Job Readiness among Management Graduates. Role of Institutional and Instructional Quality

CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT EDUCATION
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Management Education in India
1.3 Management Education in Andhra Pradesh
1.4 Regulation of Management Education
1.5 Emerging Issues in Management Education
1.6 Chapter Structure

II. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Theoretical Foundation
2.2 Conceptual Definitions
2.3 Relationship between Service Quality and Student Satisfaction
2.4 Relationship between Service Quality, Engagement and Job Readiness
2.5 Models to measure Service Quality in Higher Education
2.6 Reviews on Service Quality in Higher Education Models
2.7 Dimensions of Service Quality in Higher Education
2.8 Conceptualization
2.9 Research Gap
2.10 Proposed Multi-Level Model
2.11 Problem Statement
2.12 Purpose Statement

III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Research Questions
3.3 Study Objectives
3.4 Hypothesized Conceptual Model
3.5 Research Design
3.6 Data Collection Mechanism
3.7 Data Analysis Mechanism
3.8 Structural Equation Modeling

IV. HiEdInstaQual SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION
4.1 Introduction
4.2 HiEdInstaQual Scale Development Process
4.3 Phase 1 Construct Development
4.4 Phase 2 Theoretical Model Development
4.5 Model Reliability and Assessment
4.6 Model Validity Assessment
4.7 Phase 3 Model Confirmation
4.8 Confirmatory Factor Analysis
4.9 First Order Measurement Model
4.10 Second Order Measurement Model
4.11 Conclusion

V. InstrcuQual SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Phase 1 Construct Development
5.3 Phase 2 Theoretical Model Development
5.4 Model Reliability and Assessment
5.5 Model Validity Assessment
5.6 Phase 3 Model Confirmation
5.7 Confirmatory Factor Analysis
5.8 First Order Measurement Model
5.9 Second Order Measurement Model
5.10 Conclusion

VI. STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Individual CFA for each Variable
6.3 CFA for Student Job Readiness Construct
6.4 First Order Measurement Model of Student Job Readiness
6.5 Reliability and Validity of Student Job Readiness Construct
6.6 Second Order Measurement Model
6.7 CFA for Student Job Readiness Construct
6.8 CFA for Student Academic Engagement Construct
6.9 Research Measurement Model Development
6.10 Structural Models Development
6.11 Structural Relationships Assessment
6.12 Hypotheses Test Results

VII. RESULT DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Result Discussion
7.3 Implications
7.4 Research Contribution
7.5 Limitations
7.6 Directions for Future Research
7.7 Conclusion

Appendices
Bibliography
Research Questionnaire
Research Publications

PREFACE

The education system in India has undergone a sea change from the date of Independence and emerged as one of the largest systems in the world with more than 900 universities and 35,500 colleges out of which 115 universities and 5672 institutions run various management disciplines and more than 12 million students are on their rolls and half a million teachers teach in the management institutions. As a result of the wave of Privatization, the Education System in India shifted from government-funded institutions to private institutions. The Central and State Governments have been supporting the students in the form of financial assistance. But, comparatively, with the world standards, the potentiality of existing Private Management colleges in India and Andhra Pradesh is found to be poor.

Based on the requirements of the industry, educational institutions are supposed to facilitate required facilities like libraries, laboratories, advanced teaching facilities, and practical job-related facilities for the students. Teacher abilities and expertise in inspiring and motivating the student to achieve better outcomes is the next important aspect to be looked upon. Teachers are supposed to instruct and direct the students to perform qualitatively in academics and in attaining their job skills. And finally, the student's personal characteristics like self-interest, career aspiration, engagement and involvement are also important to achieve better results. As Indian higher educational institutes, more particularly the Management colleges in the private sector, are poor in these lines, students are not getting equipped properly and placed in the industries to the extent it actually needs. Hence, the present book is an effort that has been taken up to develop the scales for measuring the institutional quality and instructional quality of the teachers and assessing the impact of these factors on the student satisfaction and engagement which may lead to job readiness of the student. The book is handy for the management-educational institutions to improve the institutional and instructional quality and also to observe the student's level of job readiness.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are thankful to the authorities of Yogi Vemana University and Especially to Prof. M. Surya Kalavathi, the Hon'ble Vice Chancellor and Prof. G. Samba Siva Reddy, Principal, for their co-operation and encouragement in the successful completion of the thesis on time.

We offer our sincere thanks to Prof. S. Raghunatha Reddy, Vice Principal, Dean, Faculty of Commerce, Management & Law, Prof. Talluru. Sreenivas, Chairman, BOS, Department of Business Management, Yogi Vemana University and Dr. S Subba Reddy, Assistant Professor, Coordinator, Department of Business Management, Yogi Vemana University.

We have great pleasure to express our gratitude to Dr. P.V. Varaprabhakar, Dr. S.V. Subba Reddy, Dr. Amruth Prasad Reddy, Dr P. Saritha and Dr. B. Gangaiah, faculty members of the Department of Business Management, Yogi Vemana University, for providing us with all the necessary facilities and support to complete our research work in time.

We would like to sincerely thank Prof. B. Rajashekhar, Dean of the School of Management Studies, University of Hyderabad, Prof. D. Pradeep Kumar, MITS, Madanapalle, Prof. Noor Basha, Skill Development Centre, AN University, Guntur, Dr. Battu Nagaraju, Associate Professor, AN University, Guntur and Dr. M Venkateshwarlu, Director, Indian institute of economics, Hyderabad

We express our sincere thanks to Mr. M. Ravindra Kumar, Assistant General Manager, Bharathi Cements Ltd., Kadapa, Mr. B. Sampath Kumar, Team Lead, Adobe Systems, Bangalore, Mr. M. Raghava Reddy, Freelance Trainer and Mr. G. Somesh, Assistant Manager (HR), Reliance Jio Info comm Ltd, Chittoor.

We express our heartfelt thanks to the student respondents for their co-operation while collecting the information. We thank the staff of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Anantapur, Sri Venkatewara University, Tirupati, Acharya Nagarjuna University, Guntur, Krishna University, JNTU Kakinada and Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.

