Demystifying factors fueling university brand evangelism in the higher education sector in Tanzania: A social identity perspective

Extant literature examines the role of alumni in supporting higher education institutions (HEIs) through donation behavior. However, scant empirical studies examine the influence of alumni in the context of extra-role brand building behaviour in HEIs. This study examines university identification an...

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Main Author: David Amani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2022-12-01
Series:Cogent Education
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2110187
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author David Amani
author_facet David Amani
author_sort David Amani
collection DOAJ
description Extant literature examines the role of alumni in supporting higher education institutions (HEIs) through donation behavior. However, scant empirical studies examine the influence of alumni in the context of extra-role brand building behaviour in HEIs. This study examines university identification and university social community identification in influencing university brand evangelism when mediated with a sense of belonging. The study collected data from 606 alumni of 15 HEIs in Tanzania and analyzed it using structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that most alumni engage in university brand evangelism when they are highly identified with their university and its entire social community. Furthermore, the findings confirm that a higher level of identification is inadequate to predict and explain university brand evangelism, unless a sense of belonging is included as a mediator. Therefore, HEIs’ management should build social and personal identification to stimulate a sense of belonging, which fuels alumni intent to engage in university brand evangelism.
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spelling doaj.art-6c53ad12bdfe4c25be0e52232812ca3d2023-08-02T05:33:04ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Education2331-186X2022-12-019110.1080/2331186X.2022.2110187Demystifying factors fueling university brand evangelism in the higher education sector in Tanzania: A social identity perspectiveDavid Amani0Department of Business Administration and Management, University of Dodoma, Dodoma, TanzaniaExtant literature examines the role of alumni in supporting higher education institutions (HEIs) through donation behavior. However, scant empirical studies examine the influence of alumni in the context of extra-role brand building behaviour in HEIs. This study examines university identification and university social community identification in influencing university brand evangelism when mediated with a sense of belonging. The study collected data from 606 alumni of 15 HEIs in Tanzania and analyzed it using structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that most alumni engage in university brand evangelism when they are highly identified with their university and its entire social community. Furthermore, the findings confirm that a higher level of identification is inadequate to predict and explain university brand evangelism, unless a sense of belonging is included as a mediator. Therefore, HEIs’ management should build social and personal identification to stimulate a sense of belonging, which fuels alumni intent to engage in university brand evangelism.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2110187Alumniuniversity identificationuniversity social community identificationuniversity brand evangelismsense of belonginghigher education institutions
spellingShingle David Amani
Demystifying factors fueling university brand evangelism in the higher education sector in Tanzania: A social identity perspective
Cogent Education
Alumni
university identification
university social community identification
university brand evangelism
sense of belonging
higher education institutions
title Demystifying factors fueling university brand evangelism in the higher education sector in Tanzania: A social identity perspective
title_full Demystifying factors fueling university brand evangelism in the higher education sector in Tanzania: A social identity perspective
title_fullStr Demystifying factors fueling university brand evangelism in the higher education sector in Tanzania: A social identity perspective
title_full_unstemmed Demystifying factors fueling university brand evangelism in the higher education sector in Tanzania: A social identity perspective
title_short Demystifying factors fueling university brand evangelism in the higher education sector in Tanzania: A social identity perspective
title_sort demystifying factors fueling university brand evangelism in the higher education sector in tanzania a social identity perspective
topic Alumni
university identification
university social community identification
university brand evangelism
sense of belonging
higher education institutions
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/2331186X.2022.2110187
work_keys_str_mv AT davidamani demystifyingfactorsfuelinguniversitybrandevangelisminthehighereducationsectorintanzaniaasocialidentityperspective