From mobility to visibility: international mobility, digital mediation, and university reputation in the new media environment

Öz

Abstract International mobility is widely assumed to strengthen university reputation, yet the channel through which it now reaches the audiences that form reputational judgments has been undertheorized. Its central argument is that mobility should not be assumed to raise reputation on its own. It does so only once it becomes a signal that is digitally mediated, surfaced by platform and search dynamics, and read as credible by stakeholders. Drawing on a structured, document-based conceptual review that brings the literature on internationalization together with recent work on digital communication and new media, the study reframes mobility not as an educational experience but as a source of reputational signals. It proposes a recursive model in which mobility generates a signal that passes through digital mediation, visibility and retrieval, and stakeholder interpretation before any reputational effect is realized, with the resulting reputation feeding back into subsequent mobility. Two conditions govern the process: the quality of the signal, and the stakeholder-relative nature of its interpretation.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• higher education
• university reputation
• international mobility
• digital mediation
• online visibility
• signalling theory
• stakeholder interpretation

Etik Beyan

The author declares that his work is not subject to ethics committee approval.

From mobility to visibility: international mobility, digital mediation, and university reputation in the new media environment

Öz

Özet Uluslararası hareketliliğin üniversite itibarını güçlendirdiği yaygın olarak kabul edilmekle birlikte, günümüzde bu etkinin itibar yargılarını oluşturan kitlelere hangi mekanizma aracılığıyla ulaştığı kuramsal olarak yeterince açıklanmamıştır. Bu çalışmanın temel savı, uluslararası hareketliliğin tek başına itibarı artırdığının varsayılmaması gerektiğidir. Hareketlilik ancak dijital olarak aracılanan, platform ve arama motoru dinamikleri tarafından görünür kılınan ve paydaşlar tarafından güvenilir olarak yorumlanan bir sinyale dönüştüğünde itibar üzerinde etkili olabilmektedir. Uluslararasılaşma literatürünü dijital iletişim ve yeni medya alanındaki güncel çalışmalarla bir araya getiren yapılandırılmış belge temelli kavramsal incelemeye dayanan bu çalışma, hareketliliği bir eğitim deneyiminden ziyade itibar sinyallerinin kaynağı olarak yeniden kavramsallaştırmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, hareketliliğin bir sinyal ürettiği; bu sinyalin dijital aracılık, görünürlük ve erişilebilirlik süreçlerinden geçerek paydaşlar tarafından yorumlandığı ve ancak bu aşamaların ardından itibar üzerinde etkide bulunduğu özyinelemeli (recursive) bir model önerilmektedir. Ayrıca, oluşan itibarın sonraki hareketlilik süreçlerini de etkileyerek döngüsel bir yapı oluşturduğu ileri sürülmektedir. Bu süreci belirleyen iki temel koşul bulunmaktadır: sinyalin niteliği ve sinyalin paydaşlara göre değişen yoruma açık karakteri.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Yükseköğretim
• Üniversite İtibarı
• Uluslararası Hareketlilik
• Dijital Aracılık
• Çevrimiçi Görünürlük
• Sinyalleme Teorisi
• Paydaş Yorumlaması.

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