Evaluating sustainable service quality in higher education from a multi-stakeholder perspective: An integrated fuzzy group decision-making method

Both education for sustainable development (ESD) and service quality in higher education are two dominant areas of recent academic research. Due to the multifaceted and complex nature of higher education, it is crucial to adequately understand the perceptions of various stakeholders regarding the sustainability and service quality of higher education institutes (HEIs). Inspired by multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM), this study focuses on developing a systematic and integrated framework for evaluating sustainable service quality in higher education from a multi-stakeholder perspective. To this end, 20 criteria related to sustainability and service quality in higher education are identified and incorporated into five dimensions to create a comprehensive evaluation criteria system. In addition, epistemic uncertainty, conflict management, and individual bounded rationality are the main challenges in reaching group consensus among stakeholders. Considering the unique theoretical advantages of the intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) theory, Dempster-Shafer evidence theory (DSET), and TODIM method, they can be integrated to propose a fuzzy group decision-making method. Specifically, a linguistic preference scale is applied to express stakeholders’ subjective judgments and construct an initial evaluation matrix. The DSET is extended based on belief divergence and belief entropy to fuse the uncertain and conflicting group evaluation information. A combination of IFS and TODIM, called IF-TODIM, is utilized to prioritize alternative HEIs by considering uncertainty representation and loss aversion behavior. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed methodology are demonstrated through a case study of maritime transportation education in China. The results enable policy-makers to make informed decisions and develop educational strategies that satisfy stakeholders, with the potential for great value in developing sustainable and high-quality higher education.