Student mobility in Kenya’s private universities: An assessment of the effect of universities’ customer care services

Abstract

The study sought to analyse the effect of customer care services on student mobility in private universities in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study employs a descriptive survey design targeting 26 registered private universities. A study sample of 180 private university students and 9 registrars was selected using multi-stage sampling whereby the private universities from Nairobi County, Kenya, were purposely selected. The universities were further sampled in stratus using stratified sampling. The registrars further applied random sampling to select the students who were interviewed. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaires for registrars and students. Analysis was then done descriptively and through thematic means for quantitative and qualitative data. Linear regression analysis was also used to establish the extent of the effect on the dependent variables of independent variables. The study's findings indicate that customer care services influence students’ mobility in private universities in Nairobi County in Kenya. This implies that students prefer being in institutions of learning that provide good customer care services. The study recommends that marketing departments of universities in the target areas invest more in customer care services to promote their respective universities to prospective students.