*4.2. Discussion and Implications*

The conceptual model proposed in this paper integrates the differentiation strategy, positional advantage, and export performance. The results confirm that the differentiation strategy has a positive effect on the export performance of Mozambican SMEs, corroborating with the literature on this matter (Aulakh et al. 2000; Crespo et al. 2020; Morgan et al. 2004; Keskin et al. 2021). The following can be argued: first, that the differentiation strategy, related to the use of unique attributes vis-à-vis competitors (Porter 1985), is successfully used by Mozambican SMEs to increase their export performance; second, the role of economic blocs in emerging economies have allowed firms to have privileges in exporting their products to developed markets (Aulakh et al. 2000; Ministério da Indústria e Comércio 2016); and, third, the adoption of differentiation strategies is an important option for entrepreneurial firms and SMEs when competing in international markets (Knight and Cavusgil 2004; Martin et al. 2017). This confirms previous studies, as Mozambican SMEs show that the unique resources they possess are important to tailoring their products and services; this means that they are not easily imitated by their domestic competitors, and so that they take full advantage of their resources in international markets (Banker et al. 2014; Knight et al. 2020; Zehir et al. 2015).

The results also suggest that the positional advantage mediates the relationship between the differentiation strategy and the export performance of Mozambican SMEs, because as firms gain positional advantage as a result of competitive differentiation strategies, their export performance increases. This confirms the results presented by Martin et al. (2017). This result can be substantiated by the fact that firms' differentiation strategies are effective in achieving a differentiation-based competitive advantage, supporting firms' export performance (Keskin et al. 2021). Firms achieve a higher export performance through the sustainability of positional advantages as a result of the efficient and effective execution of the differentiation strategic advantage (Morgan et al. 2004; Porter 1985). Despite providing important drivers of competitive advantage and directly affecting the export performance of Mozambican SMEs, positional advantages mildly moderate the direct effect of the differentiation strategy; this may indicate that Mozambican SMEs are not properly taking advantage of their positional advantage, i.e., the added value generated by the positional advantage is still relatively low, perhaps as a result of the low differentiation that Mozambican SMEs still experience in international markets. As such, if differentiation strategies help Mozambican SMEs to make products and provide services that are different to their competitors and that are supported in their competitive advantages, they still have to invest in their positional advantages in international markets to overcome fierce international competitors.

This research presents implications at the level of the literature focusing on the development of theory in international marketing and internationalization; it also adds to the body of empirical studies that prove that, in the context of SMEs in emerging economies, differentiation strategies play an important role in supporting the internationalization path

(Aulakh et al. 2000). In parallel, the positional advantage plays an important mediating role in the relationship between the differentiation strategy and the export performance, indicating that the positional advantages may further sustain competitive strategies and improve firm performance (Martin et al. 2017).

Regarding management implications, the study concludes that SME managers should, on one hand, value competitive differentiation strategies and, on the other hand, make SMEs assume positional advantages in their sectors of activity, in order to increase their export performance in international markets. If the RBV of the firm supports companies to achieve their competitive advantage, Mozambican SMEs would need to invest more resources to develop their product and the positional advantages of their services, in order to gain international credibility and to support their differentiation strategies. As resources can rarely be easily purchased or transferred, if Mozambican SMEs are to develop their competences and resources over time, public policies are needed to support the development of internal competitive advantages and to develop a proper organizational climate; this is so that Mozambican SMEs can manage difficult-to-imitate products and services and develop proper international appealing positional advantages.

#### **5. Conclusions, Limitations, and Future Perspective**

This article aims to measure the impact of differentiation strategies on the performance of exporting firms and to determine the mediating effect of the positional advantage in this relationship. The results show that the differentiation strategies have a direct positive effect on export performance, which leads us to conclude that Mozambican SMEs, by adopting a product and service-based differentiation strategy, can increase their competitiveness and ability to access international markets, as well as increase their export performance. The results also indicate that positional advantage has a positive mediating effect upon competitive strategies and export performance; therefore, SMEs that have solidified their positional advantage, as a result of differentiation strategies, increase their export performance. This result is very important for an emerging economy, as it is possible to conclude that small ventures and SMEs from emerging countries can benefit from differentiation strategies and positional advantages in their international path. However, Mozambican SMEs, as well as most SMEs in emerging markets, still have to invest in unique resources and capabilities if they want to achieve different, unique competitive advantages and develop a strong international positional advantage.

