The influence of customer voice on educational service quality through the mediating effects of perceived trust, value, and customer relationship management

Type of the article: Research Article The voice of the customer, trust, value, and Customer Relationship Management are essential in improving educational service quality. However, assessing their impacts remains difficult due to the intangible nature of educational service delivery and parents’ rising expectations. Lebanese schools, especially in urban areas such as Akkar, often overlook the negative effects of these factors on relationships with parents as decision makers, leading to a perceived gap between promises and actual experiences. This article aims to evaluate the influence of a customer’s voice on educational service quality through the mediating roles of perceived trust, perceived value, and customer relationship management. A quantitative method with a deductive approach was employed, using a questionnaire administered to parents of students enrolled in French and English private schools in Akkar, North Lebanon. Data collection was cross-sectional and concluded on November 30, 2024. The sample consisted of 390 participants, selected through simple random sampling after securing the school managers’ consent for data collection. Hypotheses were tested using Structural Equation Modeling. The study confirmed that a customer’s voice has a direct statistical effect (β = 0.083) on educational service quality and an indirect effect through perceived value (β = 0.021) and customer relationship management (p < 0.001), except for perceived trust. Parents perceive institutional responsiveness and cost-benefit optimization as crucial indicators of quality. Trust seems to function through autonomous mechanisms that are independent of formal feedback processes. The findings emphasize that schools can enhance service quality by establishing systematic feedback systems, refining CRM strategies, and leveraging perceived value to close the gap between expectations and actual experiences.