Students rated 31 knowledge items and 33 satisfaction items. The study analyses student satisfaction in relation to their knowledge of procedures, rules and regulations. An Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was run to determine differences between university class level, and knowledge level on satisfaction. In addition, a regression analysis was run to determine whether university class (freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior level) and knowledge level (low, middle and high knowledge levels) were predictors of the satisfaction dimensions. Findings - Generally, those who assessed their knowledge (of the services) as higher were more inclined to be satisfied. In addition, seniors in general were less satisfied with programs and services than freshmen students. Self-rated knowledge and university level (freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors) significantly predicted satisfaction with both variables being highly associated (i. e. predicting) with satisfaction in academic advising. Originality/value - Self-enhancement theory suggests that those individuals with greater self-worth have greater affective need to feel satisfied. Increased self-worth is manifested in active roles of decision making and judgments about events that the individual experiences (Wells and Sweeney, 1986). Thus, self-worth is highly correlated with knowledge about an aspect. This study shows that knowledge is an important predictor to satisfaction - i. e. the higher the knowledge the more satisfied students are likely to be.