Specially, to all our friends, thank you for your understanding and encouragement in many, many moments of crisis. Your friendship makes our life a wonderful experience. We cannot list all the names here, but you are always in our minds.

LIST OF TABLES

I. INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT EDUCATION
Table 1.1 History of Management Education in India
Table 1.2 Trend of Management Educational Institutions in India
Table 1.3 AICTE Approved Institutes- Management Stream
Table 1.4 AICTE Approved Institutes and Students Enrolment in Andhra Pradesh
Table 1.5 University wise student intake and enrolment
Table 1.6 District wise Colleges of Management Stream

II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Table 2.1 Dimensions of Service Quality in Higher Education

III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Table 3.1 Total Population
Table 3.2 Targeted Population and Sample Size of the study
Table 3.3 Sample Distribution across Universities
Table 3.4 Model Fit Measure and Threshold Ranges

IV. HiEdInstaQual SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION
Table 4.1 Demographic Profile of the Student Respondents
Table 4.2 List of Generated Items for the Study
Table 4.3 Institutional Quality Items
Table 4.4 Item Statistics of the Measurement Items
Table 4.5 KMO and Bartlett's Test
Table 4.6 Communalities
Table 4.7 Total Variance Explained
Table 4.8 Factor Structure Matrix
Table 4.9 Results of Factor Analysis Structure Matrix
Table 4.10 Labelling of Factor Analysis Structure Matrix
Table 4.11 Reliability Analysis for Factor 1 Curriculum Design
Table 4.12 Reliability Analysis for Factor 2 Teaching Practices
Table 4.13 Reliability Analysis for Factor 5 Career Support Services
Table 4.14 Reliability Analysis for Factor 3 Learning Resources
Table 4.15 Reliability Analysis for Factor 4 Administrative Services
Table 4.16 Reliability Analysis for Factor 6 Infrastructural Facilities
Table 4.17 Theoretical Model Convergent Validity
Table 4.18 Theoretical Model Discriminant Validity
Table 4.19 Criterion Validity
Table 4.20 Data Normality Assessment
Table 4.21 Data Linearity Assessment
Table 4.22 Collinearity Statistics
Table 4.23 Fit indices for Curriculum Design
Table 4.24 CFA Results of Curriculum Design
Table 4.25 Fit Indices of Teaching Practices Factor
Table 4.26 CFA Results of Teaching Practices
Table 4.27 Fit Indices of Career Support Services Factor
Table 4.28 CFA Results of Career Support Services
Table 4.29 Fit Indices of Learning Resources Factor
Table 4.30 CFA Results of Learning Resources
Table 4.31 Fit Indices of Administrative Services Factor
Table 4.32 CFA Results of Administrative Services
Table 4.33 Fit Indices of Infrastructure Facilities Factor
Table 4.34 CFA Results of Infrastructure Facilities
Table 4.35 Model Fit of HiEdInstaQual First Order Measurement Model
Table 4.36 Convergent Validity
Table 4.37 Discriminant validity
Table 4.38 Criterion Validity
Table 4.39 Nomological Validity
Table 4.40 Results of the Second Order HiEdInstaQual CFA Model
Table 4.41 Model Fit Indices

V. InstrcuQual SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION
Table 5.1 List of generated items for the study
Table 5.2 Initial Instructional Quality Items
Table 5.3 Item Statistics of the Measurement Items
Table 5.4 Test of Normality
Table 5.5 Communalities
Table 5.6 Total Variance Explained
Table 5.7 Factor Structure Matrix
Table 5.8 Interpretation of Structure Matrix
Table 5.9 Labelling of Factor Analysis Structure Matrix
Table 5.10 Reliability Analysis for Factor 1 Teacher Quality
Table 5.11 Reliability Analysis for Factor 2 Teaching Content Quality
Table 5.12 Reliability Analysis for Factor 3 Classroom Management
Table 5.13 Reliability Analysis for Factor 4 Academic Support
Table 5.14 Reliability Analysis for Factor 5 Student Evaluation Practices
Table 5.15 Theoretical Model Convergent Validity
Table 5.16 Theoretical Model Discriminant Validity
Table 5.17 Criterion-related Validity
Table 5.18 Consolidated Factor Matrix
Table 5.19 Assessment of Normality
Table 5.20 Assessment of Data Linearity
Table 5.21 Collinearity Statistics
Table 5.22 Fit indices for Teacher Quality
Table 5.23 CFA Results of Teacher Quality
Table 5.24 Fit Indices of Teaching Content Quality
Table 5.25 CFA Results of Teaching Content Quality
Table 5.26 Fit Indices of Classroom Management
Table 5.27 CFA Results of Classroom Management
Table 5.28 Fit Indices of Academic Support
Table 5.29 CFA Results of Academic Support
Table 5.30 Fit Indices of Student Evaluation Practices
Table 5.31 CFA Results of Student Evaluation Practices
Table 5.32 Model Fit of InstructQual First Order Measurement Model
Table 5.33 Convergent Validity
Table 5.34 Discriminant validity
Table 5.35 Criterion Validity
Table 5.36 Nomological Validity
Table 5.37 Second Order Measurement Model
Table 5.38 Model Fit Indices

VI. STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING
Table 6.1 Job Readiness Items
Table 6.2 Job Readiness Fit Indices
Table 6.3 First Order Measurement Model Results of Job Readiness
Table 6.4 Construct Validity of Student Job Readiness Model
Table 6.5 Discriminant Validity of Student Job Readiness Construct
Table 6.6 Fit Indices of Second Order Measurement Model
Table 6.7 Results of the Second Order Job Readiness CFA Model
Table 6.8 Fit Indices of Student Satisfaction
Table 6.9 CFA Results of Student Satisfaction
Table 6.10 Fit Indices of Student Engagement
Table 6.11 CFA Results of Student Engagement
Table 6.12 AMOS Results for Measurement Model
Table 6.13 Model Summary of Latent Constructs
Table 6.14 Model Fit Summary of Direct Model InstaQual
Table 6.15 Model Fit Summary of Direct Model InstructQual
Table 6.16 Model Fit Summary of Satisfaction Model
Table 6.17 Model Fit Summary of Engagement
Table 6.18 Model Fit Summary of Indirect Model
Table 6.19 Model Fit Summary of Research Model
Table 6.20 Amos Results for the Research Model
Table 6.21 Direct Effects
Table 6.22 Indirect Effects
Table 6.23 Hypotheses Test Results

