Laurent Scaringella
email: laurent.scaringella@rennes-sb.com

Anna Górska

Dennis Calderon
email: dcalderon@keiseruniversity.edu

Jose Benitez
email: jose.benitez@edhec.edu

Laurent Scaringella

Should we teach in hybrid mode or fully online? A theory and empirical investigation on the service-profit chain in MBAs

Keywords: Higher education institutions, faculty-centric, MBA programs, hybrid teaching, online teaching, word-of-mouth

Introduction

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the existence of a relationship between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction has been well-documented [START_REF] Heskett | Putting the service-profit chain to work[END_REF][START_REF] Brown | A meta-analysis of relationships linking employee satisfaction to customer responses[END_REF][START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF][START_REF] Wolter | Employee satisfaction trajectories and their effect on customer satisfaction and repatronage intentions[END_REF] in several empirical settings, such as hotels [START_REF] Enz | Competitive pricing decisions in uncertain times[END_REF], healthcare, retail [START_REF] Evanschitzky | Perils of managing the service profit chain: The role of time lags and feedback loops[END_REF], restaurants [START_REF] Spinelli | Investigating the relationship between employee satisfaction and guest satisfaction[END_REF], and banking industries [START_REF] Loveman | Employee Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Performance: An Empirical Examination of the Service Profit Chain in Retail Banking[END_REF][START_REF] Gelade | Test of a service profit chain model in the retail banking sector[END_REF], but not in higher education. We note that job satisfaction outcomes require further study in the Information Systems (IS) literature, which has primarily investigated the predictors of job satisfaction [START_REF] Joshi | Impact of the quality of information products on information system users' job satisfaction: An empirical investigation[END_REF][START_REF] Thatcher | Turnover of Information Technology Workers: Examining Empirically the Influence of Attitudes, Job Characteristics, and External Markets[END_REF][START_REF] Jung | Mining the voice of employees: A text mining approach to identifying and analyzing job satisfaction factors from online employee reviews[END_REF]. To investigate this, researchers have used the service-profit chain (SPC) model, which assumes that providing a superior work environment increases employee satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity and results in service value, leading to customer satisfaction, loyalty, and, ultimately, company profits and growth. However, [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF] reported that the body of knowledge on SPC remains largely fragmented and ambiguous because most studies do not consider the comprehensive model, focusing instead on specific elements, which leads to omitting, summarizing, or substituting specific elements [START_REF] Lariviere | Linking Perceptual and Behavioral Customer Metrics to Multiperiod Customer Profitability: A Comprehensive Service-Profit Chain Application[END_REF][START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF].

Recently, certain contextual relationships have attracted significant attention, but others remain under-researched. For instance, studies on the relationship between customer loyalty and profitability are scarce [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF]. Loyalty was not found to be associated with profit and growth [START_REF] Homburg | Social Identity and the Service-Profit Chain[END_REF][START_REF] Evanschitzky | Perils of managing the service profit chain: The role of time lags and feedback loops[END_REF], especially for service providers; this suggests word-of-mouth (WOM) would be a suitable substitute. Consequently, few studies fully examine the comprehensive SPC model and the richness of the entire set of relationships.

The SPC model would be particularly meaningful to best appraise the feedbacks from students in higher education [START_REF] Young | Student voice in higher education: Opening the loop[END_REF][START_REF] Winstone | Measuring what matters: the positioning of students in feedback processes within national student satisfaction surveys[END_REF] to increase their satisfaction and its direct and indirect impacts and determinants [START_REF] Muijs | Postgraduate student satisfaction: A multilevel analysis of PTES data[END_REF]. Still, we can only acknowledge a few studies on faculty satisfaction [START_REF] Fredericksen | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with asynchronous teaching and learning in the SUNY learning network[END_REF][START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF]Webber, 2019;[START_REF] Marasi | Faculty satisfaction with online teaching: a comprehensive study with American faculty[END_REF][START_REF] Jensen | Seeing through the eyes of a teacher: differences in perceptions of HE teaching in face-to-face and digital contexts[END_REF] and student satisfaction [START_REF] Clemes | University student satisfaction: An empirical analysis[END_REF][START_REF] Gibbons | Student satisfaction, league tables and university applications: Evidence from Britain[END_REF][START_REF] Lenton | Determining student satisfaction: An economic analysis of the National Student Survey[END_REF][START_REF] Ramsey | Exploring the impact of cross-cultural management education on cultural intelligence, student satisfaction, and commitment[END_REF][START_REF] Weerasinghe | Student's satisfaction in higher education literature review[END_REF][START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF]. However, studies do so separately. Emerging literature exists about (a) the relevance of faculty attitudes on student implications [START_REF] Kuh | The effects of student-faculty interaction in the 1990s[END_REF][START_REF] García-Aracil | European graduates' level of satisfaction with higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Sojkin | Determinants of higher education choices and student satisfaction: the case of Poland[END_REF][START_REF] Mitchell | Overcoming faculty avoidance of online education: From resistance to support to active participation[END_REF] and (b) the link between faculty satisfaction and performance [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Weerasinghe | Student's satisfaction in higher education literature review[END_REF][START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF].

Nevertheless, the correlation between faculty satisfaction and student satisfaction requires further study [START_REF] Al-Samarraie | E-learning continuance satisfaction in higher education: a unified perspective from instructors and students[END_REF]. On that point, [START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF] called for "future research about [the] consequences of faculty satisfaction" (p. 534). Consequently, we intend to address the theoretical gap neglected in past studies.

It should also be emphasized that empirical studies on student and faculty satisfaction have been typically based on a "single faculty-multiple students" model (Stickney et al., 2019, p. 511).

Additionally, [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF] called for a "multi-institutional research study " (p. 113).

The use of SPC, a comprehensive model, to investigate all relationships across several institutions-including faculty satisfaction and student satisfaction-is vital, especially in a complex, competitive, and evolving environment, such as higher education institutions (HEIs). Indeed, the report from [START_REF] Allen | Distance Education Enrollment[END_REF] indicates that online education is increasing.

Nearly seven million students are enrolled in distance courses at American HEI. Similarly, and based on Federal data, [START_REF] Lederman | Online Enrollments Grow, but Pace Slows[END_REF] argued that in 2018, 65% of students were engaged in the face-to-face delivery method (13,071,185 students), 18.4%, in the hybrid delivery method (3,677,689 students), and 16.3% in the online delivery method (3,259,560 students). Online teaching and technology matter and influence students from HEI concerning their perceptions and expectations [START_REF] Ashour | How technology has shaped university students' perceptions and expectations around higher education: an exploratory study of the United Arab Emirates[END_REF].

In 2018, 34.7% of undergraduates and 40% of graduate students took at least one online course.

So, face-to-face teaching remains the most used delivery method over time. Furthermore, [START_REF] Lederman | Online Enrollments Grow, but Pace Slows[END_REF] suggests that the environment remains stable since the evolution of those percentages remains small. Indeed, while 33.1% of college students took at least one online class in 2017, this percentage increased by only 1.6 points in a year-to 34.7%. Although HEIs are slowly adopting new technologies, [START_REF] Losh | The War on Learning[END_REF] contended that universities are not transforming their delivery methods to adjust to students born in the digital age. [START_REF] Ashour | How technology has shaped university students' perceptions and expectations around higher education: an exploratory study of the United Arab Emirates[END_REF] further argued that "the digital age is not 'transforming' the nature of universities. Additionally, traditional teaching methods and conventional 'in-the-box' student thinking and practices with technology still prevail" (p. 2513).

In a paper published in Information System Research, [START_REF] Alavi | Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues[END_REF] underscored: "What is striking is the seeming assumption that the options are either virtual or traditional, with little room for hybrid programs. For example, rather than applying the principles of the digital economy to their own business programs, business schools are content either to teach the principles in traditional format or in a digital format (online). Why not use the power of modern IT to customize a program for individual students? […] In this way, a hybrid system that avails itself of the convenience of online learning for fairly standardized services (such as a core) is used to free up the faculty resource to customize the value-added service of any given program (its electives) to the students. Is such a model feasible? Would it improve the overall quality of the degree program?" (p. 7). Two decades later, the path for further study suggested by [START_REF] Alavi | Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues[END_REF] remained mostly uncovered until the recent health crisis.

Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, HEIs are witnessing substantial changes regarding educational delivery methods. So, most institutions have shifted their classes to online and hybrid formats [START_REF] Carugati | Exploitation and exploration of IT in times of pandemic: from dealing with emergency to institutionalising crisis practices[END_REF][START_REF] Marinoni | The impact of COVID-19 on higher education around the world[END_REF]. Hybrid models of teaching vary in their scope and form. For example, a hybrid format may be based on online lectures and face-to-face discussions. Or it may incorporate multiple materials from online content as a complement to faceto-face classes [START_REF] Alavi | Computer-mediated collaborative learning: An empirical evaluation[END_REF][START_REF] Chingos | Interactive online learning on campus: Comparing student's outcomes in hybrid and traditional courses in the University System of Maryland[END_REF]. With the rise of COVID-19, another mode of hybrid teaching was introduced: a classroom that connected both on-site and online students during synchronous teaching [START_REF] Bergdahl | Covid-19 and crisis-prompted distance education in Sweden[END_REF].

The satisfaction level among different delivery methods, such as face-to-face, hybrid, and online delivery, is not a novel debate [START_REF] Alavi | Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation of collaborative telelearning[END_REF][START_REF] Alavi | Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues[END_REF][START_REF] Sharda | Foundation for the Study of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Requiring Immersive Presence[END_REF][START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF]. However, existing studies have investigated those three methods separately regarding faculty satisfaction and student satisfaction [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Hu | Examining the role of learning engagement in technology-mediated learning and its effects on learning effectiveness and satisfaction[END_REF][START_REF] Martirosyan | An examination of factors contributing to student satisfaction in Armenian higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF]. [START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF], [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF], [START_REF] Richardson | The role of response biases in the relationship between students' perceptions of their courses and their approaches to studying in higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Jobu Babin | Beauty Premiums Among Academics[END_REF] considered only online courses. [START_REF] Martirosyan | An examination of factors contributing to student satisfaction in Armenian higher education[END_REF], [START_REF] Remedios | I Liked Your Course Because You Taught Me Well: The Influence of Grades, Workload, Expectations and Goals on Students' Evaluations of Teaching[END_REF][START_REF] Remedios | I Liked Your Course Because You Taught Me Well: The Influence of Grades, Workload, Expectations and Goals on Students' Evaluations of Teaching[END_REF][START_REF] Guo | On the effects of student interest, self-efficacy, and perceptions of the instructor on flow, satisfaction, and learning outcomes[END_REF] investigated solely face-to-face courses. And [START_REF] Bowen | Interactive learning online at public universities: Evidence from a six-campus randomized trial[END_REF] restricted their studies to hybrid courses. Similarly, the IS literature investigated students' satisfaction only with face-to-face (e.g., [START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF] or online (e.g., [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF][START_REF] Rodríguez-Ardura | E-learning continuance: The impact of interactivity and the mediating role of imagery, presence and flow[END_REF] delivery methods, but did not compare several delivery methods [START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF]. Furthermore, past IS empirical research has reported mixed results: positive [START_REF] Alavi | Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation of collaborative telelearning[END_REF][START_REF] Chiu | Examining the integrated influence of fairness and quality on learners' satisfaction and Web-based learning continuance intention[END_REF][START_REF] Chu | Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning: A human agency perspective[END_REF], negative [START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF][START_REF] Franceschi | Engaging group e-learning in virtual worlds[END_REF][START_REF] Hu | Examining the role of learning engagement in technology-mediated learning and its effects on learning effectiveness and satisfaction[END_REF], or insignificant [START_REF] Alavi | Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation of collaborative telelearning[END_REF][START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF] impact of technology-mediated learning (TML; [START_REF] Alavi | Computer-mediated collaborative learning: An empirical evaluation[END_REF][START_REF] Alavi | Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues[END_REF] on learning and satisfaction. Therefore, further study is required.

