Investigating Competitive Advantage Determinants among Private Universities Towards Excellent Accreditation

The increasingly rigorous business competition in the higher education industry requires every private university to improve its competitiveness by utilising all available resources. This study aims to examine the determinants of competitive advantage by mediating the performance of A-accredited and excelled study programmes at private universities in LLDIKTI Region III. The factors studied include lecturer competence, organisational commitment, and application of information technology. The research method used is a survey to the object of this research, namely all Study Programs at Private Universities that have A and Excelled Accreditation under the LLDIKTI Region III Jakarta, with a total of 314 Study Programs and a sample size of 250. Data were analysed using multiple regression analysis and path analysis. The results showed that the performance of A-accredited and excelled study programmes mediated the relationship between the determinants of competitive advantage and competitive advantage itself. The managerial implication of this research is that private universities in LLDIKTI Region III can increase competitive advantage through improving the performance of A and excelled accredited study programmes and the determinants of competitive advantage that have been studied.