English abstract
College students today are more sophisticated than in past years and are often exposed from an early age to a variety of dining experiences. Food service in the Sultan Qaboos University started in 1986 when the total number of students was 516 only. The current food service contractor is providing the food services since 1995. The number of students admitted to the University is continuously increasing year after year. However, as the need for catering services increases, student satisfaction and the quality of provided services become more vital.
The objectives of this study are to evaluate students' satisfaction on the quality of food services provided in the university dining facilities and to identify the most important attributes that affect their dining experience. The study uses the DINESERV model to measure students' perception of food service quality in SQU on the basis of five food service quality attributes: Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy. A questionnaire was designed by the use of a web-page technique and e-mailed to 2418 students whose ID number ends with a digit zero or a digit five. Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analysis was used to estimate the students' overall satisfaction with the service quality.
The questionnaire results show that 94 percent of the respondents indicated that they wish to have more than one catering company provide the food services in favor of a competitive environment. Around 65 percent of them preferred getting cash instead of having free meals. Above 20 percent of the respondents were not satisfied at all with the quality of food services. Speed of service, staff appearance, comfort of the dining area, and physical design and layout, were the most important factors influencing students' dining experience.
Results of the DINESERV model shows that all of the dimensions were significant at the 5 percent level except the attribute "Assurance". The highest impact attribute on the student overall satisfaction is "Empathy"; an increase of 1 percent in Empathy would lead to an increase in the overall students' satisfaction by almost 32 percent, whereas the attribute with the least impact is "Assurance"; a 1 percent improvement in "Assurance" would lead to a 12 percent increase in overall satisfaction. Gender code and group of student who gets 2 meals were incorporated in the OLS regression as dummy variables. The results revealed that there is no statistical difference, at the 5 percent level of significance, between male and female students, and between the numbers of meals each group gets, on the impact of overall satisfaction.
This study is among the first of its kind in the SQU. Its results help provide useful information to food service providers as well as client to develop and improve food services that meet students preferences.