Therefore, we argue that the current literature is suffering from the following six deficiencies:

(1) studies investigating the entire spectrum of the SPC model [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF]; (2) empirical studies of SPC in higher education [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF]; (3) joint studies of faculty satisfaction and student satisfaction [START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF]; (4) multi-faculty-multi-student investigations [START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF]; (5) multi-institutional studies [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF]and (6) comparative studies of various class-delivery methods [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Martirosyan | An examination of factors contributing to student satisfaction in Armenian higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF] the delivery method moderates the positive effect, such that the effect is stronger when the delivery method is a face-to-face-hybrid rather than an online one.

We intend to first respond to Hogreve et al.'s (2017) call by investigating the comprehensive SPC model in HEIs because HEIs place a greater emphasis on satisfying their students [START_REF] Deshields | Determinants of Business Student Satisfaction and Retention in Higher Education: Applying Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory[END_REF], as they are operating in an increasingly competitive global market, and HEIs recognize the importance of meeting students' expectations and needs [START_REF] Aguinis | A pluralist conceptualization of scholarly impact in management education: students as stakeholders[END_REF][START_REF] Dobija | The impact of accreditation agencies and other powerful stakeholders on the performance measurement in Polish universities[END_REF]. Thus, we will further explore the outcomes of job satisfaction to complement the early study made by [START_REF] Thatcher | Turnover of Information Technology Workers: Examining Empirically the Influence of Attitudes, Job Characteristics, and External Markets[END_REF]. Second, we intend to investigate faculty satisfaction and student satisfaction to contribute to Stickney et al.'s (2019) research by conducting a robust study of multiple faculty members paired with multiple students. Furthermore, we plan to investigate several institutions, as advocated by [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF]. Third, we aim to contribute to the original SPC model [START_REF] Heskett | Putting the service-profit chain to work[END_REF] by investigating the role WOM plays as an alternative to revenue growth and profits, as suggested by [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF]. Fourth, we will compare delivery methods that strongly matter in HEIs, including face-to-face, hybrid, and online delivery methods, as suggested by [START_REF] Lakhal | Academic Students' Satisfaction and Learning Outcomes in a HyFlex Course: Do Delivery Modes Matter[END_REF]. Consequently, we will contribute to the TML stream of research in IS [START_REF] Alavi | Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues[END_REF] by further exploring the hybrid delivery method, a blend between face-to-face [START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF] and online teaching [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF][START_REF] Rodríguez-Ardura | E-learning continuance: The impact of interactivity and the mediating role of imagery, presence and flow[END_REF]) by reporting the significant impacts of the delivery method on the SPC model.

Theoretical background

Service-profit chain model

This study investigates the comprehensive SPC model defined by Heskett et al. (1994, p. 1) as the following relationships:

Profit and growth are stimulated primarily by customer loyalty. Loyalty is a direct result of customer satisfaction. Satisfaction is largely influenced by the value of services provided to customers. Value is created by satisfied, loyal, and productive employees. Employee satisfaction, in turn, results primarily from high-quality support services and policies that enable employees to deliver results to customers. [START_REF] Heskett | Putting the service-profit chain to work[END_REF] argued that satisfied employees create value because they are loyal and more productive and can, therefore, deliver excellent service and results to customers. Although the SPC model has served service firm practitioners for several decades, this model remains fragmented in the academic literature, and the empirical conclusions are ambiguous [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF]. Based on their empirical studies of individual companies, several researchers, such as [START_REF] Loveman | Employee Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Performance: An Empirical Examination of the Service Profit Chain in Retail Banking[END_REF] and [START_REF] Silvestro | Applying the service profit chain in a retail environment: Challenging the "satisfaction mirror[END_REF], only partially supported the comprehensive SPC model. And later studies by [START_REF] Homburg | Social Identity and the Service-Profit Chain[END_REF] and [START_REF] Kamakura | Assessing the service-profit chain[END_REF] focused on fewer elements and only specific segments of the SPC, which generated mixed results. Moreover, some segments of the SPC model received substantial attention, but others were mostly ignored. This prompted [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF] to argue for the need for further studies considering the comprehensive SPC model. [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF] also indicated that results across studies remain inconclusive. For example, [START_REF] Babin | Employee behavior in a service environment: A model and test of potential differences between men and women[END_REF] found a positive relation between employee satisfaction and employee retention within the SPC. However, they failed to support the relationship with the other remaining elements. Similar studies conducted by [START_REF] Loveman | Employee Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Performance: An Empirical Examination of the Service Profit Chain in Retail Banking[END_REF] and [START_REF] Pritchard | Applying the service profit chain to analyse retail performance: The case of the managerial strait-jacket[END_REF] did not find a significant relationship between employee satisfaction and employee retention in the banking and retail industries. Additionally, [START_REF] Loveman | Employee Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Performance: An Empirical Examination of the Service Profit Chain in Retail Banking[END_REF] did not find a positive relation between customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction, and no significant relation between growth in profitability and customer loyalty. Alternatively, [START_REF] Harter | Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis[END_REF] and [START_REF] Schneider | Understanding organization-customer links in service settings[END_REF] found a weakly positive effect between employee satisfaction and revenue. Similarly, [START_REF] Chi | Employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and financial performance: An empirical examination[END_REF] noted a significant positive relation between customer satisfaction and financial performance. But employee satisfaction had an insignificant effect on customer satisfaction.

Other studies, such as those by [START_REF] Bernhardt | A longitudinal analysis of satisfaction and profitability[END_REF] and [START_REF] Homburg | Social Identity and the Service-Profit Chain[END_REF], failed to find a significant positive relationship between employee satisfaction and financial performance, and [START_REF] Tornow | Service quality and management practices: A look at employee attitudes, customer satisfaction, and bottom-line consequences[END_REF] and [START_REF] Wiley | Customer satisfaction: a supportive work environment and its financial costs[END_REF] concluded that their relationship is nonexistent.

Similarly, based on a longitudinal study of a European retailer's 119 outlets, [START_REF] Evanschitzky | Perils of managing the service profit chain: The role of time lags and feedback loops[END_REF] concluded that the outcome of employee satisfaction on financial performance is nearly nonexistent. More recently, [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF] also challenged the SPC's implicit rationale that firms should always maximize employee satisfaction to optimize firm performance and, consequently, argued an imperfect relationship between employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue growth.

Job satisfaction and students' satisfaction in the IS literature

Job satisfaction has been tackled by the IS literature [START_REF] Joshi | Impact of the quality of information products on information system users' job satisfaction: An empirical investigation[END_REF][START_REF] Thatcher | Turnover of Information Technology Workers: Examining Empirically the Influence of Attitudes, Job Characteristics, and External Markets[END_REF][START_REF] Jung | Mining the voice of employees: A text mining approach to identifying and analyzing job satisfaction factors from online employee reviews[END_REF]. For instance, [START_REF] Joshi | Impact of the quality of information products on information system users' job satisfaction: An empirical investigation[END_REF] studied the impact of information quality on job satisfaction. The results from their study of 368 users from organizations in the Midwestern United States indicate that the quality of information positively relates with job satisfaction. Similarly, and more recently, [START_REF] Jung | Mining the voice of employees: A text mining approach to identifying and analyzing job satisfaction factors from online employee reviews[END_REF] argued that "there is still a lack of studies on identifying employees' job satisfaction factors" (p. 1). Then, they identified the factors affecting job satisfaction at different levels, including industry, company, and group levels. Their study on ten different industries notes that the education industry obtained the largest number of "cons" regarding the job satisfaction and lowest overall job satisfaction rate [START_REF] Jung | Mining the voice of employees: A text mining approach to identifying and analyzing job satisfaction factors from online employee reviews[END_REF], which highlights the need for further research to better understand the impact of such job dissatisfaction in academia. In the IS literature, the only empirical study on job satisfaction outcomes was executed by [START_REF] Thatcher | Turnover of Information Technology Workers: Examining Empirically the Influence of Attitudes, Job Characteristics, and External Markets[END_REF] on 191 IT workers. Their results indicate that job satisfaction impacts (1) organizational commitment, (2) turnover intent, and (3) turnover. While the predictors of job satisfaction have mostly been studied in the IS literature (e.g., [START_REF] Joshi | Impact of the quality of information products on information system users' job satisfaction: An empirical investigation[END_REF][START_REF] Jung | Mining the voice of employees: A text mining approach to identifying and analyzing job satisfaction factors from online employee reviews[END_REF], the outcomes of job satisfaction have been studied less (e.g., [START_REF] Thatcher | Turnover of Information Technology Workers: Examining Empirically the Influence of Attitudes, Job Characteristics, and External Markets[END_REF].

Consequently, we aim to fill this research gap.

Student satisfaction has also been studied in the IS literature [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF][START_REF] Rodríguez-Ardura | E-learning continuance: The impact of interactivity and the mediating role of imagery, presence and flow[END_REF][START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF]. From their quantitative study on 94 Spanish students attending a 60-hour face-to-face management course, [START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF] argued that the use of technology in education, such as Moodle-based teaching platforms and emails, relates positively with students' engagement, learning performance, and satisfaction. Those relationships become amplified with the use of social media applications like Twitter. Investigating a different delivery method, [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF] studied 174 MBA students engaged in online learning. They argued that online learning enables the formation of social capital, which, in turn, impacts students' satisfaction. The authors argued that "Instructor-learner interactions through both public and private access to selected asynchronous and synchronous media in our study reveal that community membership, development of trust, sociability, and smoothing of communication are especially out-standing elements of social capital" (p. 516). Additionally, Rodríguez-Ardura & Meseguer-Artola (2016) studied online students' attitudes, intentions to continue, and actual continuance behavior. They collected data from 2,530 students of an open distance university to investigate the mechanisms explaining e-learning interactivity. Rodríguez-Ardura and Meseguer-Artola (2016) encourage further study on hybrid programs. Indeed, "further investigation is suggested to test the proposed model on other independent educative environments (purely online and blended)" (Rodríguez-Ardura & Meseguer-Artola, 2016, p. 512). From the empirical studies conducted by [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF][START_REF] Rodríguez-Ardura | E-learning continuance: The impact of interactivity and the mediating role of imagery, presence and flow[END_REF][START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF] in the IS literature on students' satisfaction, we identify two deficiencies: First, the absence of a study of the hybrid delivery method, and second, the absence of comparison between different delivery methods. Our study will contribute to addressing those two deficiencies by anchoring our paper in the vital TML stream of research in the IS literature.

