Evaluating student’s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation
Purpose In recent times, many universities have been pressured to become heavily involved in university branding. The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of different international universities (brands) in terms of important university attributes, including the country in...
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| Format: | Article |
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Emerald Publishing
2019
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| _version_ | 1825951200681394176 |
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| author | Kamal Basha, Norazlyn Sweeney, Jillian C. Soutar, Geoffrey Norman |
| author_facet | Kamal Basha, Norazlyn Sweeney, Jillian C. Soutar, Geoffrey Norman |
| author_sort | Kamal Basha, Norazlyn |
| collection | UPM |
| description | Purpose
In recent times, many universities have been pressured to become heavily involved in university branding. The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of different international universities (brands) in terms of important university attributes, including the country in which the university’s main campus is located and educational programs are designed (COD) and the method by which the educational services are distributed internationally (DM).
Design/methodology/approach
Using a conjoint simulation procedure, this paper predicts the impact that university attributes have on Malaysian and Chinese students’ preferences for international universities.
Findings
The results suggest that, although COD and DM are important factors, the extent to which these factors dominate student preference differs significantly across students according to nationality.
Research limitations/implications
The simulation suggests how international universities can improve their branding strategies, and highlights the need to understand students’ preferences when developing marketing strategies.
Originality/value
Past research has compared the importance of university attributes across countries from the perspective of students, but failed to assess this issue in the light of existing university brands (at an institutional or country level). Such knowledge can provide an indication of student preferences and competitive performance, which are of great interest to education marketers. The present study predicts the impact of various university attributes on Malaysian and Chinese students’ preferences for specific international universities (brands) in four different countries, and changes in preference that occur when the style of delivery or course suitability is altered. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T10:26:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | upm.eprints-79734 |
| institution | Universiti Putra Malaysia |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T10:26:22Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Emerald Publishing |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | upm.eprints-797342022-10-31T04:04:32Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/79734/ Evaluating student’s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation Kamal Basha, Norazlyn Sweeney, Jillian C. Soutar, Geoffrey Norman Purpose In recent times, many universities have been pressured to become heavily involved in university branding. The purpose of this paper is to investigate students’ perceptions of different international universities (brands) in terms of important university attributes, including the country in which the university’s main campus is located and educational programs are designed (COD) and the method by which the educational services are distributed internationally (DM). Design/methodology/approach Using a conjoint simulation procedure, this paper predicts the impact that university attributes have on Malaysian and Chinese students’ preferences for international universities. Findings The results suggest that, although COD and DM are important factors, the extent to which these factors dominate student preference differs significantly across students according to nationality. Research limitations/implications The simulation suggests how international universities can improve their branding strategies, and highlights the need to understand students’ preferences when developing marketing strategies. Originality/value Past research has compared the importance of university attributes across countries from the perspective of students, but failed to assess this issue in the light of existing university brands (at an institutional or country level). Such knowledge can provide an indication of student preferences and competitive performance, which are of great interest to education marketers. The present study predicts the impact of various university attributes on Malaysian and Chinese students’ preferences for specific international universities (brands) in four different countries, and changes in preference that occur when the style of delivery or course suitability is altered. Emerald Publishing 2019 Article PeerReviewed Kamal Basha, Norazlyn and Sweeney, Jillian C. and Soutar, Geoffrey Norman (2019) Evaluating student’s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation. International Journal of Educational Management, 34 (2). pp. 263-278. ISSN 0951-354X; ESSN: 1758-6518 https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJEM-11-2018-0359/full/html 10.1108/IJEM-11-2018-0359 |
| spellingShingle | Kamal Basha, Norazlyn Sweeney, Jillian C. Soutar, Geoffrey Norman Evaluating student’s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation |
| title | Evaluating student’s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation |
| title_full | Evaluating student’s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation |
| title_fullStr | Evaluating student’s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluating student’s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation |
| title_short | Evaluating student’s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation |
| title_sort | evaluating student s preferences for university brands through conjoint analysis and market simulation |
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