Importance‐performance analysis: a useful tool for directing continuous quality improvement in higher education

TLDR

Recent debate on service quality measures in higher education has focused too much on psychometric performance, neglecting their practical value for informing continuous quality improvement. The paper seeks to develop service quality measures that are both psychometrically robust and practically useful, urging educators to maintain focus on their role in continuous quality improvement. The authors critique disconfirmation models and employ importance‑performance analysis to assess students’ perceptions of quality. Importance‑performance analysis identifies specific shortcomings in support services and evaluates their significance for quality‑improvement initiatives.

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of service quality evaluation within the higher education sector and stresses the need to develop measures that are both psychometrically and practically sound. The paper argues that recent debate surrounding the development of such measures has been too strongly geared toward their psychometric performance, with little regard for their practical value. While the paper supports the need to develop valid, reliable and replicable measures of service quality, it is suggested that educators must not lose sight of the original purpose for which these measures were designed, i.e. their practical value in informing continuous quality improvement efforts. It critiques the use of disconfirmation models and reports on a study of students’ perceptions of quality using importance‐performance analysis (IPA). The technique allows specific failings in the quality of support issues to be identified and their importance to a quality improvement programme assessed.