Technology-mediated learning

In her early paper, Maryam Alavi investigated computer-mediated collaborative learning in HEI to go beyond the lectures and class discussion and catalyze a collaborative learning process as well as students' learning [START_REF] Alavi | Computer-mediated collaborative learning: An empirical evaluation[END_REF]. Seven years later, in their seminal paper published in MIS Quarterly, [START_REF] Alavi | Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues[END_REF] defined TML as "an environment in which the learner's interactions with learning materials (reading, assignment, exercises, etc.), peers, and/or instructors are mediated through advanced information technologies" (p. 2). [START_REF] Alavi | Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues[END_REF] called for greater depth and breadth of research on TML. Specifically, they encouraged further studies on the impact of technology on learning.

Following such calls, numerous empirical studies have been conducted, frequently comparing TML with traditional teaching. Indeed, multiple forms of TML have been empirically investigated by the IS literature, such as desktop video conferencing in support of collaborative telelearning (Maryam Alavi et al., 1995), virtual learning [START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF], asynchronous learning networks [START_REF] Coppola | Becoming a virtual professor: Pedagogical roles and asynchronous learning networks[END_REF], virtual worlds [START_REF] Franceschi | Engaging group e-learning in virtual worlds[END_REF], or online social networking [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF][START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF], among others.

For instance, Leidner and Jarvenpaa (1993) studied "how computer-based teaching differs from traditional teaching methods in terms of class interaction and in-class learning" (p. 24). Similarly, [START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF] studied the effectiveness of learning in a virtual learning environment compared with a traditional classroom. More recently, [START_REF] Söllner | Process is king: Evaluating the performance of technology-mediated learning in vocational software training[END_REF] argued that "TML is a major trend in education since it allows to integrate the strengths of traditional-and IT-based learning activities" (p. 233). The findings from their empirical study on 161 participants of TML vocational software training programs highlighted the value of the TML process quality aspects.

The authors acknowledge that they used the same questionnaire to measure the dependent and independent variables, which can create common method variances. They encourage further studies to better dissociate dependent and independent variables in the research design. We aimed to address this call for further study in our research design.

Most of the existing IS literature investigates the role of technology on individual learning [START_REF] Leidner | The use of information technology to enhance management school education: A theoretical view[END_REF][START_REF] Arbaugh | The importance of participant interaction in online environments[END_REF][START_REF] Filippou | Modelling the impact of study behaviours on academic performance to inform the design of a persuasive system[END_REF]. Considering the results from those IS empirical studies, it appears unclear whether TML catalyzes the learning and satisfaction of students. Some authors mention some positive impacts [START_REF] Alavi | Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation of collaborative telelearning[END_REF][START_REF] Chiu | Examining the integrated influence of fairness and quality on learners' satisfaction and Web-based learning continuance intention[END_REF][START_REF] Chu | Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning: A human agency perspective[END_REF], negative impacts [START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF][START_REF] Franceschi | Engaging group e-learning in virtual worlds[END_REF][START_REF] Hu | Examining the role of learning engagement in technology-mediated learning and its effects on learning effectiveness and satisfaction[END_REF], or no significant difference [START_REF] Alavi | Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation of collaborative telelearning[END_REF][START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF].

Initially, [START_REF] Alavi | Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation of collaborative telelearning[END_REF] compared three environments: distant collaborative telelearning, local collaborative telelearning, and face-to-face learning. The authors argued that the MBA students were equally satisfied across those different environments. However, they argued that MBA students attending distant desktop video conferencing were more critical thinkers and more committed to their groups. Additionally, [START_REF] Chiu | Examining the integrated influence of fairness and quality on learners' satisfaction and Web-based learning continuance intention[END_REF] studied the students' satisfaction with the use of web-based learning. From their empirical study on 289 learners from web-based learning services, [START_REF] Chiu | Examining the integrated influence of fairness and quality on learners' satisfaction and Web-based learning continuance intention[END_REF] argued that information quality, system quality, system use, distributive fairness, and interactional fairness have a positive impact on satisfaction. They also confirmed the relation between satisfaction and web-based learning continuance intention. Moreover, [START_REF] Chu | Explaining changes in learning and work practice following the adoption of online learning: A human agency perspective[END_REF] revealed in their study of the adoption and implementation of online learning, that "offline learning was more apt to be situated in practice rather than consumed in the classroom" (p. 95).

Alternatively, [START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF] argued that no significant difference in learning exists between a virtual learning environment and a traditional classroom. Additionally, they argued that students are less satisfied with virtual learning than traditional learning. Similarly, [START_REF] Franceschi | Engaging group e-learning in virtual worlds[END_REF] mentioned the shortcomings of e-learning technologies, considered a "poor support for group-oriented learning" (p. 74). Furthermore, [START_REF] Hu | Examining the role of learning engagement in technology-mediated learning and its effects on learning effectiveness and satisfaction[END_REF] also studied the impact of TML on learning and satisfaction. The findings from their study on 212 university students learning Adobe Photoshop indicated that "the use of preprogrammed video contents to deliver learning materials negatively affects learning engagement, which in turn reduces perceived learning effectiveness and satisfaction." (p. 782). Consequently, the current IS literature calls for further research on the debate about the positive, negative, or insignificant impact of technology on learning.

Hypotheses development

The study of satisfaction in academia has become increasingly critical regarding institutional, cultural, and social changes occurring in HEIs (Webber, 2019). Consequently, faculty satisfaction has been recognized as one of the five pillars of quality online education in the Online Learning Consortium's (2017) quality framework. Two decades earlier, [START_REF] Heskett | The Service Profit Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Value[END_REF] had already suggested higher levels of employee satisfaction result in better service, and employees who benefit from resources and support are more likely to provide excellent service. Recent studies have also suggested that faculty satisfaction and course quality relate positively [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Weerasinghe | Student's satisfaction in higher education literature review[END_REF][START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF].

HEIs fear that faculty dissatisfaction could lead to lower program quality. For instance, [START_REF] Bexley | The motivations, value, and future plans of Australian academics[END_REF] highlighted how increasing academic work stress relates to pressure to publish, staff reduction, the increased use of part-time contractors, and intensified competition between HEIs.

These lead to a drop in faculty satisfaction, which may result in decreased work performance [START_REF] Shin | Academics job satisfaction and job stress across countries in the changing academic environments[END_REF]) and course quality. Additionally, such dissatisfaction may also cause reduced individual productivity affecting the entire organization through lower quality courses, academic work, and student-faculty relationships [START_REF] Dobija | The impact of accreditation agencies and other powerful stakeholders on the performance measurement in Polish universities[END_REF]. 2020) studied faculty satisfaction with both face-to-face and online delivery methods. From their qualitative exploration of 15 teachers from six Swedish universities, they argue that studentteacher relationships change according to the delivery method and influence student engagement and motivation. Based on this understanding, we offer the following hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: Faculty satisfaction positively relates with MBA program quality. [START_REF] Parasuraman | A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research[END_REF] initially defined customers' expectations as "desires or wants of consumers, i.e., what they feel a service provider should offer rather than would offer" (p. 43).

Adding to that, [START_REF] Yi | A Critical Review of Consumer Satisfaction[END_REF] argued that high expectations might lead to a higher evaluation of the service, pushing companies to raise expectations. [START_REF] Zeithaml | Services Marketing[END_REF] suggested that customer expectations refer to the pre-existing beliefs about a given service, which often constitute a reference point against performance evaluations. Such phenomenon has been documented by [START_REF] Oliver | Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer[END_REF], who argued expectations may also positively affect perceived quality because "expectations may have already predisposed the consumer to respond to the product in a certain way" (p. 89). Thus, the higher the expectation, the higher the perceived quality. To illustrate that, [START_REF] Mostaghimi | An investigation of the effects of customer's expectations and perceived quality on customer's loyalty with the mediating role of the perceived value and customer's satisfaction[END_REF] study, conducted in Iran, found that customers' expectations have a positive impact on customers' quality evaluations. However, limitations to this mechanism exist, such as rising expectations regarding service quality, which may create negative evaluations [START_REF] Yüksel | The expectancy-disinformation paradigm: A critique[END_REF]. In the HEI context, program expectations and program quality received little attention and were restricted to investigate the expectation-quality gap [START_REF] Yeo | Through a different lens: Bridging the expectation-perception (quality) divide in higher education[END_REF]. Consequently, Sultan and Yin Wong ( 2010) called for further research on "the role of importance, expectation, and performance on service quality in higher education" (p. 268). That call is investigated here with Hypothesis 2.

Hypothesis 2: MBA program expectations positively relate with MBA program quality.

Following the SPC model, [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF] discussed the relationship between external service quality and perceived value. [START_REF] Kuo | The relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services[END_REF] defined a customer's perceived value from the perspective of money, benefit, and quality. From a monetary standpoint, value is generated when people pay less for goods and services, creating a difference between the highest price consumers are willing to pay and the amount actually paid. Besides the money aspect, the benefit perspective includes non-monetary aspects, such as time, psychological, and transaction cost [START_REF] Zeithaml | Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: A means-end model and synthesis of evidence[END_REF][START_REF] Cronin | Assessing the effects of quality, value, and customer satisfaction on consumer behavioral intentions in service environments[END_REF]. Existing studies are consistent and suggest that service quality positively influences perceived value [START_REF] Turel | Satisfaction with mobile services in Canada: An empirical investigation[END_REF][START_REF] Kuo | The relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services[END_REF]. This relationship is significant and positive across different industries and sectors, including banking [START_REF] Hsu | Application of customer satisfaction study to derive customer knowledge[END_REF], telecommunications [START_REF] Turel | Satisfaction with mobile services in Canada: An empirical investigation[END_REF], and tourism [START_REF] Wang | Examining antecedents and consequences of tourist satisfaction: A structural modelling approach[END_REF].

Similarly, within the higher education context, existing studies support the existence of a relationship between the program's quality and perceived value. For instance, [START_REF] Dlacic | Exploring perceived service quality, perceived value, and repurchase intention in higher education using structural equation modeling[END_REF] found a positive relationship between quality and perceived value in a study based on 735 respondents. Consequently, we propose Hypothesis 3 based on these findings.

Hypothesis 3: MBA program quality positively relates with perceived MBA program value.

There is a close relationship between individuals' value judgments of a product or service and their overall experience of satisfaction [START_REF] Grimmelikhuijsen | Reconsidering the expectancy disconfirmation model. Three experimental replications[END_REF]. This notion arises from the adaptation level theory by Harry [START_REF] Helson | Adaptation-level as a basis for a quantitative theory of frames of reference[END_REF], which proposed that subjective judgments are relative to the prevailing norm (or adaptation level). Thus, the phenomenon is a type of contextual effect. Recent studies often refer to adaptation level theory in the context of employment satisfaction [START_REF] Ritter | Understanding role stressors and job satisfaction over time using adaptation theory[END_REF] and work engagement [START_REF] Sun | The Roller Coaster of Leader Affect: An Investigation of Observed Leader Affect Variability and Engagement[END_REF].

Based on this theory, [START_REF] Oliver | A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions[END_REF] argued satisfaction depends on the function of an adaptation level component or expectations and the perception of disconfirmation. The disconfirmation degree is often analyzed by comparing performance with expectations. This comparison serves as a point of reference to facilitate a comparative conclusion or judgment. When the product's performance significantly exceeds the expected service, a positive disconfirmation occurs. If product performance does not meet expectations, a negative disconfirmation occurs [START_REF] Oliver | A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions[END_REF][START_REF] Grimmelikhuijsen | Reconsidering the expectancy disconfirmation model. Three experimental replications[END_REF]. [START_REF] Oliver | Cognitive, affective, and attribute bases of the satisfaction response[END_REF] argued a customer's feeling of fulfillment involves both cognitive and affective components: the customer's cognitive experience of having met or unmet expectations leads to an affective experience of satisfaction or dissatisfaction. [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF] argued that within the SPC model, the maximization of perceived value implies an increase in customer satisfaction.

