Abstract
Traditional avenues of accreditation, module review and teaching evaluations are not the only
ways to assess education service quality and related issues. In order to evaluate the education
service provided by a private university in Ireland, this investigation utilized an extension of
Cronin, Brady and Hult’s (2000) model examining the effects of quality, value and customer
satisfaction on customer intentions and behaviour. The model predicts that positive
perceptions of quality, value and satisfaction in relation to the education service encounter will
lead to positive word of mouth, and future intention to use the service again. The Arts
undergraduate student sample size was 260. The perception of a high price for the education
service provided did not translate to high service value, and service quality was only shown to
have an indirect effect on satisfaction, word of mouth behaviour and intentions to return to the
university. Despite a slight majority stating that the service quality was above average, and
the majority stating they were satisfied overall, only a minority indicated that they would use
the service again. The underlying reasons for and implications from these findings and others
are discussed.
