The role of trust in creating value and student loyalty in relational exchanges between higher education institutions and their students

Abstract

The globalization of educational services and the increasing competition coming from the private sector have forced higher education institutions to market their programs more aggressively and to look at student loyalty as the key for future success. Student loyalty to higher education institutions represents not only a more stable financial basis for such institutions but also continuing support for them after graduation. The present research examines the relational exchange process between higher education institutions and their students. Specifically, it explores the process by which trust is first developed and then translated into students' perceived value of the higher education institutions, ultimately leading to the development of student loyalty toward those institutions. The identification of the components and the outcomes of student trust are presented on the basis of Sirdeshmukh, Singh, and Sabol's trust–value–loyalty framework.

Keywords:

• student trust
• student loyalty
• relational exchanges
• perceived value
• higher education institutions

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Deepak Sirdeshmukh from North Carolina State University for his insightful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.