The application of an innovative model to measure university brand image. Differences between English, Spanish and Portuguese undergraduate students

Abstract

Research on the role brand image plays in higher education (HE) suggests that it is crucial to understand students' perceptions of their university. This study builds on existing empirical work by Alcaide-Pulido, Alves, and Gutierrez-Villar (2017) exploring themes of national and international recognition, economic value, university campus facilities, and external communications and values. It employs a structural equation modelling approach with Partial Least Squares (PLS) and Decision Trees Analysis through a sample of 624 undergraduate students from England, Spain, and Portugal. The findings highlight areas of commonality as well as differences between the different cultures and nationalities examined as part of the study. They show areas that brand managers from each country should concentrate on, making recommendations that could help to shape the marketing direction of universities in each of the nations included in the research. The English and Portuguese should prioritize communication to students through their institutional website, whereas Spaniards should attend to ethical values and social responsibility. Economic value is an aspect that Spanish and English universities should focus on. Spaniards and English agree that campus facilities are important, whereas class size is key for Portuguese. Finally, Portuguese students' highly value the national recognition of their university.

Measuring the Image of Private University as a Generic Product: Validation of a Scale

“…In the competitive and changing context of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) after the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with internationalization and the ease of mobility, inevitably, there has been an increase in competition manifested in the emergence of the incorporation of distance and open education models (Cunha et al 2020;Nuseir et al 2021), which causes a greater need for better business management (Adi et al 2021). One of the critical resources for more efficient use of these institutions' capacities is their image (Chapleo 2011;de Heer and Tandoh-Offin 2015;Schlesinger et al 2017;Lafuente-Ruiz-de-Sabando et al 2018;Sahin 2021;Alcaide-Pulido et al 2021); leading to the importance of being able to measure it appropriately (Alcaide-Pulido et al 2017;Salimi and Abdi 2018) and the readiness to change (Alolabi et al 2021).…”