Studies in e-commerce [START_REF] Yang | Customer perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty: the role of switching costs[END_REF]) and telecom [START_REF] Kuo | The relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services[END_REF][START_REF] Wang | An integrated Framework for Service Quality, Customer Value, Satisfaction: Evidence from China's Telecommunication Industry[END_REF] have confirmed the existence of a positive relationship between perceived value and customer satisfaction. However, the value-satisfaction relationship has not been studied concerning HEIs; existing studies are limited to the study of students' satisfaction and dissatisfaction [START_REF] Douglas | Understanding student satisfaction and dissatisfaction: an interpretive study in the UK higher education context[END_REF] related to the role the lecturer plays in the educational experience [START_REF] Kuh | Assessing what really matters to student learning inside the national survey of student engagement[END_REF]. More precisely, the course content quality, the faculty feedback quality, and the student-faculty and student-student relationship were found to be vital elements of student satisfaction [START_REF] Kuh | The effects of student-faculty interaction in the 1990s[END_REF][START_REF] Arbaugh | The importance of participant interaction in online environments[END_REF][START_REF] Chiu | Examining the integrated influence of fairness and quality on learners' satisfaction and Web-based learning continuance intention[END_REF][START_REF] Remedios | I Liked Your Course Because You Taught Me Well: The Influence of Grades, Workload, Expectations and Goals on Students' Evaluations of Teaching[END_REF][START_REF] García-Aracil | European graduates' level of satisfaction with higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Hu | Examining the role of learning engagement in technology-mediated learning and its effects on learning effectiveness and satisfaction[END_REF][START_REF] Sojkin | Determinants of higher education choices and student satisfaction: the case of Poland[END_REF][START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF]. However, we lack empirical support regarding HEIs, which leads to Hypothesis 4.

Hypothesis 4: MBA program value positively relates with class satisfaction.

The SPC model implies that customer satisfaction, which is dependent on the perception of external service quality [START_REF] Heskett | Putting the service-profit chain to work[END_REF], primarily leads to customer loyalty. The concept of loyalty, which has evolved over the years, is one consumer behavior concept resulting from satisfaction. However, loyalty is not only a behavioral dimension associated with repurchase [START_REF] Caruana | Service loyalty: The effects of service quality and the mediating role of customer satisfaction[END_REF] but also incorporates the cognitive dimension [START_REF] Caruana | Service loyalty: The effects of service quality and the mediating role of customer satisfaction[END_REF], which reflects emotional and psychological attachment [START_REF] Dlacic | Exploring perceived service quality, perceived value, and repurchase intention in higher education using structural equation modeling[END_REF]. [START_REF] Zeithaml | Services Marketing[END_REF] argued that consumers with a higher level of satisfaction tend to have a stronger repurchase intention and emotional attachment and develop loyalty towards a service. In contrast, other scholars have argued customer loyalty can be enhanced by customer dependence and identification [START_REF] Cronin | Assessing the effects of quality, value, and customer satisfaction on consumer behavioral intentions in service environments[END_REF][START_REF] Scheer | Dependence and interdependence in marketing relationships: Meta-analytic insights[END_REF]. But loyalty is not necessarily dependent on satisfaction, as [START_REF] Heskett | Putting the service-profit chain to work[END_REF] have suggested. For instance, [START_REF] Homburg | Social Identity and the Service-Profit Chain[END_REF] found customers' identification with a company has a greater effect on loyalty than on satisfaction. In the HEI context, [START_REF] Dlacic | Exploring perceived service quality, perceived value, and repurchase intention in higher education using structural equation modeling[END_REF] conducted a study on 735 students from universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia and found a significant and positive impact of class satisfaction on program loyalty and repurchase intention. Similarly, [START_REF] Li | Exploring the relationship among service quality, customer loyalty and word-ofmouth for private higher education in Taiwan[END_REF] found a positive relation between student satisfaction and student loyalty. Consequently, this leads to Hypothesis 5.

Hypothesis 5: Class satisfaction positively relates with MBA program loyalty.

Within the SPC model, [START_REF] Heskett | Putting the service-profit chain to work[END_REF] considered revenue growth and profit as the last element. However, past studies failed to support the association of loyalty with revenue growth and profit [START_REF] Wiley | Customer satisfaction: a supportive work environment and its financial costs[END_REF][START_REF] Loveman | Employee Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Performance: An Empirical Examination of the Service Profit Chain in Retail Banking[END_REF][START_REF] Bernhardt | A longitudinal analysis of satisfaction and profitability[END_REF][START_REF] Homburg | Social Identity and the Service-Profit Chain[END_REF][START_REF] Evanschitzky | Perils of managing the service profit chain: The role of time lags and feedback loops[END_REF]. Furthermore, firm profitability and revenue are not overly relevant in HEIs because they are frequently supported by the state [START_REF] Mizrahi | Performance funding and management in higher education: The autonomy paradox and failures in accountability[END_REF]. So, an HEI's purpose is not usually to generate income and make profits. Rather, they exist to promote excellence in teaching and research [START_REF] Dobija | The impact of accreditation agencies and other powerful stakeholders on the performance measurement in Polish universities[END_REF].

Following [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF], we argue other outcomes, such as WOM, could be considered replacements for firm profitability and revenue and would be more meaningful in the HEI empirical setting. In line with [START_REF] Oliver | Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer[END_REF], we assume customer satisfaction, which includes cognitive and emotional factors, leads to positive recommendations. Furthermore, [START_REF] Athanassopoulos | Behavioral responses to customer satisfaction: An empirical study[END_REF] studied the impact of customer satisfaction on future behaviors and concluded that satisfied customers affect not only the decision to stay with the brand (and, thus, increase the revenue as within the SPC), but also engage in communication about the brand, including WOM. Additionally, WOM is a good substitute because it strongly influences customer choice, which may increase market share [START_REF] Casaló | The role of satisfaction and website usability in developing customer loyalty and positive word-of-mouth in the e-banking services[END_REF]. WOM conveys people's perceptions, feedbacks, and opinions [START_REF] Helm | Viral Marketing-Establishing Customer Relationships by 'Word-of-mouse[END_REF] and is considered a key medium for transmitting customer satisfaction from past or current customers to potential customers [START_REF] Brown | Word of mouth communication within online communities: Conceptualizing the online social network[END_REF]. Consequently, WOM was found to be particularly important for service providers because their offers are intangible and often do not lead to repurchase [START_REF] Ng | Generating positive word-of-mouth in the service experience[END_REF]. Richins (2001) argued loyalty is a key component of WOM because loyal customers are more likely to make recommendations. Thus, loyal customers encourage other customers to purchase products and services through positive WOM. [START_REF] Johnston | Who and what influences choice of university? Student and university perceptions[END_REF] argued that WOM is of particular importance in HEI because assessing the quality of the service through repurchase is hazardous.

Thus, according to [START_REF] Mazzarol | Push-Pull" Factors Influencing International Students Destination Choice[END_REF], WOM is extremely powerful because HEI applicants are greatly influenced by advice from friends and family members. In the context of higher education, studies show loyal students tend to engage in positive WOM (Li, 2012;[START_REF] Dlacic | Exploring perceived service quality, perceived value, and repurchase intention in higher education using structural equation modeling[END_REF]. This was supported by Li (2012), who found a positive relationship between loyalty and the WOM of students in Taiwanese private HEIs. This leads to the following hypothesis.

Hypothesis 6: MBA program loyalty positively relates with MBA program WOM.

Studies on the importance of the educational delivery method employed on faculty satisfaction, student satisfaction, and perceived course quality remain inconclusive. [START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF] argued no extant studies have compared faculty satisfaction and student satisfaction when using online, hybrid, and face-to-face course delivery methods. However, a delivery method's success for satisfaction can depend on different elements. In a face-to-face method, institutional factors are crucial to student satisfaction (Appleton- [START_REF] Appleton-Knapp | Measuring student expectations and their effects on satisfaction: The importance of managing student expectations[END_REF]. In blended-learning studies, the essential determinant of student satisfaction relates to face-to-face activities and textbook quality [START_REF] Popa | Students' Satisfaction Towards Academic Courses in Blended Weekend Classes Program[END_REF]. In an online delivery method, student satisfaction depends on the student's relationship with the faculty and other students [START_REF] Marks | A structural equation model of predictors for effective online learning[END_REF][START_REF] Arbaugh | The importance of participant interaction in online environments[END_REF][START_REF] Hu | Examining the role of learning engagement in technology-mediated learning and its effects on learning effectiveness and satisfaction[END_REF][START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF]Fillipou et al., 2016) as well as the interactivity of the course (Rodriguez-Ardura & Meseguer-Artola, 2016) and students' efficacy with IT tools [START_REF] Leidner | The use of information technology to enhance management school education: A theoretical view[END_REF][START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF].

In a face-to-face method, institutional factors are crucial to student satisfaction (Appleton- [START_REF] Appleton-Knapp | Measuring student expectations and their effects on satisfaction: The importance of managing student expectations[END_REF]. In blended-learning studies, the essential determinant of student satisfaction relates to face-to-face activities and textbook quality [START_REF] Popa | Students' Satisfaction Towards Academic Courses in Blended Weekend Classes Program[END_REF].

20

In an online delivery method, student satisfaction depends on the student's relationship with the faculty and other students [START_REF] Marks | A structural equation model of predictors for effective online learning[END_REF][START_REF] Arbaugh | The importance of participant interaction in online environments[END_REF][START_REF] Hu | Examining the role of learning engagement in technology-mediated learning and its effects on learning effectiveness and satisfaction[END_REF][START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF]Fillipou et al., 2016;Eom & Ashill, 2016), as well as the interactivity of the course (Rodriguez-Ardura & Meseguer-Artola, 2016) and students efficacy with IT tools [START_REF] Leidner | The use of information technology to enhance management school education: A theoretical view[END_REF][START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF]. The existence of the social capital in learner-learner and learner-instructor interaction is crucial in online learning, which is enhanced by a study by [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF] on the use of asynchronous and synchronous media [START_REF] Bargeron | Asynchronous collaboration around multimedia applied to on-demand education[END_REF] and social media [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF][START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF].

Vos & Page (2020) studied the teaching role of UK business schools and the current challenges.

They argued that business schools should play a new role: "edutainment" (p. 75), aimed at providing teaching focus while simultaneously entertaining to best satisfy the students. Such an objective highly depends on "the willingness and ability of educators to develop their teaching practice and to take risks in terms of innovation in teaching" (p. 75), including the development of the hybrid delivery method, flipped classrooms, and capture lectures, among others [START_REF] Joseph-Richard | Big brother or harbinger of best practice: Can lecture capture actually improve teaching[END_REF]. Unlike [START_REF] Vos | Marketization, performative environments, and the impact of organizational climate on teaching practice in business schools[END_REF]), Fillipou et al. (2016) argue that to increase student satisfaction, learning environments should be "as engaging as possible, yet not to the point that they are distracting" (p. 900), which may be dependent on the delivery mode [START_REF] Hu | Examining the role of learning engagement in technology-mediated learning and its effects on learning effectiveness and satisfaction[END_REF][START_REF] Zacharis | A multivariate approach to predicting student outcomes in web-enabled blended learning courses[END_REF].