LIST OF FIGURES

I. INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT EDUCATION
Figure 1.1 Growth of Management Colleges in India
Figure 1.2 UGC Approves Institutes with Intake & Enrolled
Figure 1.3 State wise AICTE Approved Institutes for Management
Figure 1.4 AICTE Approved Institutes and Students enrolment in AP
Figure 1.5 University wise student intake and enrolment
Figure 1.6 District wise Colleges of Management Stream
Figure 1.7 District wise colleges of Management stream
Figure 1.8 Thesis Structure

II. LITERATURE REVIEW
Figure 2.1 SERVQUAL Gap Model
Figure 2.2 Performance Model of Service Quality
Figure 2.3 Higher Education Excellence Model
Figure 2.4 Student Cantered Model of Service Quality in Higher Education
Figure 2.5 SQM-HEI Model
Figure 2.6 InstaQual Direct Model
Figure 2.7 InstructQual Direct Model
Figure 2.8 Satisfaction Model
Figure 2.9 Engagement Model
Figure 2.10 Indirect Model
Figure 2.11 Research Model

III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Figure 3.1 Conceptual Model
Figure 3.2 Study Area
Figure 3.3 Target Population of the Study
Figure 3.4 Data Analysis Process

IV. HiEdInstaQual SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION
Figure 4.1 Phases in the Scale Development of HiEdInstaQual
Figure 4.2 Stages in the theoretical model development of HiEdInstaQual
Figure 4.3 Cattell's Scree Plot for Factor Extraction
Figure 4.4 Scatter Plot- Homoscedasticity
Figure 4.5 Stages in the Confirmatory Factor Analysis of HiEdInstaQual
Figure 4.6 CFA Model for Curriculum Design Dimension
Figure 4.7 CFA model Teaching Practices Dimension
Figure 4.8 Modified CFA model Teaching Practices Dimension
Figure 4.9 CFA model of Career Support Services Dimension
Figure 4.10 Modified CFA model of Career Support Services Dimension
Figure 4.11 CFA Model Learning Resources Dimension
Figure 4.12 CFA Model of Administrative Services Dimension
Figure 4.13 CFA model Infrastructure Facilities Dimension
Figure 4.14 Hypothesized CFA Model for HiEdInstaQual
Figure 4.15 CFA Model Fit for HiEdInstaQual
Figure 4.16 CFA model Academic Facilities Dimension

V. InstrcuQual SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION
Figure 5.1 Phases in the Scale Development of InstructQual
Figure 5.2 Stages in the theoretical model development of InstructQual
Figure 5.3 Cattell's Scree Plot for Factor Extraction
Figure 5.4 Scatter Plot
Figure 5.5 Stages in the Confirmatory Factor Analysis of InstructQual
Figure 5.6 CFA Model for Teacher Quality Dimension
Figure 5.7 CFA Model Teaching Content Quality Dimension
Figure 5.8 CFA Model Classroom Management Dimension
Figure 5.9 CFA Model Academic Support
Figure 5.10 CFA Model of Student Evaluation Practices Dimension
Figure 5.11 CFA Model fit for InstructQual
Figure 5.12 CFA Model fit for InstructQual
Figure 5.13 CFA Model for InstructQual

VI. STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING
Figure 6.1 Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Process
Figure 6.2 Job Readiness First Order Measurement Model
Figure 6.3 Second Order Measurement model
Figure 6.4 CFA Model of Student Satisfaction
Figure 6.5 CFA Model of Student Engagement
Figure 6.6 CFA model of Latent Constructs
Figure 6.7 Structural Model of Direct Model InstaQual
Figure 6.8 Structural model of Direct Model InstructQual
Figure 6.9 Structural Model of Satisfaction Model
Figure 6.10 Structural model of Engagement Model
Figure 6.11 CFA Results of Student Engagement
Figure 6.12 AMOS Results for Measurement Model

List of Abbreviations

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List of Appendices

1. HiEdInstaQual Scale

2. InstructQual Scale

CHAPTER-I INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Management education has gained a real impetus due to the liberalization and globalization. Internationalization of labour market, commodity market and capital market created incredible opportunities for all by offering choices at the competitive prices, raising quality of life and aspirations, expanding service sector and providing decent employment to millions of management graduates. The explosion in number of management colleges/institutions during 1990s and 2000s put the management education in a horrendous condition and exposed to a unique crisis in the contemporary scenario. Many aspects of Business education such as quality of MBA aspirants, curriculum, business research, quality of research publications, industry-institute interface, placements, career development trajectory of alumni, diversity among faculty as well as students, governance and accountability, etc. are in perilous condition. it has become really a challenging task for the industry to get the right type and number of employable graduates (Jones, 2013).

1.2 MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN INDIA

In India, management education has made significant growth since its inception in 18th century yet it has been experiencing many fluctuations and changes during 21st Century. The Indian management education is largely derived from western thought, preparation and execution and occasionally from Indian shastras, epics and practices and emerged as a separate discipline from early basic disciplines of philosophy, psychology, economics, and commerce (Kumar and Dash, 2011). The liberalization,

privatization and globalization has changed the traditional look of management education by incorporating some advanced and efficient professional approaches. Based on the industry demands, the new age courses are being introduced to bring up the economic and social value. (Kaul Natashaa, 2011). A wide variety of functional areas like operations, supply chain management, retail, International business and information technology etc are also included in the management education. It has become most sought-after education today for students, parents, and business community (Agarwal and Pawan, 2006).

