‘What drives students’ affective commitment towards their university?’

Abstract

This paper suggests how universities can build ongoing , committed relationships with students, able to withstand the financial and emotional challenges of studying in higher education. The research proposes that students' ongoing attachment to their university, based on positive feelings towards the university, is an important aspect of the student experience. This ongoing attachment is conceptualised here as students' affective commitment towards their institution. Using an online survey-method and a research sample comprising undergraduate students studying in the UK, the research identifies three factors which drive students' affective commitment towards their institution. These factors include students' affective commitment towards academics and students' calculative commitment towards the institution; factors which draw from the relational literature. A third factor, commitment balance, was developed within this research. Commitment balance occurs when a student's commitment to their university is perceived to be reciprocated by the university's commitment to the student. The study found that commitment balance was the most important driver of students' ongoing attachment to their institution. The paper proposes that commitment balance is a key idea to consider within relational studies generally, but has a particular relevance in the higher education context for understanding the student experience. Commitment balance reflects the pulse of reciprocity which energises relational exchanges between students and institution. The findings of this research reinforce how critically important it is for universities and academics to build relationships with students. The desired outcome is to enhance the student experience, create positive attachment between students and university and ultimately improve student retention.

Prevalence of academic resilience of social science students in facing the industry 5.0 era

“…The high commitment of Social Science students is due to the reciprocal relationship between students and institutions [74]. The importance of the relationship built between the university and students creates a positive bond that exists between the two, improves student experience, and student memory.…”

Relating Smart Governance as a University Feature to Students' University Perceptions

“…Here, it is important to distinguish between normative commitment and affective commitment [15]. The affective commitment represents an emotional attachment (feelings of inspiration, pride, belonging, and so on), while normative commitment represents a feeling of obligation [16], [15]. For example, if a student remains with the university because they want to -it denotes affective commitment.…”

“…Opposite of that, students with strong normative commitment will remain with the university because they feel that they ought to do so [15]. Affective commitment is indeed a meaningful concept within HE since it contributes to a sense of care towards the university and a desire to stay connected [16]. The importance of students' commitment has been recorded long-ago: Tinto [17] stressed that students achieving a higher level of social and academic integration have stronger goal commitment and institutional commitment -resulting in a lower retention rate.…”

“…The improvement in the efficiency of university management, for example resulting from the performance of an integrated information system, can improve various aspects of the educational process, automate administrative and business activities and financial management as well as provide information support to decision-making in all areas of the university [26], and, above all, contribute to better student experiences. The changes in university management can help address the identified challenges, resulting in better performance of the university, and, consequently, in developing feelings of pride in the student population, a sense that can be linked to commitment construct [16]. A hypothesis is formulated:…”

Análisis de las estrategias de marketing relacional en instituciones de educación superior de Colombia y España

“…La educación constituye una escalera hacia el conocimiento que permite ir avanzando, tanto personal como profesionalmente, en esta medida es de gran importancia en el crecimiento de una ciudad, de un país y en general del mundo (Ceballos-Lozano et al, 2012). Ahora bien, la globalización de los servicios educativos, la crisis de financiamiento y la creciente competencia que proviene del sector privado han obligado a las instituciones de educación superior a considerar el fortalecimiento de las relaciones con sus grupos de interés como la clave para el éxito futuro (Fernández et al, 2007), para ofrecer servicios de calidad y que generen valor en cada acción para consolidarse en el mercado (Sakthivel & Raju, 2006), siendo efectivos en el servicio y dando respuesta con prontitud (Cownie, 2019).…”