Although some scholars have argued no significant differences exist across delivery methods [START_REF] Alavi | Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation of collaborative telelearning[END_REF][START_REF] Grandzol | Teaching MBA statistics online: A pedagogically sound process approach[END_REF][START_REF] Friday | A Multi-Semester Comparison of Student Performance Between Multiple Traditional and Online Sections of Two Management Courses[END_REF][START_REF] Lakhal | Academic Students' Satisfaction and Learning Outcomes in a HyFlex Course: Do Delivery Modes Matter[END_REF], others have found that substantial differences exist [START_REF] Hay | Interaction and virtual learning[END_REF][START_REF] Means | Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies[END_REF][START_REF] Bowen | Interactive learning online at public universities: Evidence from a six-campus randomized trial[END_REF][START_REF] Chingos | Interactive online learning on campus: Comparing student's outcomes in hybrid and traditional courses in the University System of Maryland[END_REF]. First, [START_REF] Grandzol | Teaching MBA statistics online: A pedagogically sound process approach[END_REF] and [START_REF] Friday | A Multi-Semester Comparison of Student Performance Between Multiple Traditional and Online Sections of Two Management Courses[END_REF] observed no significant evidence that satisfaction differs between online and face-to-face delivery methods. Similarly, [START_REF] Lakhal | Academic Students' Satisfaction and Learning Outcomes in a HyFlex Course: Do Delivery Modes Matter[END_REF] surveyed 376 students and discovered no significant differences between student's satisfaction across delivery methods. However, they called for more research. Second, [START_REF] Chingos | Interactive online learning on campus: Comparing student's outcomes in hybrid and traditional courses in the University System of Maryland[END_REF] and [START_REF] Bowen | Interactive learning online at public universities: Evidence from a six-campus randomized trial[END_REF] concluded that students are more satisfied with face-to-face than hybrid delivery methods. However, [START_REF] Means | Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies[END_REF] determined that students who took hybrid classes were more satisfied and performed better than students who took traditional face-to-face courses. Although [START_REF] Alavi | Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation of collaborative telelearning[END_REF] did not find any significant differences between the student's knowledge acquisition or satisfaction between the online, face-to-face, and hybrid courses, their study suggests that online course students gained higher critical-thinking skills than other students.

Similarly, studies indicate that interactivity elicited by e-learning unleashed imagery resulted in greater "flow" (Rodriguez-Ardura & Meseguer-Artola, 2016, p. 512).

Still, [START_REF] Popa | Students' Satisfaction Towards Academic Courses in Blended Weekend Classes Program[END_REF] have argued face-to-face and hybrid courses are linked. Therefore, we will consider the hybrid method a supplement to the existing face-to-face method, which significantly differs from fully online teaching methods. Consequently, we propose Hypothesis 7.

Hypothesis 7: The delivery method moderates the positive effect of all hypotheses, such that the effect is stronger when the delivery mode is a face-to-face-hybrid rather than online.

Based on the previous hypotheses, the development of the SPC model in the specific context of HEIs, we propose the following model (Figure 1): The questionnaire was developed through a multistage process following [START_REF] Churchill | A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs[END_REF], [START_REF] Anderson | Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach[END_REF], [START_REF] Hazan | Attachment as an organizational framework for research on close relationships[END_REF], and [START_REF] Hazan | Pair Bonds as Attachments: Evaluating the Evidence[END_REF]. More specifically, we followed a ten-step procedure: (1) conduct preliminary interviews with seven HEI experts; (2) find seven validated constructs in the literature; (3) generate the sample of items; (4) present the draft questionnaire to another three experts in the field of marketing and HEIs; (5) collect data regarding the pre-test base on 42 responses; (6) purify the constructs with the use of Cronbach's alpha and factor analysis; (7) collect the main data set; (8) assess reliability with the use of Cronbach's alpha and factor analysis; (9) assess the validity (content validity, construct validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and measurement model validity); and (10) proceed with the statistical analysis and the test of our hypotheses in our confirmatory analysis.

Measurements

Two separate electronic surveys were distributed to the professors and students of the same class.

We aimed to measure the independent variables by the professors and the dependent variables by the students within a comprehensive SPC. The list of constructs and their descriptions are presented in Table 1. 6 subconstructs: work on present job (5 items), pay (6 items), opportunities for promotion (6 items), supervision (6 items), people in present job (6 items), and job in general (8 items). Yes (1), No (2), I cannot decide (3) [START_REF] Smith | The measurement of satisfaction in work and retirement[END_REF] initially developed the job descriptive index (JDI), then, it was completed by the measurement of job in general (JIG). Stanton et al. (2002) developed the abridged Job Descriptive Index (aJDI) and JIG [START_REF] Balzer | Users' manual for the Job Descriptive Index (JDI: 1997 version) and the job in general scales[END_REF]; [START_REF] Kinicki | Assessing the construct validity of the Job Descriptive Index: A review and meta-analysis[END_REF]; Stanton et al., (2002) MBA program expectation:

2 items (5-point Likert scale)
This construct is based on the disconfirmation paradigm from [START_REF] Oliver | Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer[END_REF][START_REF] Oliver | Cognitive, affective, and attribute bases of the satisfaction response[END_REF] SERVQUAL is a service quality measurement tool developed by [START_REF] Parasuraman | SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality[END_REF]. It is used to appraise customer desires and opinions on the quality of service in the retail and service industries. Customers seek value for their money and, hence, seek excellent service. External service comprises monetary and non-monetary factors [START_REF] Zeithaml | Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: A means-end model and synthesis of evidence[END_REF][START_REF] Woodruff | Customer value: The next source for competitive advantage[END_REF]. [START_REF] Stodnick | Using SERVQUAL to measure the quality of the classroom experience[END_REF].

Class satisfaction:

2 items (5-point Likert scale) Customers decide if they are satisfied or dissatisfied. When services or products meet or exceed the customer's expectations, customer satisfaction is achieved [START_REF] Oliver | A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions[END_REF][START_REF] Oliver | Cognitive, affective, and attribute bases of the satisfaction response[END_REF][START_REF] Oliver | Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer[END_REF][START_REF] Oliver | Response determinants in satisfaction judgments[END_REF][START_REF] Westbrook | Developing better measures of consumer satisfaction: Some preliminary results[END_REF]. [START_REF] Kara | Business student satisfaction, intentions, and retention in higher education: An empirical investigation[END_REF]; [START_REF] Serenko | Student satisfaction with Canadian music programmes: The application of the American Customer Satisfaction Model in higher education[END_REF] MBA program loyalty:

3 items (5-point Likert scale)
This construct is based on the scale of perceived loyalty [START_REF] Reichheld | Loyalty-based management[END_REF][START_REF] Heskett | Putting the service-profit chain to work[END_REF][START_REF] Heskett | The Service Profit Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Value[END_REF][START_REF] Fornell | The American customer satisfaction index: Nature, purpose, and findings[END_REF]. [START_REF] Fornell | The American customer satisfaction index: Nature, purpose, and findings[END_REF]; [START_REF] Oliver | Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer[END_REF]; [START_REF] Reichheld | The loyalty effect-The relationship between loyalty and profits[END_REF]; [START_REF] Serenko | Student satisfaction with Canadian music programmes: The application of the American Customer Satisfaction Model in higher education[END_REF] MBA program WOM: 3 items (5-point Likert scale) WOM is a key medium for transmitting customer satisfaction from past or current customers to future potential customers [START_REF] Tax | Customer Evaluations of Service Complaint Experiences: Implications for Relationship Marketing[END_REF][START_REF] Helm | Viral Marketing-Establishing Customer Relationships by 'Word-of-mouse[END_REF].

Our study used a perceptual measurement based on the points of view of faculty members and students. The chosen unit of analysis was individuals' perceptions based on opinions and feelings.

The subjective measurement allowed rational comparisons between firms of different sizes, resources, and market environments. Subjective performance correlates highly with respective objective performance indicators [START_REF] Dess | Measuring organizational performance in the absence of objective measures: The case of the privately held firm and conglomerate business unit[END_REF]. We used nine control variables: professor's gender; professor's age; professor's teaching experience; professor's tenure status; professor's tenure track; professor's perceived academic preparation of the students enrolled in the MBA courses; professor's course size; student's gender; and student's age.

Data collection

A pretest was performed in February and March 2012 and yielded 12 responses from faculty and 42 responses from students from different universities offering Master's programs in business administration using three delivery methods (face-to-face, online, and hybrid). The results of the pilot study were satisfactory regarding the scale's reliability.

We aimed to survey regionally accredited schools offering graduate programs using different delivery methods. We identified six schools that met our criteria. Of those, two schools refused.

One school initially accepted and then could not proceed with the data collection. Consequently, three schools participated in the data collection. Each of the participating schools delivered its program through different methods: face-to-face (School A), hybrid (School B), and online (School C).

The names of the schools will remain anonymized to comply with the signed school confidentiality agreements. School A is a private liberal arts university located in southern California. It offers graduate business education (MBA) instruction using a traditional format (WASC accredited). School B is a public university located in Tennessee. It provides executive education programs employing a combined mixed-method face-to-face and online delivery program (SACS and AACSB accredited). School C is a not-for-profit university located in Florida.

It provides graduate education in business (MBA) through an online delivery format (SACS and ACBSP accredited).

MBA-specific programs have been investigated in the IS literature, for instance, regarding the use of distant desktop video conferencing [START_REF] Alavi | Using IT to reengineer business education: An exploratory investigation of collaborative telelearning[END_REF], the development of knowledge-based systems [START_REF] Lee | An experimental investigation into the process of knowledgebased systems development[END_REF], the participants' interaction in online environments [START_REF] Arbaugh | The importance of participant interaction in online environments[END_REF], and the development of online social capital [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF]. From the study of 40 online MBA courses, [START_REF] Arbaugh | The importance of participant interaction in online environments[END_REF] argued that "while collaborative environments were associated with higher levels of learner-learner and learnersystem interaction, only learner-instructor and learner-system interaction were significantly associated with increased perceived learning." (p. 853). The link between a faculty member and student is a salient aspect of learning in an online MBA program.

To conduct data collection within American universities, a formal agreement is necessary. We underwent an extensive review process assessed by each school's internal review board (IRB) system to ensure the protection of individuals' privacy and respect of ethical standards. In this process, the documents required were a recommendation letter from the paper's lead author's research institution and evidence of the researchers' capabilities. For example, School The entire study was conducted between July 2013 and April 2014. We acknowledge that our data were collected 7 years ago. As argued by [START_REF] Allen | Distance Education Enrollment[END_REF], [START_REF] Lederman | Online Enrollments Grow, but Pace Slows[END_REF], and [START_REF] Ashour | How technology has shaped university students' perceptions and expectations around higher education: an exploratory study of the United Arab Emirates[END_REF] in recent studies, the proportion of face-to-face, hybrid, and online delivery methods slightly increases over time, suggesting that our findings are still meaningful today. Indeed, while distance learning represented 13.9% in 2014, it grew to 17.6% in 2019. In 2014, 14.2% of students attended some distance learning courses, and in 2019, this number grew to 19.7%. (Statista, 2021). [START_REF] Franceschi | Engaging group e-learning in virtual worlds[END_REF] argued, "Imagine that a time machine were to bring an observer from the 19th century to our time. If this person would visit a hospital, things would be entirely different. Within the e-mail, a survey link was provided using Qualtrics. Due to each school's IRB's requirements, a consent form to be signed was included as the first item on both surveys. Only respondents providing consent could proceed with the questionnaire. The response rate was 31.6% with 366 student respondents and 88.6% (a high rate) with 93 professor respondents (see Table 2 for the sample description). The professors' responses (filling the independent variables) and the students' responses (filling the dependent variables) were matched using the course-/class-specific code.

