- Title
- Student-based conceptualisations of university brands: a brand loyalty model
- Creator
- Mocatta, Antonia
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- Professional Doctorate - Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)
- Description
- The purpose of this exploratory study is to present an empirically tested customer-based brand equity framework for higher education institutions. Using an adapted service brand model, the framework addresses gaps in the higher education brand literature by incorporating a comprehensive inventory of brand attributes and dimensions, and by identifying their relative influence on student perceptions of university brands and the process by which brand loyalty is created as the ultimate expression of brand equity. The results are compared with other service sector studies on which the model is based. The positivistic research involves the collection of quantitative survey data sampled from current, Australian university students. The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method is selected for its suitability for causal or structural equations where estimates of both the structural and measurement relations are required, and for complex hierarchical component models with two or more layers of formative and reflective constructs. The study indicates that of the university brand attributes experienced by students, those most meaningful to them are employee service, followed by self-image congruence, feelings about the brand, and the core service. Whilst students’ appraisal of controlled and uncontrolled university brand communications precedes and influences their subsequent assessment of the education service, it is their evaluation of those university brand attributes directly experienced during study that results in either satisfaction or dissatisfaction, determining their consequent brand attitude, and whether they are ultimately loyal towards the university brand. The results suggest the model is applicable in the university context, and the process by which university brand loyalty is created is comparable to that of other services industries. A comparison of the current study results with those of earlier empirical studies using the same model in other industry settings, reveals variances that can be explained by industry context and the extent to which the service is experience and credence dominant. By linking the higher education brand equity creation processes to that of other services, the findings contribute both to the higher education brand literature, and to services branding literature more broadly. From a managerial perspective, the scales and model provide a useful diagnostic tool for higher education brand managers to measure brand performance and make evidence-based decisions concerning brand strategy.
- Subject
- branding; customer based brand equity; brand hearsay; brand evidence; satisfaction; brand attitude; student; tertiary; marketing; brand; CBBE; higher education; university; brand model; brand optimisation; universities; Australia; service brand; brand loyalty
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1394423
- Identifier
- uon:33692
- Rights
- Copyright 2018 Antonia Mocatta
- Language
- eng
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 8 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 118 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |