Enhancing student satisfaction via social comparisons

Area of Science:

• Higher Education Administration
• Consumer Psychology
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• Student satisfaction with tuition and fees is crucial for engagement and enrollment.
• Understanding factors influencing student perceptions of value is essential for universities.
• Social comparison theory offers insights into how individuals evaluate their circumstances relative to others.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of social comparisons in university communications on student satisfaction with cost of attendance.
• To examine how relative value perception mediates the relationship between tuition communication and student satisfaction.
• To identify cost-free strategies for universities to enhance student satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• Experimental design with two conditions: tuition increase in a counterpart university versus constant tuition.
• Measurement of student satisfaction with tuition and fees, and overall university experience.
• Analysis of relative value as a mediating variable.

Main Results:

• Students reported higher satisfaction with their tuition and fees when their university's costs remained constant while a counterpart university's increased.
• This enhanced satisfaction with tuition fees led to greater overall satisfaction with the university experience.
• The effect was mediated by students' perception of higher relative value for their cost of attendance.

Conclusions:

• Communicating that a university maintains stable tuition while others raise prices is a cost-free method to improve student satisfaction.
• Perceived relative value significantly influences student satisfaction with educational costs.
• Universities can leverage social comparison principles in communications to positively impact student perceptions without incurring additional expenses.