Empirical analysis

Descriptive statistics

Seven higher education experts and three marketing experts judged content validity. All the academic experts agreed the measurement scales were appropriate for measuring constructs. Then, content validity was assessed and confirmed by referring to the literature [START_REF] Babbie | The Practice of Social Research[END_REF], including Journal of Marketing, Journal of Service Research, and Marketing Science, which confirmed all the measurement scales are widely used. Finally, reliability tests assessed the content validity [START_REF] Zwick | Another look at interrater agreement[END_REF][START_REF] Rust | Reliability measures for qualitative data: Theory and implications[END_REF]. Using Cronbach's alpha, the seven constructs' reliability was examined. Twenty-two items were deleted during the scale purification. Afterward, Cronbach's alpha was greater than 0.70 [START_REF] Nunnally | The Assessment of Reliability[END_REF] for all factors, which indicates an acceptable consistency of the measurement items [START_REF] Nunnally | Psychometric theory[END_REF]. All the study items converge by sharing a high proportion of common variance. Based on correlation and factor loadings, we assessed the convergent validity.

Skewness and kurtosis tests were performed and assessed the normal distribution of our data.

Based on the bivariate correlation and variance inflation factor (VIF), we assessed the absence of multicollinearity in our data collection. Table 3 presents the means, standard deviations, and correlation. Correlation is significant at the 0.001 level (two-tailed) ns: Correlation is not significant N=366

Confirmatory factor analysis

The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; see Table 4) of the measurement model showed an acceptable fit (CMIN/df = 3.585, CFI = 0.833, IFI = 0.834, RMSEA = 0.084). The results of the measurement model were favorable in that all items loaded significantly on their appropriate factor.

All standardized factor loadings were over 0.5 and highly significant at p-value < 0.001, which indicates good convergent validity among the instruments of each construct [START_REF] Bagozzi | On the evaluation of structural equation models[END_REF]).

Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability (CR) facilitate assessing the construct measures' reliability [START_REF] Benitez | How to perform and report an impactful analysis using partial least squares: Guidelines for confirmatory and explanatory IS research[END_REF]. CRs of all constructs are greater than the 0.60 threshold [START_REF] Bagozzi | On the evaluation of structural equation models[END_REF], which ensures the reliability of our constructs. In our data, the CRs range from 0.812 to 0.977, which ensures reliability. In our study, the standardized loadings are above 0.5 and significant. The results of the measurement model were favorable in that all items loaded significantly on their appropriate factor.

Structural equation modeling

In our structural equation models, we simplified the faculty satisfaction and MBA program quality by replacing the subconstructs with the average of the constituting items. Consequently, faculty satisfaction is composed of four items: work, pay, promotion, and supervision. MBA program quality includes five items: empathy, assurance, responsiveness, reliability, and tangibles. In Model 1, we include the two delivery methods: (a) face-to-face and (b) hybrid and online (see Table 5).

Model 1 is overidentified (492 degrees of freedom). The chi-square value is 2,010,230 with a probability level equal to 0.000. This model identification is coherent for two reasons: (1) each observed variable in the model measures only one latent factor and (2) there is one observed variable per factor fixed to 1.

We assessed the measurement model validity. The overall model fit was acceptable (X 2 /df = 4.086, CFI = 0.897, IFI = 0.897, RMSEA = 0.065). CMIN/DF is acceptable because it should be below 5 and preferably below 3 [START_REF] Hu | Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives[END_REF]. All standardized factor loadings were over 0.5 and highly significant at p-value < 0.001, which indicates good convergent validity among the instruments of each construct [START_REF] Bagozzi | On the evaluation of structural equation models[END_REF]. Because our model's fit is acceptable, we analyzed the maximum likelihood of estimates, checked the feasibility of parameter estimates, and verified the appropriateness of standard errors to reflect the precision of the estimation of the parameter.

Our analysis led to the following determinations. We do not validate Hypothesis 1. Faculty satisfaction does not significantly relate with MBA program quality, although the relationship tends to be weakly significant for the face-to-face-hybrid delivery method (0.156 * ). We validate that In Model 2, we added the control variables. We controlled for the effects of professor gender (1: male; 2: female); professor age, professor teaching experience (1-5; 6-10; 11-15; 16-20; 21-25; 26-30; over 30), professor tenure status (1: tenured; 2: non-tenured), professor tenure track (0:

tenured; 1: tenure track; 2: non-tenure track), the professor's perceived academic preparation of the students enrolled in the MBA courses (below college level; slightly below college level, college level, slightly above college level; above college level), professor course size (1-30; 31-60; 61-90; 91-120; 121-150; 151-180; 181-200; >200), student gender (1: male; 2: female), and student age.

We note many control variables are significant in Model 2. Starting with the most significant control variables ( *** p < 0.001), we observed that tenured professors are much more satisfied than non-tenured professors. Also, we observed that non-tenure-track professors are more satisfied than professors during their tenure-track time. Male students are much more positive about the MBA program value evaluation than female students. However, female students are much more positive about the MBA program WOM than male students.

Other control variables are moderately significant ( ** p < 0.01). Professor teaching experience negatively relates with job satisfaction. Male students are more loyal to their MBA program than female students. Older students are more positive about the MBA program WOM than younger students. Finally, some control variables are weakly significant ( * p < 0.05). Students attending classes given by professors not in a tenure track were more satisfied than those students attending classes given by a professor currently in a tenure track. Students attending larger classes tended to be more satisfied with the class. Older students were more loyal to their MBA programs than younger students.

Moderation analysis

Based on the z-score of Model 5, we compared two groups according to their delivery mode: Model 3 (face-to-face-hybrid) and Model 4 (online). Face-to-face-hybrid and online deliveries were not significantly different (p > 0.10) on how faculty satisfaction relates with MBA program quality.

Still, we found that the path is weakly significant and positive for face-to-face-hybrid (0.156 * ), but it is not significant for online. Face-to-face-hybrid and online are not significantly different (p > 0.10) regarding how MBA program loyalty relates with MBA program WOM. Based on the moderation, we validate H7. We argue the delivery method moderates the positive effect of most hypotheses, such that the effect is stronger when the delivery method is face-to-face-hybrid compared with online. Our findings suggest that faculty satisfaction does not significantly relate with MBA program quality. This finding is counter-intuitive. Unlike past studies (e.g., [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF][START_REF] Heskett | The Service Profit Chain: How Leading Companies Link Profit and Growth to Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Value[END_REF][START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF][START_REF] Weerasinghe | Student's satisfaction in higher education literature review[END_REF], our data suggest that faculty satisfaction and MBA program quality do not relate, meaning neither a satisfied professor nor unsatisfied professor has a significant effect. It could mean that faculty members somewhat consider teaching activities routine and, thus, are unaffected by the degree of satisfaction. It could also mean faculty members might distinguish between their job satisfaction and the role they play in HEI. Professors would not hold students responsible for their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Also, given the emotional stress faculty members may face from publication pressure and an increasingly competitive environment, professors want to avoid an additional burden of guilt from a decrease in MBA program quality, regardless of their own degree of job satisfaction.

This absence of significance in the case of HEI, compared with other industries, could come from the acting skills professors have. If one were to attend the same play multiple times, it would be difficult to notice a difference in the actors' performances if they maintained the same enthusiasm daily, regardless of their daily mood. This is particularly true when the audience is far from the scene. The closer they are to the scene, the more impactful the verbal and non-verbal aspects are. On that point, our results suggest faculty satisfaction weakly relates with MBA program quality in a face-to-face-hybrid delivery method. It is harder for faculty members to hide their satisfaction or dissatisfaction when physically facing students in class online.

We observed tenured professors are much more satisfied than non-tenured professors, and nontenure-track professors are more satisfied than professors during their tenure tracks. This indicates existence of the tenure-track systems negatively relates with job satisfaction in academia. Being in a tenure track matters at the beginning of one's career, but experience is not synonymous with greater satisfaction. The opposite is true: our data suggest that teaching experience negatively relates with job satisfaction, and this means that over time, the professor's satisfaction erodes.

The SPC's core holds true in HEIs

In line with [START_REF] Yi | A Critical Review of Consumer Satisfaction[END_REF], we argue that the higher the expectations, the higher the evaluation of the Our findings also indicate that male students are much more positive about the MBA program value evaluation than female students. The relationship between MBA program quality and program value is influenced by the delivery method: the relationship is stronger for face-to-face-hybrid than online. This may be explained by the fact that in face-to-face and hybrid courses, students must dedicate more effort and time to attending the course [START_REF] Popa | Students' Satisfaction Towards Academic Courses in Blended Weekend Classes Program[END_REF]) (e.g., transportation, etc.), which, in the end, makes the degree more valuable [START_REF] Kuo | The relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services[END_REF]. Moreover, the firm employing the MBA student sees a greater value in the degrees granted by brick-and-mortar institutions, although the employee must be physically absent occasionally.

Our paper is also consistent with [START_REF] Grimmelikhuijsen | Reconsidering the expectancy disconfirmation model. Three experimental replications[END_REF] and [START_REF] Oliver | A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions[END_REF] concerning the positive relation between MBA program value and class satisfaction. Ours is the first empirical study investigating such a link and complements other studies done in various sectors [START_REF] Wang | An integrated Framework for Service Quality, Customer Value, Satisfaction: Evidence from China's Telecommunication Industry[END_REF][START_REF] Yang | Customer perceived value, satisfaction, and loyalty: the role of switching costs[END_REF][START_REF] Kuo | The relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services[END_REF]. Students who have a positive judgment about an MBA's value also judge the class satisfaction positively. It means positive disconfirmation occurred in HEIs; the class performances were meeting the students' expectations [START_REF] Oliver | A cognitive model of the antecedents and consequences of satisfaction decisions[END_REF][START_REF] Grimmelikhuijsen | Reconsidering the expectancy disconfirmation model. Three experimental replications[END_REF]. Such positive disconfirmation was stronger for face-to-face-hybrid deliveries than for online deliveries, which contributes to Based on three American institutions, 93 faculty members, and 366 students, our study suggests that, except for the relationship between faculty satisfaction and MBA program quality, the comprehensive SPC model applies to HEIs. Our study also fills an empirical gap by investigating the SPC in higher education; this further complements past studies in other industries [START_REF] Loveman | Employee Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Performance: An Empirical Examination of the Service Profit Chain in Retail Banking[END_REF][START_REF] Spinelli | Investigating the relationship between employee satisfaction and guest satisfaction[END_REF][START_REF] Gelade | Test of a service profit chain model in the retail banking sector[END_REF][START_REF] Enz | Competitive pricing decisions in uncertain times[END_REF][START_REF] Evanschitzky | Perils of managing the service profit chain: The role of time lags and feedback loops[END_REF].

Second, our paper further adds to the study of faculty and student satisfaction in combination, as encouraged by [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF], unlike past studies studying faculty satisfaction and student satisfaction separately [START_REF] Ramsey | Exploring the impact of cross-cultural management education on cultural intelligence, student satisfaction, and commitment[END_REF][START_REF] Weerasinghe | Student's satisfaction in higher education literature review[END_REF][START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF]Webber, 2019). We investigated job outcomes, as per the previous work of [START_REF] Thatcher | Turnover of Information Technology Workers: Examining Empirically the Influence of Attitudes, Job Characteristics, and External Markets[END_REF]. Past empirical studies in the IS literature primarily investigated the predictor of job satisfaction (e.g., [START_REF] Joshi | Impact of the quality of information products on information system users' job satisfaction: An empirical investigation[END_REF][START_REF] Jung | Mining the voice of employees: A text mining approach to identifying and analyzing job satisfaction factors from online employee reviews[END_REF] without examining its impact. Therefore, our paper fills an important research gap. Furthermore, our study investigated the consequence of faculty satisfaction in a multi-institutional research study, as recommended by [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF] and [START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF], by considering several teaching models, as suggested by [START_REF] Lakhal | Academic Students' Satisfaction and Learning Outcomes in a HyFlex Course: Do Delivery Modes Matter[END_REF]. Third, our paper contributes to Hogreve et al.'s (2017) call for alternative measures to increase revenue and profits. Considering scholars' past failures to support the link between loyalty and revenue growth/profit [START_REF] Wiley | Customer satisfaction: a supportive work environment and its financial costs[END_REF][START_REF] Loveman | Employee Satisfaction, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Performance: An Empirical Examination of the Service Profit Chain in Retail Banking[END_REF][START_REF] Bernhardt | A longitudinal analysis of satisfaction and profitability[END_REF][START_REF] Homburg | Social Identity and the Service-Profit Chain[END_REF][START_REF] Evanschitzky | Perils of managing the service profit chain: The role of time lags and feedback loops[END_REF], we replaced such outcomes with WOM. It was a satisfactory substitute because MBA program loyalty is positively related with MBA program WOM. This is one differential feature of our study regarding prior HEI research.

Fourth, our paper argues that teaching models strongly matter in HEIs because the SPC model is stronger in face-to-face-hybrid delivery than fully online delivery. The past literature on HEIs was inconclusive about how the delivery method influences faculty and student satisfaction.

Furthermore, most studies, like [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF], [START_REF] Bowen | Interactive learning online at public universities: Evidence from a six-campus randomized trial[END_REF][START_REF] Martirosyan | An examination of factors contributing to student satisfaction in Armenian higher education[END_REF], or [START_REF] Stickney | Online higher education: Faculty satisfaction and its antecedents[END_REF], considered a single delivery method. Our paper offers an important comparison between face-to-face-hybrid and online delivery methods; this is consistent with [START_REF] Bolliger | Factors influencing faculty satisfaction with online teaching and learning in higher education[END_REF]Wasilik's (2009), Lakhal et al.'s (2014), [START_REF] Martirosyan | An examination of factors contributing to student satisfaction in Armenian higher education[END_REF], and Stickney et al.'s (2019) suggestions. Our findings mostly disagree with past studies that suggest there are no significant differences across delivery methods [START_REF] Grandzol | Teaching MBA statistics online: A pedagogically sound process approach[END_REF][START_REF] Friday | A Multi-Semester Comparison of Student Performance Between Multiple Traditional and Online Sections of Two Management Courses[END_REF][START_REF] Lakhal | Academic Students' Satisfaction and Learning Outcomes in a HyFlex Course: Do Delivery Modes Matter[END_REF]. Our results are more consistent with studies arguing significant differences between delivery methods [START_REF] Hay | Interaction and virtual learning[END_REF][START_REF] Means | Evaluation of evidence-based practices in online learning: A meta-analysis and review of online learning studies[END_REF][START_REF] Bowen | Interactive learning online at public universities: Evidence from a six-campus randomized trial[END_REF][START_REF] Chingos | Interactive online learning on campus: Comparing student's outcomes in hybrid and traditional courses in the University System of Maryland[END_REF]. We find crucial differences between delivery methods, such as the SPC model, stronger in face-to-facehybrid delivery than fully online delivery. By investigating the hybrid delivery method, we directly contribute to the call made by [START_REF] Alavi | Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues[END_REF] 20 years ago. Indeed, the hybrid delivery method has not been studied with the same vigor as face-to-face and online. Our study complements the early studies on students' satisfaction investigated in the IS literature, either faceto-face [START_REF] Rueda | From traditional education technologies to student satisfaction in Management education: A theory of the role of social media applications[END_REF] or online [START_REF] Lu | Is social capital effective for online learning[END_REF][START_REF] Rodríguez-Ardura | E-learning continuance: The impact of interactivity and the mediating role of imagery, presence and flow[END_REF], by offering comparison between delivery methods. Should we teach in hybrid or fully online mode to optimize MBA WOM? We discover that hybrid is a stronger reinforcing teaching model of the SPC effects chain than the fully online method. IT creates the integration of differential business value (i.e., concerning MBA WOM and MBA loyalty) into a hybrid teaching model [START_REF] Coppola | Becoming a virtual professor: Pedagogical roles and asynchronous learning networks[END_REF]. Since the emergence of TML [START_REF] Alavi | Computer-mediated collaborative learning: An empirical evaluation[END_REF][START_REF] Alavi | Review: Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems: Conceptual Foundations and Research Issues[END_REF], the IS community hosted the debate about the role played by technology on learning and satisfaction. We observed that fully online delivery method was unsuitable for MBA students and that it might lead to a negative impact of TML on satisfaction, consistent with past studies in the IS literature, such as [START_REF] Piccoli | Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT Skills Training[END_REF], [START_REF] Franceschi | Engaging group e-learning in virtual worlds[END_REF], and [START_REF] Hu | Examining the role of learning engagement in technology-mediated learning and its effects on learning effectiveness and satisfaction[END_REF].

Our paper also holds three managerial implications. First, HEIs should not consider an MBA's program quality assessment an indicator of the satisfaction or the dissatisfaction of faculty members. Instead, those institutions need to deploy other forms of measurement to assess faculty members' job satisfaction. Second, our findings support that MBA program expectation positively relates with MBA program quality. Therefore, we encourage HEIs to raise the expectations of students coming to their universities. A student with high expectations will then rate the MBA program quality higher. Thus, HEIs should massively invest in marketing to induce students to enter programs with high expectations. Third, during the COVID-19 pandemic, HEIs were forced to shift to fully online teaching [START_REF] Carugati | Exploitation and exploration of IT in times of pandemic: from dealing with emergency to institutionalising crisis practices[END_REF]. Based on our findings, we expose that SPC is much weaker in such conditions than face-to-face and hybrid delivery methods. We recommend that HEIs return to face-to-face delivery and that they consider keeping a part of the hybrid model to secure their SPC. HEIs' IT investments should go in this direction. HEIs can carefully select, use, and leverage disruptive digital technologies to develop unique digital capabilities that enhance the hybrid teaching model, which will create business value regarding program reputation.

Should we teach in hybrid or fully online mode to maximize HEIs program reputation? We examine the teaching model's role (hybrid versus fully online) in the SPC in HEIs using survey data from 93 faculty members and 366 students from three American universities. We find that faculty members' satisfaction and the MBA program expectations improve MBA WOM by enhancing the MBA quality, MBA value, class satisfaction, and MBA loyalty. Also, we discover that hybrid is a stronger reinforcing teaching model of this effects chain than a fully online one. IT creates the integration of differential value into a hybrid teaching model. Indeed, IT matters.

The main limitation of our study lies in its cross-sectional data collection, which prevented us from drawing causality. Still, our intent was to strongly document the rationale of each link of the SPC to derive our research model. Consequently, we could draw conclusions from our confirmatory analysis with solid theoretical foundations. We propose conducting longitudinal quantitative data analysis to assess the causality of the relationships between the SPC data as a path for further study. Also, we encourage replication studies using the same theoretical model and instruments to characterize the effect of COVID-19 on the SPC model. This would offer a new outlook on our moderating effects of the delivery methods and contribute to the early findings from [START_REF] Carugati | Exploitation and exploration of IT in times of pandemic: from dealing with emergency to institutionalising crisis practices[END_REF], which argue that "When looking at changes in IT adoption and use in organisations, our theories rely-for the most part-on slow adoption timespans or-to a lesser extent-abrupt crises of short duration" (p. 762).

Another limitation of our study is the SPC model itself, which only considers a limited number of outcomes. From our empirical study, we argue that faculty dissatisfaction does not relate with a reduction in the quality of teaching. We know that the dissatisfaction of faculty members is critical now because of the current shortage of teachers [START_REF] Sims | Modelling the relationships between teacher working conditions, job satisfaction and workplace mobility[END_REF]. We assume that such dissatisfaction in teaching may imply other negative externalities, such as lower production in academic research, the search for another job in another institution, and the willingness to quit a job, among others.

We encourage future studies to connect our results with the findings from Sims (2020) and

  . To address these deficiencies, we propose the following research question: Does the comprehensive-multiple faculty members, students, institutions, and delivery methods-SPC model apply to HEIs? Using seven validated constructs from the literature and nine control variables, our paper used structural equation modeling to conduct a cross-sectional study of a comprehensive SPC by testing seven hypotheses. More precisely, we independently surveyed 93 professors and 366 students from three regionally accredited schools offering graduate programs using different delivery methods between July 2013 and April 2014. Our results indicate that (1) faculty satisfaction does not relate with MBA program quality, (2) MBA program expectation positively relates with MBA program quality, (3) MBA program quality positively relates with MBA program value, (4) MBA program value positively relates with class satisfaction, (5) class satisfaction positively relates with MBA program loyalty, (6) MBA program loyalty positively relates with MBA program WOM, and (7)

  [START_REF] Marasi | Faculty satisfaction with online teaching: a comprehensive study with American faculty[END_REF] studied faculty satisfaction in online teaching in 26 US HEI in different states. Their results indicate that faculty are satisfied with online teaching. Conversely, Jensen et al. (

Figure

  Figure 1: Research model

  [START_REF] Parasuraman | A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research[END_REF];[START_REF] Parasuraman | SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality[END_REF];[START_REF] Zeithaml | Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: A means-end model and synthesis of evidence[END_REF];[START_REF] Zeithaml | Delivering quality service: Balancing perceptions and expectations[END_REF];[START_REF] Cronin | Measuring service quality: A reexamination and extension[END_REF];[START_REF] Zeithaml | The nature and determinants of customer expectations of service[END_REF];[START_REF] Silvestro | Applying the service profit chain in a retail environment: Challenging the "satisfaction mirror[END_REF];[START_REF] Kara | Business student satisfaction, intentions, and retention in higher education: An empirical investigation[END_REF];[START_REF] Stodnick | Using SERVQUAL to measure the quality of the classroom experience[END_REF];[START_REF] Lonial | An evaluation of SERVQUAL and patient loyalty in an emerging country context[END_REF];[START_REF] Udo | Using SERVQUAL to assess the quality of e-learning experience[END_REF] MBA program value: 3 items (5-point Likert scale)

  A required the researchers to obtain a certificate of completion of the course entitled "Protecting Human Research Participants" from the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Office of Extramural Research. Additionally, School B required the researchers to earn a certificate from the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) Program entitled "Protecting Human Subjects While Doing Business Research." These certificates required taking and passing classes on (a) students in business research, (b) history and ethical principles, (c) defining research with human subjects, (d) the regulations and the social and behavioral sciences, (e) assessing risk in social and behavioral sciences, (f) informed consent, (g) privacy and confidentiality, and (h) internet research.