1.2.1 Structure of Management Education

The management education structure comprises six different types of Institutions (Bowonder and Rao. 2005) such as:

1. Government of India (GoI) set up Indian Institutions of Management studies (IIMs).
2. Departments of Management Studies of state and central Universities
3. University affiliated Colleges (Government or private)
4. AICTE approved government institutions and private institutions.
5. Private management institutions which are not affiliate universities or private colleges which do not approved by AICTE.
6. Indian Private Management institutions run in collaboration with foreign universities.

1.2.2 Growth of Management Education

Management education in India formally began in 1953 at the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management (IISWBM) -the first B-School established by Government of West Bengal and Kolkata University. But, before launching of IISWBM, Tata Institute of Social Sciences and Xavier Labour Research Institute started management training programmes in the years 1936 and 1949 respectively followed by Delhi University (1955), Madras University (1955), Bombay University (1955) and Andhra University (1957). A few other institutions like Administrative Staff College of India Hyderabad (1956), All India Management Association (1957), and National Productivity Council (1958) were established to promote excellence in management practices, research and education (Rakesh Khurana and Nohria, 2008).

TABLE-1.1 History of Management Education in India

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The establishment of IITs in India has paved a way to launch similar institutions in the field of management education and at first; Indian Institute of Management Kolkata (IIMC) has taken its birth in 1961. Later, Indian Institute of Management Ahmadabad (IIMA) was established in 1962 followed by Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) in 1973 and Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIML) in 1984.

Responding to the large demand and with the inspiration of IIMs, many universities started management education during 1960 and 1980. In 1964 Cochin University of Science and Technology and Osmania Universities launched the management course followed by Allahabad University (1965), Punjab University (1968), Banaras Hindu University (1968), University of Pune (1974), Kurukshetra University (1978) etc. Later on, many state universities also have joined the queue (Mahajan, 2015).

TABLE-1.2 Trend of Management Educational Institutions in India

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A sea change can be observed in management educational institutions after 1991. Because of privatization, industrial sector has taken its maximum speed in establishing new business units, which raised the demand for management executives too. As a result, the demand for management educational institutions is elevated and number of institutions came in to existence. Now, almost all the universities in the country are offering management education as full time or part time MBA program (Sridhar, 2015). Table 1.2 shows the trend and growth of management colleges over the years.

FIGURE 1.1 Growth of Management Colleges in India

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It can be understood from the Figure 1.1 that until 87-88 there were only 87 colleges. But, during 97-98 an aggressive growth can be seen in the number of colleges. The growth was continued till 2011-12. There were 1052 colleges in 2004-05 and increased to 2262 colleges by the end of 2009-10. The highest number of colleges were observed in the year 2012-13 where the number of colleges were 3882. From there it started to decrease and reached to 3120 in 2018-19. The entry of the private sector into management education can be a prime reason for mushrooming of management education colleges in the country

1.2.3. Enrollment

The basic nature of Management education is professional in structure and skillful in design. The student enrollment status of management institutions in India is presented in Table 1.3

TABLE-1.3 AICTE Approved Institutes Management Stream

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Source: AICTE Annual Report 2019

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(Source: AICTE Report, 2019)

Table-1.3 shows status of AICTE approved technical institutes from the year 2012-13 to 2018-19 with respect to student's intake and enrollment. It can be observed that from 2012-13 the number institutions and total intake was in declining mode. The number of colleges was 3,882 in the year 2012-13 and has fallen to 3,120 in the year 2018-19. Student intake is also showing the same trend. Total number of student intake in the country was 4, 44,487 in the year 2012-13 and plunged to 3, 72,579 by the end of 2018-19. The student enrollment in the year 2012-13 was 2, 37,571 and it reached to 2, 50,651 by the end of 2015-16 and started declining and came down to 2, 36,413 in the year 2018-19.

1.2.4 State Wise Management Colleges

There are 3120 management colleges offering management programme in different universities in India by the end of the year 2018-19(AICTE, 2019). State-Wise spread of management colleges is presented in Figure 1.3.

FIGURE-1.3 State wise AICTE Approved Institutes for Management

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Source: AICTE Annual Report 2019

It can be noticed from the data that among all the states Uttar Pradesh is at top in terms of number of MBA colleges in both private and government sectors with 426 colleges followed by Maharashtra with 370, Tamil Nadu with 368 and Telangana with 361 colleges. Andhra Pradesh is the fifth largest state in the country with 346 colleges (AICTE Annual Report 2019).

1.3 MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN ANDHRA PRADESH

Attention towards technical education was very weak during the British Regime. After Independence and formation of Andhra Pradesh as a separate state in 1956, the technical education started growing. Andhra University started management education for the first time in India in 1957 but the growth was very slow until 1980. The number of Institutions was not increased as per the demand in the state. Most of the students were migrating to other states for Management Education. With the introduction of LPG policy in India in 1991, things have started changing rapidly and tremendous expansion in number of management courses offering colleges in Andhra Pradesh can be observed. Even after bifurcation of the state into Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2014 Andhra Pradesh stands as the fifth largest state in the country in number of MBA colleges (Rao and Rao, 2014).

TABLE 1.4 AICTE Approved Institutes and Students Enrolment in Andhra Pradesh

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Source: AICTE Annual Report 2019

FIGURE-1.4 AICTE Approved Institutes and Students enrolment in AP

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(Source: AICTE Report, 2019)

AICTE approved institutions along with student intake and enrollment over the years is portrayed in table 1.4. There were about 3,120 Management Course offering colleges in India for the year 2018-19 out of which Andhra Pradesh registered 346 colleges representing 12.20 per cent. As for as intake is concerned, about 2,35,073 MBA seats exist in the country and about 28,455 seats in Andhra Pradesh alone, representing about 12.03 per cent of the total seats. From the academic year 2015-16 a declining trend can be observed in number of institutions and total intake.

