Students’ loyalty in higher education: the roles of affective commitment, service co-creation and engagement

Aspects related to the emotional dimension begin to be considered in order to generate loyalty in the provision of educational services. This contributes to the establishment of a dynamic long-term relationship with the organization. Therefore, this study sought to analyze the impact of affective commitment to the university, participation in service co-creation and customer engagement on the loyalty of graduate students. To examine this an empirical, explanatory and transversal research was conducted, and personal surveys were applied to 484 graduate students in Mexico. The results show that loyalty of postgraduate students to the university is explained by both affective commitment and participation in co-creating the service. In addition, there is an indirect effect between affective commitment and loyalty through participation in co-creation; however, in this context, the effect of engagement on loyalty could not be confirmed.