A causal model of quality management practices and stakeholder interests in higher education institutions: Comparison of public and private universities

The purpose of this study is to provide the empirical analysis of differences between the Turkish public and private universities with regard to the effects of quality management (QM) practices on meeting the expectations of various stakeholder groups. Drawing on extant literature, a set of nine QM practices that are applicable to higher education were identified and used as independent variables, while a total of three stakeholder groups including students, businesses and employees were identified as dependent variables. Relying on a survey questionnaire, primary data was collected from a sample of 144 academicians serving at 22 universities located within the greater metro-region of Istanbul, Turkey. Based on structural equation modeling, the test results indicated that the link between QM practices and stakeholder interests is much stronger for private universities than for public universities in terms of the effects of QM practices on fulfilling the expectations of stakeholder groups.