1.3.1 Universities in Andhra Pradesh

In the state of Andhra Pradesh all most all the universities are offering MBA programme at present. Starting from Andhra University, the oldest university which started MBA program, till the Dr.Abdulhaq Urdu University, Kurnool, and the latest one established in the year 2016, all the universities are offering MBA programme.

TABLE-1.5 University wise student intake and enrollment

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(Source: AICTE Report, 2019)

FIGURE-1.5 University wise student intake and enrollment

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Source: AICTE Annual Report 2019

Table 1.5 presents the present status of AICTE approved universities and affiliated colleges in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Kakinada and Anantapur have the maximum number of affiliated colleges in Andhra Pradesh. Sri Venkateswara University was partaking 34 colleges while, AdikaviNannaya University 25 colleges, Acharya Nagarjuna University 19 colleges, Andhra University 18 colleges and Sri Krishnadevraya University 17 colleges on their names.

Table 1.6 presents the district wise number of colleges offering management education.

TABLE-1.6 District wise Colleges of Management Stream

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(Source: AICTE Report, 2019)

FIGURE-1.6 District wise No of Colleges of Management Stream

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Source: AICTE Annual Report 2019

District wise distribution of management colleges across the state of Andhra Pradesh is presented in table 1.5. Among all the 13 districts, Chittoor district stood at first place in setting up of MBA colleges with a total number of 45 (13. 01 per cent) MBA colleges. Next to Chittoor is Guntur with 42 colleges (12.14 per cent) and Krishna with 39 colleges (11.27 per cent) leading in the state. Srikakulam and Vizianagaram were the two districts where the number of colleges are below seven.

1.4 REGULATION OF MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

All India Council for Technical Education was set up in 1945 as an apex body under the ministry of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India to promote and develop the technical education in an integrated manner. Regulation of Management education began in 1987 when management education was taken as part of the technical education. AICTE helped in regulating the B-Schools in terms of governance, accountability, transparency in admission and program administration, infrastructure, students-faculty ratio, curriculum, library, laboratories etc., it also provides grant-in-aid for organizing seminars, conferences, faculty development programs, setting up of entrepreneurship development cell, institute-industry interface cell (Jagadeesh, 2000).

1.5 EMERGING ISSUES AND CONCERNS IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

MBA course was developed with the objective of building up the intellectual abilities among the students for managing or executing the commercial enterprises effectively. In practice, this objective is being given less priority and commercialization has been appeared in all most all the business schools.

1.5.1 Employability

Management Education is now under a confused stage of identifying the kind of approach to be adopted for more employability options for its students. The basic purpose of any Business School is to impart the business aptitude and other related skills required for the industry but, an institution imparting these skills in not found in many private unaided colleges and in some of the state and central universities too. Getting employment is a big task and questionable with MBA certificate. Reasons for dilution of quality in management education may be due to increased number of colleges, lack of qualified and skilled faculty members and infrastructural facilities, poor control and regulation from universities or AICTE or interference of political leaders in university administration etc., (Kumar, M. and Jha, S., 2012)

1.5.2 Industry Institute Interaction

To provide better or innovative teaching, industry expected skills among the management graduates and for better employment opportunities, industry institute interaction is essential. Interpersonal and intellectual skills; corporate relevant competencies and organizational behavior can be possible through the industry Institute interaction only. Teaching through case analysis i.e. taking actual problems from the industry, by inviting the industry personnel to the institute, will help the students to understand the real time problems. Presently, this method of teaching is seen in IIMs and some premier business schools only. This is a serious issue but not taken care of by many institutes.

1.5.3 Lack of vision

Many private colleges in India viewed the education as a business and source of minting profits by filling their seats mindlessly. The ASSOCHAM study shows that after spending 3 to 5 Lacs on an MBA course, only 10 to 12 % of the students are employable and are able to draw (excluding students from top 20 schools) a salary of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month. Institutes are failing in producing industry expected students. If it continues for longer period industries become dry in terms of human resources (Mahajan, Agrawal, Sharma and Nangia, 2016).

1.5.4 Quality and Development of Faculty

An important crisis that all the management institutes face at present is lack of qualified, skilled and experienced faculty members. When the B schools failed to avail right type of faculty member, the available teachers should be trained properly. Hence, it has now become essential to provide teachers some sort of training for their development at regular intervals. Otherwise quality teaching becomes a mirage in the institutes. Selection of faculty at management institutes should be done by checking whether the faculty has gathered degrees in multiple disciplines through easy routes or has the required knowledge in real terms. An article in LiveMint professes that faculty should be rated on the basis of cases developed, joint research projects, consultancy assignments (Hundekar, Hugar, Hyderabad, &Shollapur, 2001).

1.5.5 Quality of Institutional Facilities

Many colleges are running with meagre facilities within the management schools. The required infrastructural facilities like library, laboratories are meager in most of the colleges which is a major concern for the student to equip with the industry required skills. The current curriculum in management education does not equip students to face the challenges in business environment. How to manage uncertainty and complexity are not taught in business schools. It merely teaches the concepts with case studies. It does not focus on the challenges arising out of rapid growing technology and the challenges involved in running an enterprise (Mahajan, R., 2020).

1.5.6 Regulation, Accreditation & Rating

Management education is one of the emerging issues in Indian education system. It has a unique identity and recognition. Due to commercialization of education it is losing its sanctity and has taken a” u “turn from service orientation to business orientation. AICTE as an apex body to control and regulate the business management schools, has to frame rules and design a foolproof structure and needs to be practicing the same in letter and spirit. The accreditation also has to be fair, transparent, independent as well as ruthless. The rapid growth in number of management institutes require a specialized body rather than the all-encompassing AICTE to carry out accreditation. In fact, a council, exclusively for management education, is required for the process of accreditation & recognition. Rating is to be given based on quality of Teachers, Research projects, rate of employment, infrastructure facilities etc., (Rao and Rao, 2014)

1.6 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS

The structure and organization of the thesis is logically planned to present essence of research work. A total of seven chapters are designed such as:

Chapter-I Introduction

Initially the chapter covers the overview of Management Education in India, and Andhra Pradesh.

Chapter-II Literature Review

This chapter highlighted the literature and conceptualization on the study variables i.e. Institutional Quality, Instructional Quality, Student Satisfaction, Student Academic Engagement and Student Job Readiness. Research gap, problem statement is outlined after a thorough literature review.

FIGURE 1.8 Thesis Structure

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Chapter III -Research Methodology

This Chapter specified the research questions raised for the study and conceptual model along with the hypotheses. Research design, research methods used in the study, Sample distribution, and justification of the sample size and a brief description of statistical techniques used are also covered.

Chapter IV -HiEdInstaQual Scale Development

This chapter deals with development and validation of a multi-dimensional scale namely HiEdInstaQual. The development of the factor structure through exploratory factor analysis and confirmation of the factor structure through confirmatory factor analysis is carried on.

Chapter V -InstructQual Scale Development

This chapter deals with development and validation of one more scale namely, InstructQual, to measure the instructional quality of the teachers working in MBA colleges. The development of the factor structure through exploratory factor analysis and confirmation of the factor structure through confirmatory factor analysis is also carried on in this chapter

Chapter VI - Structural Model Development and Student Job Readiness

This chapter covers the structural model development and reliability and validity of the model. Testing of formulated hypotheses are also covered in this chapter.

Chapter VII - Discussions and Conclusions

This chapter presented discussions on the study findings. Objective wise findings and discussions; and implications and Conclusions are covered.

REFERENCES

Agarwal, Pawan (2006), “Higher Education in India-The Need for Change”, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, New Delhi, Working Paper No. 180. June, 2006.

AICTE Annual Report (2019), Annual Report, All India Council for Technical Education, 2019, Retrieved from https://facilities.aicte- india.org/dashboard/pages/dashboardaicte.php

Bowonder, B. and Rao, S.L., (2004), “Management Education in India: Its evolution and some Contemporary Issues”, AIMA/CMA Report on Management Education, AIMA/CMA,New Delhi, Retrieved July 25, 2011, from http://www.aimaind.org/pdf/ Director Conclave_ 9_ Paper. pdf.

Hundekar, S., Hugar, S., Hyderabad, R., & Shollapur, M. (2001). Challenges Before Business Education in India. Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors.

Jones, Elspeth. (2013). Internationalization and employability: The role of intercultural experiences in the development of transferable skills. Public Money & Management. 33. 10.1080/09540962.2013.763416.

Kaul Natashaa (2011), Management Education in India - A case study, Asian Journal of Management Research, ISSN 2229 - 3795, Volume 2 Issue 1, 2011, http://www.ipublishing.co.in/ajmrvol1no1/voltwo/EIJMRS2046.pdf

Khurana, R. and Nohria, N. (2008) ‘It's time to make management a true profession', Harvard Business Review, Vol. 86, No. 10, pp.70-77.

Kumar, M. and Jha, S. (2012) ‘Revitalising management education in India: a strategic approach', Journal of Management and Public Policy, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp.5-17.

Kumar, S., and M. K. Dash, (2011), “Management Education in India: Trends, Issues and Implications”, Research Journal of International Studies, Vol.18, January 2011.

Mahajan, R (2015), India's Management Education Growth Story: A Retrospect, AIMA Journal of Management and Research, Vol 9, Issue 2, Retrieved from https://apps.aima.in/ejournal_new/articlesPDF/2%20Ritika%20Mahajan.pdf

Mahajan, R. (2020), "Sustainability of Indian management education institutions: Perspectives from leaders in academia", International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 613-626. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-02-2019-0093

Mahajan, R., Agrawal, R., Sharma, V. and Nangia, V.K. (2016), “Analysis of challenges for management education in India using total interpretive structural modelling”, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 36-49.

Rao CVG and Rao V, (2014), Management education in Andhra Pradesh, Doctoral dissertation submitted to Acharya Nagarjuna University, Available on Shodhganga, AP, Retrieved from https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/188149

Sridhar. K, (2015). Past, Present and Future of Management Education in India. International Journal of Business and Administration Research Review. 19. 143-148.

CHAPTER-II LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides the general review of the relevant literature available on the service quality of management education and its impact on various factors. The purpose of this study is to explore the service quality of management education in select institutions from the student perspective. Literature related to conceptual definitions of study variables, institutional service quality, instructional quality, student satisfaction, engagement and student job readiness models and theories of measuring institutional service quality and the approach in measuring service quality proposed by different quality gurus are briefly reviewed.

2.1 INTRODUCTIONTO THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

A theory is a set of interrelated constructs (concepts), definitions, and propositions that present a systematic view of phenomena by specifying relations among variables, with the purpose of explaining and predicting the phenomena (Kerlinger& Lee, 2000). Swanson (2013) clearly emphasizes that the theoretical framework is the structure that can hold or support a theory of a research study. The theoretical framework comprises conceptual definitions, theories, models, dimensions and relationships among the concepts or constructs.

2.2 CONCEPTUAL DEFINITIONS

To understand the concept of service quality better, discussion of its components, i.e. service and quality is required.

2.2.1 Service

Service is intangible compared with substantial products, heterogeneous, unable to be kept in stock, produced, and consumed at the same time. A broadly accepted definition of service is projected by (Gronroos, 2000) as “A service is a process consisting of a series of more or less intangible activities that normally, but not necessarily always, takes place in interactions between the customer and service employees and/or physical resources or goods and/or systems of the service provider, which are provided as solutions to customer problems.” This definition showed that service is a process where communications between customer and service provider generally stay alive. Therefore, from a service point of view, there is always an association between customer and service provider; such association can be used as a tool for marketing.

