There are increasing numbers of institutions that offer online MBA degrees. This study examined online satisfaction for MBA students using factor analysis. The two goals of the study were to analyze the multifaceted nature of student satisfaction in online graduate courses and to examine how the different components of satisfaction are differentially important to the students’ intention to recommend either the course they took, the faculty teaching the course, or the university to others. The survey study included 277 online MBA students at a large university in the Midwest. The author examined 5 factors of online MBA student satisfaction: satisfaction with faculty practices, learning practices, course materials, student-to-student interaction, and course tools. It was hypothesized that Student satisfaction would be related to the intent of the student to recommend the course, faculty, and university to others.
The author examined four hypotheses.
Hypothesis 1: Student satisfaction comprised multiple factors: satisfaction with faculty practices, course materials, learning practices, student-to-student interaction, and online tools.
Hypothesis 2: The intent to recommend the faculty is predicted by faculty practices and course materials. However, intention to recommend the faculty will not be predicted by satisfaction with learning practices, student-to-student interaction, or online tools.
Hypothesis 3: Intention to recommend the course to others is predicted by satisfaction with course materials, learning practices, and student-to-student interaction. However, intent to predict the course to others is not predicted by satisfaction with faculty practices or online tools.
Hypothesis 4: Intention to recommend the university to others is predicted by satisfaction with online tools. However, the intention to
recommend the university to others is not predicted by learning or faculty practices, course materials, or student-to student interactions....