Optimizing Student Retention: Unveiling the Impact of Prompt Feedback and Lecturer Quality through Student Satisfaction

This study investigates the crucial elements contributing to student retention in educational institutions, emphasizing the significant roles of prompt feedback and lecturers’ quality, with student satisfaction acting as a mediator. Student retention is a vital metric for academic institutions as it directly affects educational outcomes and financial stability. The study aims to explore how these factors influence retention, offering insights that could inform strategic improvements in teaching and feedback mechanisms. Data was collected through a structured survey distributed to students, using a purposive sampling method due to the absence of an exhaustive population list. A total of 433 valid responses were analyzed in the final assessment. The data analysis employed Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), which is critical for evaluating the relationships between variables and testing the study's hypotheses. The hypotheses testing results revealed that prompt feedback and high-quality lecturers significantly enhance student satisfaction. Satisfaction, in turn, strongly impacts retention, confirming its mediating role. Interestingly, the direct effect of prompt feedback on retention was not significant, emphasizing that satisfaction is a necessary pathway for influencing retention. For future studies, it is suggested that the impact of technological integration on feedback mechanisms and the potential moderating effects of student demographics be examined. Additionally, conducting longitudinal studies could shed light on the long-term implications of these factors on retention. The implications of this study underline the importance of focusing on student satisfaction as a core strategy to enhance retention.