  However, a visit to the average university would probably be more familiar. The physical classroom has not changed much." (p. 96). Those numbers and the arguments made by scholars indicate that the context remained stable during the past decade. Data for School A were collected between February and April 2014, for School B, between July and October 2013, and School C, in September 2013. With the support of those three participating schools, the questionnaires were sent via email to faculty members and students: 105 e-mails were sent to faculty members and 1,156 e-mails were sent to students. Over the data collection period, three reminders were sent by the participating schools.

Hypothesis 2 :

 2 MBA program expectation positively relates with MBA program quality (0.376 *** ). We validate Hypothesis 3: MBA program quality positively relates with MBA program value (0.897 *** ). We validate Hypothesis 4: MBA program value is positively related with class satisfaction (0.895 *** ). We validate Hypothesis 5: class satisfaction positively relates with MBA program loyalty (0.895 *** ). We validate Hypothesis 6: MBA program loyalty positively relates with MBA program WOM (0.901 *** ).

Face

  -to-face-hybrid and online differ significantly (p < 0.01) concerning how MBA program expectation relates with MBA program quality. The delivery method moderates the relationship between MBA program expectation and MBA program quality. MBA program expectation and MBA program quality relate twice as strongly for face-to-face-hybrid (0.649 *** ) than online (0.303 *** ). Face-to-face-hybrid and online are significantly different (p < 0.05) regarding how MBA program quality relates with MBA program value, and the delivery method moderates the relationship between MBA program quality and MBA program value. MBA program quality and program value relate slightly more strongly for face-to-face-hybrid (0.918 *** ) than online (0.906 *** ). The face-to-face-hybrid and online methods differ significantly (p < 0.01) concerning how MBA program value relates with class satisfaction. The delivery method moderates the relationship between MBA program value and class satisfaction. The way MBA program value and class satisfaction relate is stronger for face-to-face-hybrid (0.93 *** ) than online (0.879 *** ). Face-to-facehybrid and online are weakly significantly different (p < 0.1) regarding how class satisfaction relates with MBA program loyalty. The delivery method moderates the relationship between class satisfaction and MBA program loyalty. Class satisfaction and MBA program loyalty relate slightly more strongly for face-to-face-hybrid (0.862 *** ) than for online (0.854 *** ).

  service. Indeed, our data reinforce that MBA program expectation positively relates with MBA program quality. Students registering in MBA programs have some pre-existing beliefs about them; these constitute their reference points. Related to our study's geographical setting, American students are well-acquainted with MBA programs' content, alumni influence, extended firm networking, etc. Our study complements[START_REF] Yeo | Through a different lens: Bridging the expectation-perception (quality) divide in higher education[END_REF] study by going beyond the investigation of the expectation-quality gap. Particularly, our findings contribute to the call from[START_REF] Sultan | Service quality in higher education-A review and research agenda[END_REF] by investigating the role of expectation on service quality in HEI using different delivery methods, finding that the relationship is twice as strong for face-to-facehybrid delivery than for online delivery. This might mean that students who register for an online MBA are much less engaged in their studies, and their expectations do not fully condition their satisfaction, as is the case for face-to-face-hybrid programs.The next link of the SPC is the relation between MBA program quality and MBA program value. As per[START_REF] Dlacic | Exploring perceived service quality, perceived value, and repurchase intention in higher education using structural equation modeling[END_REF] findings, our data support a positive relation. We found the MBA program quality has an impact on (a) the monetary aspect: by paying less for program enrollment than the amount students would be ready to pay and (b) the non-monetary aspect: by 39 not committing to full-time study, students limit transaction cost by keeping their positions in firms.

Table 1 : Study constructs

 1

	Construct/Subconstructs	Description	Representative Literature
	Faculty satisfaction:

Table 2 : Sample description

 2

	Professors	Students
	n = 93	n = 366

Table 3 : Means, standard deviations, and correlations

 3

		Mean Standard	1	2	3	4	5	6
			deviation
	1. Faculty satisfaction	1.703	1.09
	2. MBA program	4.360	0.820	ns
	expectation
	3. MBA program quality	4.122	0.803	ns	0.364 ***
	4. MBA program value	3.735	1.022	ns	0.401 *** 0.639 ***
	5. Class satisfaction	4.290	0.894	ns	0.287 *** 0.803 ***	0.57 ***
	6. MBA program loyalty	4.145	0.920	ns	0.341 *** 0.787 *** 0.746 *** 0.788 ***
	7. MBA program WOM	4.207	0.836	ns	0.349 *** 0.795 *** 0.672 *** 0.765 *** 0.891 ***
	***

  The cost of tuition for the MBA program at _______ is fair, given the quality of the program itself.

	The faculty usually provides comments to help me improve my work.	0.834 0.807
	I am getting my money's worth by taking classes at the MBA program at _______. I feel that the faculty has my best interests at heart. The school as a whole responds to student-raised concerns.	0.916 0.867 0.808
	Class_Satisfaction MBA_Program_Reliability	0.954	0.931	0.871	0.930 0.896
	I am satisfied with the professor's performance. I can rely on the school's promises.	0.905 0.86
	Overall, I am satisfied with the quality of the class. The school understands my requests from the beginning.	0.961 0.837
	MBA_Program_Loyalty School information is error-free. The faculty consistently provides good lectures.	0.681 0.791	0.916	0.846	0.909
	If I could go back in time, I would choose to enroll in the MBA program at _______ again. The faculty is dependable. MBA_Program_Tangibles	0.853 0.869 0.856			0.839
	I made the right choice by enrolling in the MBA program at The school facilities are up-to-date. _______. MBA_Program_WOM The online platform is up-to-date. The physical environment of the classroom aids in learning. In conversations with others, I typically talk positively about The school provides additional resources. the MBA program at____ I would recommend the MBA program at___ to potential The school website is accurate in content (regarding the MBA program at _______). applicants who seek my advice. CMIN/df = 3.585, CFI = 0.833, IFI = 0.827, RMSEA = 0.084; AVE = average variance extracted; CR = composite 0.968 0.582 0.947 0.858 0.686 0.945 0.502 0.874 0.84 0.963 0.832 I would encourage potential applicants to apply to the MBA program at_______. 0.939 reliability
	MBA_Program_Quality		0.967	0.856
	MBA_Program_Empathy	0.919			0.924
	The faculty often seems concerned about my learning.	0.682
	I usually feel comfortable in my interactions with the faculty.	0.859
	The faculty has the student's best interest in mind.	0.901
	The faculty usually understands the student's needs.	0.902
	The faculty instills confidence in me.	0.869
	When I have a problem, the school staff usually shows a sincere interest in solving it.	0.707
	MBA_Program_Assurance	0.955			0.924
	The faculty is knowledgeable with regard to current issues in his/her discipline.	0.675
	The faculty's grading policies are fair.	0.721
	The faculty usually has the knowledge to answer student questions effectively.	0.812
	When the faculty promises to do something by a certain time, they usually do it.	0.757
	The MBA classes at _______ provide "real-world" experience.	0.761
	Most of my courses are intellectually stimulating.	0.837
	I usually learn a lot in classes in the MBA program at _______.	0.82
	The school's staff usually has the knowledge to answer students' questions effectively.	0.826
	The school maintains accurate records.	0.668
	MBA_Program_Responsiveness	0.938			0.932
	The faculty efficiently responds to student needs.	0.876
	The faculty is usually accessible to me.	0.794
	The faculty usually gives me adequate feedback about my performance.	0.825

Table 5 : Structural equation modeling results

 5 p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001, n.s.: not significant Z-score: *** p-value < .01; ** p-value < .05; * p-value < .10

			Model 3
	Model 1 n = 366	Model 2 n = 366	Face-to-face-Hybrid	Model 4 Online n = 220	Model 5 z-score n = 366
			n = 146

*

Faculty satisfaction: Good actors in SPC?

  [START_REF] Hogreve | The Service-Profit Chain: A Meta-Analytic Test of a Comprehensive Theoretical Framework[END_REF]. It also means the positive disconfirmation is weaker for online studies. Thus, an HEI may have difficulty pleasing an MBA student, even if the MBA program value is comparable with that delivered by brick-and-mortar institutions.

	methods (i.e., teaching models). Our study holds four contributions and three managerial
	implications.
	First, our article contributes to further investigations into the literature deficiencies by studying
	the comprehensive SPC model in HEIs in response to Hogreve et al.'s (2017) call. To overcome
	the SPC literature's deficiencies, which Hogreve et al. (2017) have considered largely fragmented
	and ambiguous, we considered all SPC elements while replacing profit and growth by WOM.
	As per Heskett et al.'s (1994) original SPC model and Dlacic et al.'s (2014) and Li's (2012)
	studies, the relation between class satisfaction and MBA program loyalty is supported in HEIs.
	MBA program loyalty can take the form of maintaining close contact with MBA alumni, who may

[START_REF] Brown | Word of mouth communication within online communities: Conceptualizing the online social network[END_REF];[START_REF] Cheema | The effect of need for uniqueness on word of mouth[END_REF];[START_REF] Serenko | Student satisfaction with Canadian music programmes: The application of the American Customer Satisfaction Model in higher education[END_REF]

We want to thank for the research sponsorship received by the European Regional Development Fund (European Union) and the Government of Spain (Research Project ECO2017-84138-P), the Regional Government of Andalusia (Research Project A-SEJ-154-UGR18), the Mïnd Research Area of Excellence at Rennes School of Business, and the Slovenian Research Agency (Research Core Funding No. P5-0410).

 [START_REF] Fornell | Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error[END_REF]argued that if the average variance extracted (AVE) is greater than 0.50 of the total variance, convergent validity is established; this is our case. To assess the discriminant validity, the [START_REF] Fornell | Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error[END_REF] criterion compare the square root of the constructs' AVEs with the construct correlations. This analysis shows that across all model setups and constructs, each latent variable shares more variance with its own block of indicators than another latent variable representing a different block of indicators. The measurement model showed acceptable discriminant validity for all constructs. Considering the CFA results, we assessed validity and reliability based on [START_REF] Fornell | Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error[END_REF] recommendations. [START_REF] Oliver | Satisfaction: A behavioral perspective on the consumer[END_REF] and engaging in communication [START_REF] Athanassopoulos | Behavioral responses to customer satisfaction: An empirical study[END_REF]. These positive recommendations are valuable to HEIs because MBA students are influenced by MBA alumni recommendations. Consequently, our study echoes [START_REF] Mazzarol | Push-Pull" Factors Influencing International Students Destination Choice[END_REF], who found that friends and family members strongly influence HEI applicants. We also note that female students are much more positive about the MBA program WOM than male students, and older students are more positive about MBA program WOM than younger students. Marketing managers of HEI may consider such differences to encourage a particular target to engage in communications.

Contributions to research, lessons learned, and core conclusions

Disruptive technologies can be used in the digital economy to improve customer experience, satisfaction, and WOM (e.g., [START_REF] Bhattacharyya | S-commerce: Influence of Facebook likes on purchases and recommendations on a linked e-commerce site[END_REF][START_REF] Wu | How to increase customer repeated bookings in the short-term room rental market? A large-scale granular data investigation[END_REF]. In the digital economy, should we teach in hybrid or fully online mode to maximize programs' reputation? We argue that the comprehensive SPC model applies to HEIs and is strongly influenced by the delivery