Literature Review on Branding Higher Education in Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to review the brand literature focusing on higher educational institutions until 2017 so as to identify areas where researches were conducted and further studies are required. Within the concepts brand, branding, brand strategy, brand management, brand equity, academic journals aligned with University, academic institutions, higher education institutions and related issues were scanned. Among all the articles accessed, ten of them were published in reputable brand related articles were considered in this review. The case articles were reviewed based on their respective year of publication, journal name, methodology, and country of the study, findings and recommendation. The review process employed a content analysis. The findings show that the trend of branding in academic institutions is growing. However, the number of published papers in reputable journals is in infant stage. Most of the papers used quantitative methods and collected data from students via convenience sampling. Eventhough few numbers of articles employed probabilistic method; the size of the population was not stated. The research in the area is confined to few developed countries which also lacks a grand conceptual framework in the sector. Therefore, it is advisable to conduct a comprehensive study to fill such gaps through using sound methodology and developing an appropriate framework which can be applied across nations. The major limitation of this review article is that only ten papers were examined of which generalization about the area is not as such important. Therefore, further studies may apply the procedures and investigate the area comprehensively.