The relationship between non-verbal communication cues and student satisfaction

Introduction By having an excellent communication system, students who are the customers of an education organization, will be satisfied with what they have received while dealing with the organization. Customer need to be satisfied in every single way, namely the quality of product and the service they obtain executing transaction with the organization. Customer satisfaction is determined by the overall feeling or attitude a person has about a product or service after it has been purchased or experienced. In addition, customers are engaged in a constant process of evaluating the things or services they obtain (Fournier & Mick, 1999). In the education industry specifically, communication is vital to determine the satisfaction of the customers who are mainly the students and this will lead to the success or failure of an organization. But organization should be aware that communication is not only verbally but much more beyond that. Studies have been carried out and it was concluded that 65% of the meaning of conversational messages comes from non-verbal cues, leaving only 35% to verbal communication (Philpot, 1983). Thus, such information will provide the basis for improvement in communication skills and contribute to make difference. Problem statement Although the verbal communication in service industry and its effects on customer satisfaction has been investigated widely, the nonverbal aspects and its effects on customer satisfaction in service industry mainly education remained virtually unexplored in the marketing literature. The services characterized by considerable interpersonal contact are likely to benefit greatly from an investigation of the role of nonverbal communication on students’ evaluations of service experiences. But not much research has been done on lecturers’ nonverbal behavior despite its importance to customer satisfaction. In Malaysian context specifically, no research has been done to identify the relationship of non-verbal communication and its effect on customer satisfaction. In addition, gender differences have been explored in the West and how both genders perceive differently on the non-verbal communication of service employees has been identified. But, no research was done in the Malaysian context. Thus, with this in mind it is vital to explore the importance of service employees’ who are the lecturers in the context of this study nonverbal communication behavior during service interactions to provide better satisfaction to the students especially in the Malaysian context. Research objective 1. To identify whether there is a relationship between each of the non-verbal communication cues and student satisfaction. 2. To identify which non-verbal communication cues is the most dominant to student satisfaction. Significance of the study The present study is an applied research carries out with the intention of applying the result of its finding to determine the factors that are related to student satisfaction currently being experienced in service firms, mainly is the education industry. This present study is significant in providing valuable insights in terms of theoretical and managerial implication for the benefits of the education industry as well as offering useful guidance for the future study in similar service industry topic. From the literature point, the present study will examine on the