Transparency policy and students’ satisfaction and trust
Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy
ISSN: 1750-6166
Article publication date: 17 August 2015
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyse the effectiveness of the transparency policy carried out by a public university in terms of the impact on students’ satisfaction and trust. The loss of trust suffered by public institutions means that they are trying to identify the existing formulae so that this can be restored, and this includes transparency. In universities, certain changes in their situation mean that the demand for transparency policies is even greater.
Design/methodology/approach
To carry out the transparency survey, data were collected using 6,180 valid questionnaires among the degree, postgraduate and continuing education students of the UNED. The statistical behaviour of the constructs included in the model was analysed by developing the structural equation model with SmartPLS.
Findings
The results of this research show that transparency does have both a direct effect on trust and an indirect effect that is mediated by satisfaction. This latter indirect effect comes out stronger than the direct one. Thus, satisfaction emerges as a key factor for any research on the relationship between transparency and trust.
Originality/value
This paper verifies the impact of the transparency policy on the satisfaction and trust towards a public university’s services.
Keywords
Citation
Medina, C. and Rufín, R. (2015), "Transparency policy and students’ satisfaction and trust", Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 309-323. https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-07-2014-0027
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited