Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine the interaction of tangibles, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy dimensions of the service quality (SERVQUAL) and student satisfaction (SS), and second, to explore the mediating role of cross-functional collaboration (CFC) on these relationships. Design/methodology/approach The structural equation modelling was used to examine the direct and mediated effect models using data collected through a survey of 352 students from 18 higher education institutes (HEIs) in Oman. Findings The statistical analysis confirms our main hypotheses. First, the centrality of tangibles, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy dimensions of the service quality was established in the direct effect model, while the importance of tangibles and responsiveness was not confirmed in the mediated effect model. Second, it approved the partial mediation effect of CFC on the five dimensions of SERVQUAL and satisfaction. Research limitations/implications Service quality, level of CFC and relative SS in higher education could be subjected to contextual verification and evaluation of these internal and external contextual factors should be considered. Practical implications Several implications are highlighted for the effective development of the service quality of student affairs departments (SADs), the development of CFC for effective management, development and deployment of various student affairs initiatives. Originality/value This paper satisfies the need to validate the SERVQUAL model in different contexts such as SADs, and the need to investigate the possible mediating effect of other factors on SERVQUAL dimensions and satisfaction to show how the latter can be achieved.
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