Abstract

• No single factor explains satisfaction among university students; there are a range of personal, social and institution specific factors. This meta-analysis summarizes the predictors of student satisfaction in higher education. The results will help clarify the existing researches on student satisfaction and identify the strongest predictors associated with satisfaction. As the Student Satisfaction studies were strengthened after 1980s, the search period of the relevant studies covered from 1990 to November 2018. The following search engines were consulted: Google, Eric, Academia and Google Scholar. To be included in the meta-analysis, each study had to fulfill the following criteria: (a) to be an empirical study where the necessary data to calculate the effect size were provided; (b) the study had to be conducted in higher education setting; (c) the paper had to be written in English; (d) samples of participants from normal population were accepted; and (e) the paper had to be published. The search yielded a total of 1147 references, out of which 1056 were removed step by step via selection criteria. Therefore, the total of 91 studies remained for the present meta-analysis. By reviewing these related studies, about 148 factors are found as influencing factors on student satisfaction in higher education. The data of the remaining studies were analyzed by Meta-Essentials. Among the different personal factors, self-efficacy, motivation and college experience were found to be the strongest predictors of student satisfaction. Among the instructional factors, courses, learning environment, and teaching and instruction were the strongest factors. Among the social factors, social presence and student-teacher relation were found to have the strongest effect on student satisfaction. Among the university factors, service quality, cost and reputation were the strongest predictors of student satisfaction. Among the outcome-related factors, job prospects and skills developed were the strongest predictors of student satisfaction.