2.2.2 Quality

Quality looks differ with definition and understanding. Many eminent scholars defined it differently. Crosby (1979) and Gilmore (1974) focused on the customer requirement and defined quality as conformation to specification. Deming (1988), Feigenbaum (1983) and Ishikawa (1985) concentrated on customer satisfaction towards the physical product or service. They proposed quality as products or services which are intended to satisfy the need and expectation of the customer. Juran (1988) said that quality is the combination of both customer specification and satisfaction. Gronroos (1984), Parasuraman&Zeithaml (1985) definition on quality is ‘meeting or exceeding the customer expectation'. Quality of education is the important aspect to be maintained by the educational institutions. Either in the case of primary, secondary, higher education or in professional institutions sustenance of quality should not be missed. Educational institutions are philanthropic in nature and serve the society by producing qualitative students. But, today they have changed as business concerns and the managements weigh the institution in terms of profits. When the institution is not viable in terms of revenue, automatically the quality of that institution declines. So, educational institutes may be treated as service business organisations. If they provide quality education or maintain quality in institution, there will be more demand to that institution and the revenue of that institution maximizes otherwise running of the institution becomes tough. Hence, assessing the quality in institutions has become important in the present-day education. Management Institutions offering MBA course are not exceptional to this equation.

2.2.3 Service Quality (SQ)

Service quality concept experiences sequential development and continual up gradation due to pool of knowledgebase provided by the findings of studies conducted by the researchers and practitioners in the last few decades. The origin of the service quality concept is traced back to 1980s when the prime importance of the marketers was to serve the customers with improved quality of the products or services (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985).

Gronroos (1982) emphasized on consumers' expectations and perceptions of the service to give a conceptual clarity and practical insights of service quality. According to Gronroos service quality is the difference between the expected service and perceived service. Lewis and Blooms (1983) defined service quality as “a measure of how well the delivered service matches customers' expectations. Delivering quality service means constantly adhering to customers' expectations. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) defined service quality as the difference between consumer's predicted service and perceived service. If expectations are greater than perception, then perceived service quality is falling below to satisfactory and if expectations are less than the perception, then perceived service quality is above to satisfactory. Service quality is the outcome of “one to one interaction between customer and provider” (Brown, Churchill & Peter, 1993). According to Asubonteng, McCleary, & Swan (1996) service quality is the difference between customer's prior expectation relating to the service performance and perception developed after encountering delivery of the service.

2.2.4 Institutional Service Quality (IQ) in Management Education

Various studies are carried on service quality in different sectors like retailing, healthcare, banking, communication and transport. Institutional service quality in higher education is the central facet of educational distinction and human capital. In higher education, Institutional quality is defined as the ability to satisfy internal and external expectations through a combination of inputs, processes, and output of the education system, thereby meeting student's explicit and implicit expectations (Cheng, Siu, & T.K., 1995). Institutional quality in education is associated with the institutional success in providing the learnable environment which allows the student to accomplish his educational goals and academic standards (Gordon &Partigon, 1993).

According to Lovelock (2001), education is an intangible service which is offered by an institution through a process of high personal interaction, yet with low customization and is perceived in the mind of their customer through a process of continuous delivery. The student being the ultimate stakeholder and end product of an institution, service quality in higher education institutes is reflected by the satisfaction of its students. Institutional Service quality in management education needs a different perspective because management education requires a different type of service environment. Location of the institution and infrastructure are also the most important factors for students (Mahajan, 2015).

2.2.5 Teacher Instructional Quality (TIQ)

Instruction or teaching is the second most important factor which influences the student. Instruction means the functions or activities which are having a close relation with classroom teaching. It is the teachers' knowledge, skills, and abilities in teaching students effectively particularly in the classroom setting. Teachers' Instructional quality plays an important role in nurturing students to become worthy citizens of the country. A teacher should be the one who updates himself and adopts innovative pedagogy in imparting knowledge to students. A single line definition by Marsh (1982) is that the teacher effectiveness is called as instructional quality. Biddle (1964) defined instructional quality as the abilities of a teacher to crop the standard educational results among the students. Instructional quality is not only the academic credentials of the teacher but also the ability to bring up his perspectives into the classroom and the instructional strategies in making the student effective learner (Heck, 2007).

Carey, Grainger& Christie (2018) revealed that apart from the certified academic qualifications, a teacher should have logical functions, psychological functions and moral functions. Logical functions include deep demonstration, content elevation and clear explanation etc. psychological functions include care and concern of the teacher towards student like motivation, reward and coercive activities. Finally, moral functions of teacher include respect, compassion and honesty etc.

Mishra (2003) pointed out that management teacher should be an inspirer and not mere an instructor. He stated that his job is not only to impart knowledge of concepts, techniques and skills but also to inculcate the students a sense of responsibility towards the nation at large.

Vernal Louis's (2002) study on quality in education reveals that teaching is not transferring bookish knowledge to students but providing the work pertinent experience and thoughts to enable students to evolve as professionals. Student perception on Instructional Quality is assessed mainly with the parameters like Teaching structure and content, practices of teaching, student growth and development, learning resources and student quality enhancement.

Sogunro (2017) thought that the Instructional quality is a delivery of instruction by an authoritative instructor entrenched in content, provided with deepest knowledge to the students in a productive manner. He added that teacher instructional quality Provokes the interest of student, critical thinking of student and advancing the learning capacity of the student. The teacher instructional quality makes the students feel excited about their academic activities.

2.2.6 Student Satisfaction (SS)

Student satisfaction is relatively a new construct in the literature of service quality in Higher Education. Crawford (1991) termed the student as customer for the first time in Higher education context. Peng and Samah(2006) also claimed the students as clients or customers, and the educational service benefactor need to expand their services more than the client expectation.

Kotler and Clarke (1987) defined satisfaction as a state felt by a person who has experience performance or an outcome that fulfill his or her expectation. Satisfaction is a function of relative level of expectations and perceived performance. Satisfaction is a feeling arrived after accomplishment of the needs and desires (Saif 2014). In the opinion of Ilyas&Arif (2013), Satisfaction is a feeling about the service after utilization.

Hon (2002) revealed that the satisfaction is the results derived out expectation of customer experience of the service.

