Effects of geographical university names on users’ perceptions

Abstract

to build a favorable image of their organizations, and to modify an image that already exists among their stakeholders (for example, holds a PhD in economic and quantitative methods for market analysis from the University of Salento, Lecce (Italy). He is currently adjunct professor of advertising and research fellow in marketing at the LUISS Guido Carli University of Rome. His primary research interests are consumer satisfaction, interpersonal communication and word-of-mouth, innovation adoption and diffusion, and source perceived credibility in advertising contexts. Gianluigi Guidois full professor of marketing and place marketing at ABSTRACT Corporate (re-)naming is a way to (re-)brand a company, and it still represents an under-researched area of inquiry, especially in the higher education industry. Universities may use (re-)naming strategies to (re-)brand themselves and face the increasing global competition in the marketplace. The present article focuses on two widespread naming options: a city-of-location naming strategy, referring to a university name that integrates the city where the institution is located, and a regionof-location naming strategy, referring to a name that incorporates the corresponding geographical region where the university is located. The research aims to examine and compare the effects of these two strategies on users ' perceptions. Results of two distinct studies show that a city-of-location naming strategy is superior to a region-of-location one in promoting a university ' s brand, in terms of users ' acceptance of, and preference for, the university ' s name and in terms of perceived recognizability, memorability, distinctiveness, credibility and personality profi les of the (re-)named university as well. Managerial implications suggest the necessity for university managers to undertake name change strategies carefully, especially when these strategies entail a shift from a city-of-location-based name to a region-of-location-based one.

Place attributes and company names: an empirical and conceptual study into public branding and business strategies

“…Our field work leads us to the conclusion that, when companies can choose from several geographical scales in their naming strategies, they select the most positively connoted scale. This also settles the debate about city vs region names for universities (Koku, 2023 vs Peluso andGuido, 2012) and similar discussions.…”

“…The “country of origin” strategies (Thakor, 1996) are evolving and highly contextual (Beverland and Lindgreen, 2002), so they must be applied or studied case by case. Universities, for instance, are “tied” to a territory by their names in many cases, therefore experiencing these effects (Koku, 2023) – see also Peluso and Guido (2012) with their interesting finding that region names are better brands than city names for universities, which opens up the question of geographical scales in naming strategies. Special forms of “country of origin” are the “denominations of origin”, i.e.…”

SPECIAL TREATMENT JOURNAL, 2024. Vol. 10.(SI)

“…Referring to the etymology, hygeralai is affiliated with one of the elements of nature (Heymann, 2011;Hough, 2006;Kostanski, 2014;Woodman, 2014) or according to the geographical environment where the Luang people live. The natural environment also contributes to the study of hygeralai from a historical aspect (Kearns & Berg, 2002;Peluso & Guido, 2012). One type of natural element used by Luang's ancestors at that time was flora or plants that grew around the place.…”

A Luang-Szigetek helyi bölcsessége: A ‘Hygeralay’ történeti aspektusai

“…Referring to the etymology, hygeralai is affiliated with one of the elements of nature (Heymann, 2011;Hough, 2006;Kostanski, 2014;Woodman, 2014) or according to the geographical environment where the Luang people live. The natural environment also contributes to the study of hygeralai from a historical aspect (Kearns & Berg, 2002;Peluso & Guido, 2012). One type of natural element used by Luang's ancestors at that time was flora or plants that grew around the place.…”