The effect of marketing communication elements on customer satisfaction in the COVID-19 pandemic process: The example of private schools

In this study, the effect of marketing communication elements on customer satisfaction during the Covid-19 pandemic process was examined through the example of private schools. In the study, a questionnaire form consisting of the socio-demographic form, the Integrated Marketing Communication Scale developed by the researcher, and the School Satisfaction Scale developed by İriç (2014) were used. 389 private school parents in Bursa have participated in the study. The data were collected electronically and analyzed with the SPSS package program. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics were used to determine the demographic characteristics of the participants, and the reliability of the research variables was examined. In addition, considering the Integrated Marketing Communication Scale and its sub-dimensions, the School Satisfaction Scale and its sub-dimensions, a two-stage Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted to examine the structural validity of the scales. In the study, in order to examine the variables of the research in terms of the demographic variables of the participants, the t test and the Anova test were analyzed. In cases where there is a difference between the variables, the groups that are the source of the difference were examined with the TUKEY test. Correlation analysis was performed in order to determine the relationships between the scales and their sub-dimensions. As a result of the study, it was determined that there was a significant difference between advertising activities, promotional activities, public relations, distance education process and face-to-face education process and age group, gender, educational status and number of children. In addition, it was determined that there was a significant difference between school satisfaction and age, educational status and number of schools. It was found that there was a significant difference between the dimensions of satisfaction with school, customer satisfaction with extracurricular activities, food services, non-classroom institutions, book and stationery services and gender. It was determined that there was no significant difference between customer-corporate personnel communication satisfaction, customer-corporate culture, corporate climate satisfaction and gender. In the study, it was seen that there was a positive relationship between the research variables of marketing communication and school satisfaction. Another result of the study is that the variables of advertising, promotional activities, public relations, distance education process and face-to-face education process, which are the dimensions of marketing communication, have a positive effect of 62.2 percent on school satisfaction.