University Branding and Measuring Brand Equity: Conceptual Framework and Empirical Studies

Yıl 2020, Cilt: 5 Sayı: Ek, 1 - 5, 31.12.2020

Musa Pınar

https://doi.org/10.23834/isrjournal.839937

Cited By: 2

Öz

In highly competitive marketplace, branding and brand management have become increasingly important as organizations seek competitive advantage. As colleges and universities have faced an increased competition, university administrators have realized that relying only on external marketing and branding efforts are not sufficient strategies for building strong university brands and brand equity. Based on review of literature, this paper presents a summary of a brand ecosystem as conceptual and the results of empirical studies that utilize CBBE and brand ecosystem framework to understand university branding and measuring university brand equity. The results of the empirical studies indicate that universities are complex systems of various sub-brands that require brand management by considering all relevant dimensions in a holistic perspective in a brand ecosystem framework with their direct and indirect relationships in creating a strong university brand and brand equity. These findings offer important insights that could have strategic implications for developing successful university branding strategies.

Anahtar Kelimeler

University branding, University brand equity, Brand ecosystem, University CBBE, University brand equity measures

Kaynakça

• Aaker, D. (1991), Managing Brand Equity. Free-Press, New York, NY.
• Aaker, David (1996), Building Strong Brands. Free-Press, New York, NY
• Aggarwal-Sharma, A., Rao, V.R., and Popli, S. (2013), “Measuring consumer-based brand equity for Indian business schools”, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Vol. 23, No.2, pp. 175-203. Doi: 10.1080/08841241.2013.866609
• Ambler, T., Bhattacharya, C. B., Edell, J., Keller, K. L., Lemon, K. N., and Mittal, V. (2002), “Relating brand and customer perspectives on marketing management,” Journal of Services Research, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 13–25.
• Belanger, C., Bali, S., and Longden, B. (2014), “How Canadian universities use social media to brand themselves”, Tertiary Education and Management, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 14–29.
• Cheng, Y. C., & Tam, W. M. (1997). Multi‐models of quality in education. Quality assurance in Education, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 22-31.
• Dollinger, M. Lode, J., and Coastes, H. (2018), “Co-creation in higher education: Towards a conceptual model”, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Vol. 28, No. 2, pp. 210-231.
• Gibson, A. (2010), “Measuring business student satisfaction: a review and summary of the major predictors”, Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 251-259.
• Girard, T. and Pinar, M. (2020a), "An empirical study of the dynamic relationships between the core and supporting brand equity dimensions in higher education", Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JARHE-04-2020-0097
• Girard, T., Pinar, M. (2020b), Importance-Performance Gap Analysis of the University Brand Equity Dimensions, the Atlantic Marketing Association 2020 Virtual Conference (Competitive Track), October 2.
• Hemsley-Brown, J. and Goonawardana, S S. (2007), “Brand harmonization in the international higher education market”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 60, No. 9, pp. 942-948.
• Joyvice, C., Atemnkeng, J. T., Sama, M. C., Mbu, S. A., & Neba, N. B. (2019), “The effect of deceptive marketing communication on the brand equity of private higher education institutions (PHEI’s) in the Northwest and Southwest Regions of Cameroon”, International Journal of Social and Administrative Sciences, Vol. 4, No.1, pp. 1-13.
• Keller, K. L. (1993), “Conceptualizing, measuring and managing customer-based brand equity”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 57, No. 1, pp. 1-22.
• Keller, K. L. (2013), Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity, 4th ed. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
• Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2012), Principles of Marketing. 13th ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ. Md Noor, S., Manan, K. A., & Kuthoos, H. M. A. (2019), “Assessing corporate brand equity of public universities”, Jurnal Komunikasi: Malaysian Journal of Communication, Vol 35, No. 3, pp. 283-299.
• Ng, I.C. L. and Forbes, J. (2009), “Education as service: The understanding of university experience through the service logic”, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 38-64.
• Nguyen, B., X. Yu, Melewar, T.C. and Hemsley-Brown, J. (2016), “Brand ambidexterity and commitment in higher education: An exploratory study”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 69, No. 8, pp. 3105–3112.
• Oh, T.T., Keller, K.K., Neslin, S.A., Reibstein, D.J., and Lehmann, D.R. (2020), “The past, present, and future of brand research”, Marketing Letters, published online (June 04), https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-020-09524-w.
• Palmer, A., Koenig-Lewis, N., and Asaad, Y. (2016), “Brand identification in higher education: A conditional process analysis”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 69, No. 8, pp. 3033-3040.
• Pinar, M. and Trapp, P. (2008), “Creating competitive advantage through ingredient branding and brand-ecosystem: The case of Turkish cotton and textiles”, Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 29-56.
• Pinar, M, Trapp, P., Girard, T., and Boyt, T. E. (2011). “Utilizing brand-ecosystem for branding and building brand equity in higher-education”, International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 25, No. 7, pp. 724-739.
• Pinar, M, Trapp, P., Girard, T., and Boyt, T. E. (2014), “University brand equity: An empirical investigation of its dimensions”, International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 28, No. 6, pp. 616–634. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-04-2013-0051
• Pinar, M., Girard, T., and Basfirinci, C. (2020), "Examining the relationship between brand equity dimensions and university brand equity: An empirical study in Turkey", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 34, No. 7, (forth coming). https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-08-2019-0313
• Pringle, J. and Fritz, S. (2019), “The university brand and social media: using data analytics to assess brand authenticity”, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 19-44. DOI: 10.1080/08841241.2018.1486345.
• Rauschnabel, P. A., Krey, N., Babin, B. J., and Ivens, B. S. (2016), “Brand management in higher education: The university brand personality scale”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 69 No. 8, pp. 3077-3086.
• Rosenbaum-Elliott, R., Percy, L., and Pervan, S. (2011), Strategic Brand Management, 2nd ed. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
• Sultan, P. and Wong, H. Y. (2014), "An integrated-process model of service quality, institutional brand and behavioural intentions: The case of a university", Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 487-521.
• Whisman, R. (2009), “Internal branding: A university’s most valuable intangible asset”, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 18, No. 5, pp. 367-370.
• Wilson, E.J. and Elliot, E. A. (2016).” Brand meaning in higher education: Leaving the shallows via deep metaphors”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 69, No. 8, pp. 3058–3068.