Identifying kindergarten service quality dimensions: the relationship with parents’ satisfaction and loyalty / Cornelius Philip Aso

Kindergarten is an introduction to a formal schooling system, where children learn the foundation skills of education to prepare themselves for future school success in the future. Basically, it caters for children aged 3 to 6 years old. Different kindergartens provide different types of programs with their unique ways of delivering and teaching. Apart from that, kindergarten educates children to learn physical, social, and emotional experiences within a conducive learning environment. The main purpose of kindergarten is to provide an atmosphere in which children can play and explore depending on the requirement of the country’s educational philosophy. Due to the increasing awareness among the public on the importance of early childhood education, the community see it as an important vehicle for children, which capable of providing service quality in a kindergarten that would be an essential component for future survival. Therefore, this study identifies the dimensions of service quality towards a kindergarten setting, namely, educational services, empathy, reliability, assurance, and tangibility. In addition, these dimensions which had been identified were ranked in terms of their importance. Furthermore, the data were analyzed to determine the relationships between kindergarten service quality dimensions, parent satisfaction, and loyalty. This research was based on the data obtained from parents from a carefully selected samples and it was set to propose measurement instruments of service quality that were specifically measured at private kindergartens in Sarawak.