Elliott & Healy (2001) defined Student Satisfaction as a temporary student attitude which is derived out of the experience they got with the educational institutions. Singh&Jasial(2020) opined that student satisfaction is the landmark of higher education institution's service quality performance.

2.2.7 Student Academic Engagement (SAE)

Student engagement has been used to describe a variety of Student behavior at the learning place. Available Literature on student engagement shows that Student Engagement constitutes “the amount of time and effort” that a student invests into academic activities which directly lead to desired outcomes (Kuh, 2001). This concept can be strengthened from the views of various researchers who studied Student engagement in depth. According to Hu and Kuh (2002) “Student Engagement is the most important factor in student learning and personal development during college”.

Astin (1984) states that Student engagement as “the degree to which students are involved in school related activities by the investments of physical and psychological energy in various objects. He consistently proved that quality of effort and the level of involvement of college students correlated with academic achievement, personal development, intellectual development, and persistence to graduation.

For Skinner and Belmont (1993) “Student engagement is the intensity and quality of behavioral and emotional involvement during learning activities”. Kuh (2001, 2009) states that “Student engagement is the amount of time and effort students invest in academic activities related to student learning outcomes”.

Harrison (2013), opined that, Active involvement of student into academic activities may be treated as student academic engagement. The academic activities include learning, skills acquisition, gaining knowledge and researching skills and other academic connected interactions with academic bodies. Krause & Coates, (2008) approach on student engagement is “participation in educationally effective practices, both inside and outside the classroom, which leads to a range of measurable outcomes” and as “the extent to which students are engaging in activities that higher education research has shown to be linked with high-quality learning outcomes”

2.2.8 Student Job Readiness (SJR)

Student job readiness concept has progressively become the matter of universal discourse. Because, whatever the time and money the student spent, the institution in which a student studied, if he/she is not equipped well the total amount and time spent towards that become meaningless. Student should come out from the institution with proper knowledge and skills and ready for doing some job. Job readiness is the possession of student personal characteristics, coping mechanism and worker traits required to get a job and to continue with the job. In the words of Mason et al (2006) job readiness is acquisition of knowledge, procurement of skills and work ready attitude to solve the real-world problems at the work place.

Jackson and Chapman (2012) developed an elaborative graduate competence taxonomy which included the key skills such as business values, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, core skills and other required skills for smooth activation at the work environment.

2.3 REVIEWS ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND STUDENT SATISFACTION

A high-level customer service quality could exert a positive influence on customer satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor 1992). Service quality is an overall evaluation of the service under consideration and customer satisfaction is an indicator of specific service transactions. Service quality may also be noted as a critical prerequisite for establishing and sustaining relationship with valued customers.

Soutar and McNeil (1996) conducted a study to investigate the association between service quality and student satisfaction among university students. SERVQUAL was adapted for this purpose. The study was focused on to examine the student views on academic service and administrative services of university apart from responsiveness, reliability, empathy, assurance and knowledge & commission. The data were collected from 109 students. The study revealed that the service quality components were significantly influencing the student satisfaction.

Ham and Hayduk (2003) analysed the student perceptions on service quality and its relationship with student satisfaction. For this purpose, 209 student responses were obtained from universities in USA. SERVQUAL instrument was used to collect the data. The study results proved there was a positive correlation between student perception on service quality and their satisfaction. It was found that Reliability had the deepest relationship with student satisfaction followed by Responsiveness, Empathy, Assurance and Tangibility.

Butt and urRehman (2010) conducted a study on the determinants of students' satisfaction in higher education. Teacher's expertise, courses offered, learning environment and classroom facilities were considered for the study. 350 student responses were gathered from public and private universities located in different parts of Pakistan. The study revealed that all the service quality determinants were significantly and positively impacting student satisfaction with varying degrees of levels. Among all the service quality determinants, teacher expertise found highest level of impact on student satisfaction.

Napitupulu, Rahim, Abdullah, Setiawan, Abdillah, Ahmar, &Pranolo (2016) aimed to study the impact of XYZ university service quality on student satisfaction. Classroom dimension and environment dimension were considered as service quality components. The data were collected from 842 students belong to different universities spread across Indonesia. The study revealed that there was a significant relationship between service quality components and student satisfaction. Among the two dimensions, environment facilities dimension found strong impact on student satisfaction.

Krishnamoorthy, Sowbaranikha & Sowmiya (2016), attempted to study on the dimensions of higher education service quality and its relationship with student satisfaction. The data were collected from student respondents of different colleges of Tamil Nadu. This study identified five important dimensions in higher education services namely curriculum aspects, infrastructure aspects, competency of faculty, academic activities and teaching methods. Furthermore, this study proved that student satisfaction is impacted by teaching methods, curriculum and competency of staff.

Rajput, Avantika & Gupta (2020) aimed to establish the relationship between service quality and student satisfaction. The study followed SERVQUAL scale for developing the causal model with service quality and student satisfaction. The data were collected from 300 responses from Indian universities. From the results, it is clear that service quality has significant positive relationship with student satisfaction. It is confirmed that an improvement in service quality may potentially improve the students' satisfaction. The study resulted into positive impact of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness and empathy on student satisfaction.

Anil Kumar and KhemChand (2019) made an attempt to determine factors of higher educational institution's service quality and its impact on student satisfaction in Haryana. Data has been collected from students of various higher educational institutes of Haryana. The study identified eight factors alike Campus placement, administrative staff effectiveness, extra curriculum activities, physical support facility, teacher quality, supportive behaviour of staff, resource availability, problem solving, and campus atmosphere significantly influence student satisfaction in higher educational institutes. Result of this study has huge significance in today's highly competitive educational environment.

Permana (2020) aimed to determine the factors of academic service quality and analyzed the relationship between academic service qualities to student satisfaction at Bina Bangsa University. Data were collected from 200 respondents. The study revealed that the academic service quality of the university significantly influencing the student satisfaction and suggested that Quality of service at the institution becomes very important in increasing student satisfaction.

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