Students’ perceived value in higher education institutions: investigating the role of antecedents and context

Students in higher education institutions (HEIs) develop perceived value related to their academic services. While many studies have suggested some antecedents of perceived values, the interactions between fairness, quality of services, and the context in which the service occurs still received less attention. This study aims to investigate the effect of university organisational justice on students’ perceived value via the mediating role of service quality, in which the relationships are moderated by the students’ awareness of the COVID-19 situation in Higher Education Institutions (HEI). The data were collected from students enrolled in three public universities in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. The students completed a three-wave data collection procedure with an online survey in each wave. After removing incomplete and careless responses, 517 data were included in the analysis. This study found that the effect of perceived university organisational justice on perceived value was mediated by service quality. Students’ awareness of COVID-19 moderated the indirect positive effect of university organisational justice on perceived value via service quality. This mediating mechanism was stronger as the students were aware of COVID-19. Although perceived fairness in academic services positively contributed to perceived value in the universities, students’ awareness of COVID-19 could improve how they perceive university organisational justice, service quality, and value in academic services. HEIs must actively inform their students about the service process and progress, particularly during a crisis. They must thoroughly introduce the adjustments during a crisis and anticipate some disadvantages to their students.