Transparency policy and students' satisfaction and trust

Abstract

Purpose - This paper aims to analyse the effectiveness of the transparency policy carried out by a public university in terms of the impact on students' satisfaction and trust. The loss of trust suffered by public institutions means that they are trying to identify the existing formulae so that this can be restored, and this includes transparency. In universities, certain changes in their situation mean that the demand for transparency policies is even greater.

Design/methodology/approach - To carry out the transparency survey, data were collected using 6,180 valid questionnaires among the degree, postgraduate and continuing education students of the UNED. The statistical behaviour of the constructs included in the model was analysed by developing the structural equation model with SmartPLS.

Findings - The results of this research show that transparency does have both a direct effect on trust and an indirect effect that is mediated by satisfaction. This latter indirect effect comes out stronger than the direct one. Thus, satisfaction emerges as a key factor for any research on the relationship between transparency and trust.

Originality/value - This paper verifies the impact of the transparency policy on the satisfaction and trust towards a public university's services.