Atributos de satisfação em cursos superiores de Tecnologia em Gestão Empresarial com foco no mercado de baixa renda

Abstract

The competitive scenario within the superior private teaching institutions has boosted studies intending to acknowledge those attending these organizations, aiming to draw plans up to retain these consumers. In this point of view, all those institutions working with students attending college have been incorporating studying on low-income consumers’ behavioral, being as a base for research in marketing. According to literature, to obtain success in such market, Superior Teaching Institutions have to develop the ability in giving answers to attend the demand of the consumer. This research intends to verify the influence of attributes valued by the low-income students and the satisfaction in the courses of the “technologic graduation in business management” in superior private teaching institutions. The research characterizes itself as being a “survey”, using both the qualitative and quantitative approaches for the data analyses. The applied instruments were the Attribute Scale (AS) and the Satisfaction Scale(SS), made and validated by the author of the paper through the exploratory factorial analyze. Eight pupils participated in the qualitative research, by means of the focus group, whereas the quantitative research was applied to 216 students from three different superior private teaching institutions in the state of Ceará. It was used the exploratory factorial analyze, aiming to know the internal consistence of the instrument of the research. A descriptive analyze was used aiming the identification of the attributes valued by the low income students attending the technologic graduation courses: Pearson correlation, with the intention of verifying the association level between the valued attributes and the satisfaction and analysis of multiple linear regression, intending to identify the model which best explain students’ satisfaction with the course. The results are understood both under the perspective of the educational marketing and consumers’ satisfaction. The factorial validity of the Attribute Scale (AS) and the Satisfaction Scale (SS), can be testified by the grandeur of the factorial load of the items (CF>0,40) and by the coefficient of the reliability of satisfaction (a>0,70). The results of the research show that the related factors with the localization, professors’ capacity and attitude, graduation time and the curricular schedule obtained a larger concordance among participants, revealing that these dimensions are valued in the context of the technologic teaching. Considering the Pearson correlation, the research showed that all dimensions concerning to the attributes valued by the low income students were related, both in a positive and meaningfully way, with satisfaction. It is pointed out that the curricular schedule (r of Pearson=0,62) and professors’ capacitance and attitudes (R of Pearson=0,60) obtained strong relation to satisfaction; on the other hand, the localization showed a weak association with satisfaction (R of Pearson=0,15). Based on the results of the analysis of multiple regression, it is marked that, in a meaningful level of 5% and coefficient of determination of 54%, the overall satisfaction with the course is explained by the professors’ capacitance and attitudes, institutional acknowledgement, infra-structure, curricular schedule and noticed quality.