The Impact of Educational Service Quality on Students' Parents' Decisions in Choosing a School at Khalimul Khasan Elementary School, Banjarnegara District

Abstract

The increasing competition among educational institutions requires schools to continuously improve the quality of their educational services in order to meet the expectations of parents and society. In the context of primary education, parents play a crucial role in determining the school that best suits their children's educational needs. One of the factors influencing this decision is educational service quality. SD Khalimul Khasan, located in Banjarnegara Regency, has experienced growth in student enrollment in recent years, making it an interesting case for examining the factors that influence parents' school selection decisions. This study aims to analyze the effect of educational service quality on parent satisfaction, the effect of parent satisfaction on school choice decisions, and the direct effect of educational service quality on parents' decisions to choose SD Khalimul Khasan Banjarnegara. The study employs educational service quality as the independent variable, parent satisfaction as the intervening variable, and school choice decision as the dependent variable. A quantitative research approach was employed using a survey method. The population consisted of parents of students enrolled at SD Khalimul Khasan Banjarnegara. Data were collected through questionnaires distributed to selected respondents using purposive sampling techniques. The collected data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to examine the relationships among the research variables. The descriptive analysis indicates that parents generally perceive the educational service quality of SD Khalimul Khasan as good. The highest scores were found in indicators related to supporting facilities, school infrastructure, and learning facilities. Regarding parent satisfaction, most respondents expressed satisfaction with the quality of education, school facilities, and their overall experience of enrolling their children at the school. For the school choice decision variable, the majority of parents considered selecting SD Khalimul Khasan as the right decision and were willing to recommend the school to others. The hypothesis testing results reveal that educational service quality has a positive and significant effect on parent satisfaction. This finding suggests that improvements in educational services, including teaching quality, teacher competence, learning facilities, school environment, and administrative services, contribute significantly to increasing parent satisfaction. Furthermore, parent satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on school choice decisions. Parents who are satisfied with the services provided by the school tend to have stronger confidence in their decision to choose, continue supporting, and recommend the school to other prospective parents. The study also finds that educational service quality has a direct positive and significant effect on parents' decisions to choose a school. This result indicates that parents' perception of educational service quality serves as an important consideration in the decision-making process. Nevertheless, school choice decisions are not solely influenced by educational service quality but may also be influenced by other factors such as tuition fees, school reputation, location, religious values, academic achievements, and the surrounding social environment.