This research presents limitations. The first limitation is the fact that it is a crosssectional study. Future research should aim to generate longitudinal data to obtain the dynamic influences. Second, although the use of single respondents is not advisable, despite all the efforts to mitigate CMB, circumventing single response bias was impossible to achieve in the Mozambican context. In this case, future research should increase the number of respondents from each company. For future research, we also integrated the mediating effect of the international experience of SMEs in this conceptual model, since it would be important to know the role of the international experience in the relationship between differentiation strategies and the export performance of these firms, particularly in the context of developing countries. Future studies, method wise, could test similar models in emerging contexts using consistent PLS-SEM or CB-SEM.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, E.N., A.M. and C.R.; methodology, E.N., A.M. and C.R.; validation, E.N., A.M. and C.R.; formal analysis, E.N., A.M. and C.R.; investigation, E.N.; data curation, E.N. and A.M.; writing—original draft preparation, E.N.; writing—review and editing, E.N., A.M. and C.R.; supervision, A.M. and C.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This work was financially supported by the research unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policy (UIDB/04058/2020), funded by national funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** Not applicable.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


Hair, Joseph, Jeffrey Risher, Marko Sarstedt, and Christian Ringle. 2019. When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. *European Business Review* 31: 2–24. [CrossRef]

Harman, Harry. 1967. *Modern Factor Analysis*. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.


Kaufmann, Friedrich. 2020. *PME. Pequenas e Médias Empresas em Moçambique—Situação e Desafios*. Maputo: ExperTS GIZ.

Keskin, Halit, Hayat ¸Sentürk, Ekrem Tatoglu, Ismail Gölgeci, Ozan Kalaycioglu, and Hatice Etlioglu. 2021. The simultaneous effect of firm capabilities and competitive strategies on export performance: The role of competitive advantages and competitive intensity. *International Marketing Review* 38: 1242–66. [CrossRef]

Kline, Rex. 2011. *Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling*. New York: The Guilford Press.


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**Santiago Batista-Toledo \* and Diana Gavilan**

Department of Marketing, Complutense University of Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain **\*** Correspondence: sabatist@ucm.es

**Abstract:** The COVID-19 pandemic led to higher education institutions adopting alternative teaching models to continue their work while complying with health measures. Specifically, in Spain, once the lockdown period was over, universities adopted the blended learning (BL) model, which allowed for a partial return to the classroom. The BL model meant a completely new approach for students that impacted their learning experience. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), this paper explores in-depth students' experience with BL—social–behavioural, cognitive–affective, sensory and formative—and tests the impact of BL on students' satisfaction and their commitment to learning. Data were collected from a sample of 467 undergraduate students at Complutense University of Madrid (Spain) who filled out a self-administered questionnaire. The model proposed shows fit indices above the recommended thresholds, indicating an adequate model fit. Results suggest a positive influence of the different dimensions of BL experience on satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction with BL had a positive impact on students' affective commitment. Going by these results, the students' experience with BL has been positive, increasing their willingness to study. Finally, the implications of these results for higher educational institutions are discussed and future research lines suggested.

**Keywords:** higher education; student experience; blended learning; satisfaction; commitment

**MSC:** 62H15

#### **1. Introduction**

In the spring of 2020, schools and higher education institutions (HEIs) were closed in 185 countries, affecting 1,542,412,000 students, which is 89.4% of the total number of students enrolled in the world [1]. It was an unprecedented situation that, in record time, forced educational institutions and their actors to transform the work ecosystem in order to continue with the activities. The technical infrastructure of universities, pedagogical skills for distance learning and the specific requirements of some disciplines have been the main challenges recognised by HEIs [2]. At the same time, the forced move to distance teaching offered important opportunities to adopt more flexible forms of teaching, such as synchronous and asynchronous or hybrid teaching, better known as blended learning (BL).

In particular, these forms of teaching were applied in higher education, which is less dependent on the presence of the teacher for the learning process of students, thus making the latter less vulnerable to changes in the teaching model.

Consequently, although students in Spanish universities could return to the centres after the lockdown, the need to maintain social distancing norms led them to opt for the BL model, which flexibly combined face-to-face classes and activities with those taught online. This resulted in a new, and therefore little explored, educational context for students.

There has been a considerable amount of research into BL and its impact on student learning, including concepts such as satisfaction, commitment or experience, from a pedagogy point of view. However, no studies have been found that analyse BL using an experientially oriented approach (focusing on the student as a customer) and, even more

**Citation:** Batista-Toledo, S.; Gavilan, D. Student Experience, Satisfaction and Commitment in Blended Learning: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach. *Mathematics* **2023**, *11*, 749. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/math11030749

Academic Editors: María del Carmen Valls Martínez, José-María Montero and Pedro Antonio Martín Cervantes

Received: 10 December 2022 Revised: 2 January 2023 Accepted: 7 January 2023 Published: 2 February 2023

**Copyright:** © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

importantly, that analyse the relationships that the concepts of experience, satisfaction and commitment have with each other. It is known, in particular, that BL can improve student performance [3] or be satisfactory [4]. Nevertheless, the impact of BL on student commitment through satisfaction, which is considered an intermediate outcome of the student experience and leads to student commitment, has not been studied, least of all during a pandemic period. In fact, several studies have looked at the effect of commitment on satisfaction with BL but not at how satisfaction fosters greater student commitment [5,6].

