Exploring drivers of student satisfaction and dissatisfaction: an assessment of impact-asymmetry and impact-range

The purpose of this study is to explore the key drivers of student satisfaction in a Croatian higher education (HE) setting. In particular, this study seeks to identify lecturer and course characteristics with either diminishing or increasing returns in student satisfaction. This study uses data collected during the official student satisfaction assessment at the Faculty of Economics and Business, Zagreb in the academic year 2011/2012. Overall, 23,804 fully completed questionnaires collected at the end of the winter and the summer term form the data of this study. Impact-asymmetry analysis (IAA) was used to detect and quantify nonlinear effects in the formation of student satisfaction. IAA helps to approximate the potentials of individual teaching and lecturer attributes to further enhance overall student satisfaction. Impact range and average performance of teaching and lecturer characteristics were further calculated and mapped into a matrix to detect key areas that need to be improved in future quality initiatives. This study provides detailed and interesting insight into the formation of overall student satisfaction relevant for all those concerned with quality issues in HE. The results reveal the most influential teaching and lecturer characteristics and several characteristics with diminishing and increasing returns in overall student satisfaction.