The literature on BL presents diverse methodological approaches (see Appendix A, Table A1). The main method adopted is based on descriptive analyses, such as frequencies or comparison of means [7–9]. Other studies employ qualitative tools, such as focus groups or personal interviews [10–12]. However, few studies deepen in BL using a structural equation approach [5,13,14].

This research aims to explore in-depth students' lived experiences during the implementation of the BL model during the COVID-19 period and to investigate its impact on student satisfaction and commitment. In particular, the study approaches the experience not from a pedagogical point of view (as to higher or lower performance) but from a more experientially oriented approach and focused on the affective, behavioural, sensory or social situations students have lived through. In addition, the work attempts to answer the following research questions:


The paper is organised into four sections. To begin with, it focuses on the existing literature on BL and the development of the hypotheses. Then, the methodology used is explained, and the results are presented. Finally, the results obtained are discussed, and conclusions are drawn.

#### **2. Literature Review**

#### *2.1. Blended Learning*

BL was first implemented at Stanford University in the 1960s and 1970s, with the onset of the usage of videos, allowing students to learn outside the classroom. Over time, specific learning systems continued to be developed, which, with the great technological advances since the 2000s, have given rise to today's BL [15].

BL is defined as "the thoughtful integration of face-to-face classroom learning experiences with online learning experiences" [16] (page 96). This definition has evolved to a learning environment that allows the incorporation and combination of face-to-face, computer-based, distance and mobile learning both inside and outside the classroom [17,18]. The different combinations that can be developed generate a wide variety of BL models to suit the needs of the student, the teacher and the subject matter [18]. In each model, the weight of the teacher's presence and the student's self-learning through technological resources varies, which highlights the principal characteristics of BL such as presence, self-learning, distance and ubiquity [7].

BL thus encourages students to be more autonomous, allowing them to practice selforganisation and follow the pace of learning that best suits them [19]. In addition, not having to go to the classroom every day saves time, which students perceive as more study time, leading to better academic performance [20]. The use of technology improves students' digital skills, besides increasing their participation in the classroom [21].

From a social point of view, BL allows interactions between students to take place not only in the classroom but also through virtual environments. This benefits the integration of students, forming communities that reduce students' sense of loneliness [22]. In addition, the fact that students with disabilities do not have to travel to the university to receive classes favours this collective, given that many facilities are not prepared for them, affecting their learning [19].

In short, BL is learner-centred learning with a focus on the learner's ability to acquire and process knowledge and solve problems [21].

Despite this, BL is associated with problems of accessibility and equality. The need for computers or other devices that enable online activities to be monitored is a problem for students with limited resources. This engenders differences between students, creating an entry barrier that universities and public institutions must detect and try to resolve [23].

To illustrate and clarify how BL differs from face-to-face and fully online learning models, Figure 1 shows the characteristics of learning models.

**Figure 1.** Characteristics of learning modalities.

As can be seen in Figure 1, the face-to-face and fully online models present totally opposite and different characteristics. BL, on the other hand, is not a disruptive model with respect to either the fully online or the face-to-face models but rather integrates the benefits of both models to form a new model that enhances student learning.

#### *2.2. Educational Experience*

In business, the consumer experience encompasses the sensations, feelings, cognitions and behavioural responses of a consumer when coming into contact with the brand, which, in turn, has repercussions on the consumer's satisfaction and commitment to the brand [24]. When applied to education, this would be the sensations, feelings, cognitions and behavioural responses that students experience with the educational services, systems and products of their institution [25]. Of the dimensions of experience mentioned by Brakus et al. [24], one based on the environment in which the BL model takes place (classroom, technical infrastructure, teaching methodology) should be added, given that this is a key element in the educational environment and one of the main touchpoints of the student with the institution.

Social–behavioural experience is based on the behaviours and relationships established with peers or the staff of the institution. In this regard, previous studies show that in BL, there is greater socialisation among students and between students and the teacher [21,26], as well as greater participative behaviour of the students in the activities carried out [27]. These behaviours have been shown to be positively related to satisfaction in BL [28]. Based on the previous results, the following hypothesis is proposed:

#### **H1.** *Social–behavioural experience of students positively influences satisfaction with BL*.

Affective–cognitive experience reflects how learning in BL has made the student feel, both emotionally and intellectually. Gazica et al. [29] demonstrated that BL did not generate

greater motivation in students in comparison to the face-to-face modality. However, it does provide the student with a greater capacity for reasoning and understanding the subject matter [30]. This experience has been found to be a predictor of satisfaction with BL [6], which is why the following hypothesis is proposed:

#### **H2.** *Affective–cognitive experience of students positively influences satisfaction with BL*.

Sensory experience in education involves students' perceptions through the senses, with a particular focus on sight and hearing. Unfortunately, no previous literature could be located that studies the sensory experience of the student in BL environments or its relationship with student satisfaction in this modality. Even so, if we understand that for the correct functioning of BL, it is necessary for the student to be able to hear and see the teacher and the class materials either in the classroom or online, it seems logical to pose the following hypothesis:
