Summary of Doctoral thesis: Digital marketing for student recruitment in some developed nations and adoption to Vietnamese education institutions

This study aims to focus on digital marketing for student recruitment, learning from international experience of attracting and encouraging interactive functions with these prospective consumers then boost their decision-making process.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

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SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS

DIGITAL MARKETING FOR STUDENT RECRUITMENT

IN SOME DEVELOPED NATIONS AND ADOPTION TO VIETNAMESE EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Major: Business Administration

Code: 9340101

NGUYEN THI MINH HA

Hanoi, April 2019 June

THIS THESIS HAS BEEN COMPLETED AT FOREIGN TRADE UNIVERSITY

Supervisor: Prof., Dr Hoang Van Chau

This thesis is available for reference at:

- - National Library of Vietnam

- - Library of Foreign Trade University

INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

2.8 trillion US dollar is estimated the total revenue of global commerce transactions, reported by Statista in 2018, and expected to nearly double by 2021 (Hatch, 2018) 4.388 billion Internet users by January 30, 2019 which accounts for 57% of the world population is online (We are social & Hootsuite, 2019) 85% of consumers search online before making purchasing decision, even if they buy offline The global e-commerce picture has increasingly become vidid and diverse since 1995, with the debut of such giants as Google, Facebook, Amazon and other names in education like Udemy, Coursera It can

e-be seen that IT has e-been positively influencing most industries, including education Information technology (IT) not only strongly promotes education innovation with great achievements but also improves educational institution management as well as facilitates marketing and brad development

The education market in developed countries in particular and all over the world in general in recent years is constantly under pressure by enrollment and retention of learners 58% of the leaders of educational institutions are really concerned about not reaching student recruitment target (Jaschik & Lederman, 2015), the number of successful admission and enrollment applications has been leveled off and signaled a decline in recent years (Keypath, 2017) University administrators and managers are suffering from headache to compete with domestic and foreign rivals to attract potential learners, ensure enrollment targets and promote school brand in the context of educational autonomy

The emergence of many new training programs and the trend of globlization in the field have put much pressure on managers in all levels of institutions Moreover, highly intensive competition have pressured institutions to go online and integrate digital platforms into marketing strategy to actively approach prospective learners rather than wait for inquiries or applications Possible students may seek for information about institutional characteristics from various sources and to evaluate before choosing a university over another These potential learners and their parents who may influence university choice, no longer wait for leaflets or viewbooks but actively search the Internet for information for better decision-making

Digital marketing has quickly replaced traditional marketing to become a pillar in the strategy of attracting potential learners (Hanover, 2016) in this fierce competition There are some developed nations including the United States, Britain, Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand, Singapore which are best known for their achievements and experience in IT adoption to student recruitment marketing 84.5% of educational institutions surveyed in those countries in a report of 2018 digital marketing trends in educational institutions apply digital marketing for student attraction and recruitment (Terminalfour, 2018)

In practice, studying digital marketing for student recruitment of educational institutions in some developed countries is essential for Vietnamese universities In theory, even less is known about the influence of this digital platform on the marketing strategies of universities and colleges to attract potential learners

From both pratical and sienctific perspectives, the study aims to

analyze "Digital marketing for student recruitment in some

developed countries and adoption to Vietnamese educational institutions"

2 Literature review

Academic databases such as Elesevier, SpringerLink, Sciencedirect and Google Scholar have been used by to synthesize papers related to the topic, but far less attention was paid to the influence of digital marketing for student recruitment as well as international experience

2.1 Studies on educational marketing

There is a lot of research worldwide about education marketing, typically the "Marketing strategy for educational institutions" by Kotler and Fox (1995, 2002) Le Quang Truc and Tran Van Hoa (2017) have investigated and confirmed the importance of marketing mix for learners' enrollment decisions Later studies mostly focused

on marketing mix applications to improve the efficiency of attracting students in universities (Hoang Thi Phuong Thao & Nguyen Dinh Binh, 2016) Those authors suggested that educational institutions need to consider learners as customers and apply marketing theory into management activities to better their education service

Some other studies integrated IT into communivations strategy such

as "Application of mixed marketing in information - library activities

in Vietnamese universities" (Bui Thanh Thuy, 2012) or "Higher education marketing tools of local universities in Vietnam" (Le Quang Hieu, 2015), and "Application of educational marketing in Vietnamese universities" (Le Quang, 2015)

In general, communications activities for learner attraction was just considered one of the components, but has not been fully exploited in these studies

2.2 Studies on marketing for student recruitment

There is a lot of research around the world about education marketing,

in which potential learners are seen as consumers (Obermeit, 2012) Studies on determinants of student enrollment decisions based on the theory of consumer behavior and consumer behavior stimulus Learners are influenced by institutions’ communication marketing strategies (Perna, 2006) and school features (Nguyen Thi Kim Chi, 2018) Some researches exploited communication channels to attract and interact with potential learners, for example, advertising publications, posters, billboards, websites, television advertisements, newspaper advertisements (Yamamoto, 2006) In general, theoretical and empirical studies pointed out the communication channels affects learners' decisions most notably

While students constitute the majority of Internet users, not many studies have discussed the impacts of Internet-based marketing activities to attract potential learners (We are social & Hootsuite, 2018) Besides, educational institutions have not taken advantage of

to interact with potential learners

2.3 Digital marketing for student recruitment

Much attention has been paid to find out the impact of a specific digital marketing tool such as a website or social network The study of

Hayes, Ruschman and Walker (2009) observed and measured the impact of social networks as a tool in university admissions, and this idea was further developed by Barnes and Mattson (2009), Augustsson (2010), Constantinides and Stagno (2011, 2012), Alexa, Alexa and Stoica (2012) Another popular online channel that universities use to attract and reach potential learners is website, which is evaluated as an official and reliable source of information provided to customers

Several studies the important role of websites and social networks in the process of choosing and deciding enrollment (Hoyt & Brown, 2003; Kim & Gasman, 2011; Yamamoto, 2006) Social networks are used as an online channel for interaction and enrollment counseling, and if combined effectively with the website, it will create positive effects on applicants for admission This view has been reinforced by Phillips (2015), education providers need to be aware of the importance of building an online relationship with learners

From the perspective of information assessment and acceptance,

LeFauve (2001) studied the application of websites in college admissions and analyzed the impact of website content on learners’ school choice The author compares and concludes that the website and other publications have similar characteristics in providing information and persuading potential learners to find information The persuasiveness of messages from institutions has apply to many social media channels such as online forums and online messages (Tower, 2006) There are many ways for schools to convey information to potential learners and encourage them to enroll Universities can personalize the school's admissions website towards targeted customers (Foster, 2003)

Interaction with potential learners also plays an important role in

attracting and recruiting them Previous studies have revealed that information sharing and exchanging have significant effects on learner satisfaction regarding educational services related to their study choice (Bush, et al., 2005) as well as their attitudes toward buying in general During the admission process, the school needs to maintain direct contact with potential learners, as direct communication will help learners to distinguish options (Donehower, 2003) Now, social

networks are becoming an effective and interactive channel between schools and learners Digital marketing is the best way for educational institutions to approach and attract potential learners, thereby expanding the market and improving competitiveness Studies to measure the effects of digital marketing in the education sector so far have not evaluated comprehensively and followed the customer journey online

2.4 General assessment

Firstly, recent researches on digital marketing for student recruitment

have only observed one or some typical digital marketing tools such

as website or social network However, the strong development of science and technology will promise many new media Therefore, this study focus on the unsolved question of the attributes that attract potential learners of digital marketing

Secondly, the research question on impacts of digital marketing in

student recruitment from an organizational perspective is still covered Some papers on digital marketing from an organizational point of view are mainly implemented in the field of e-commerce such as

"Researching customer satisfaction in the digital marketing C2C in Vietnam" (Nguyen Hung Cuong , 2013) or have just approached a single digital marketing tool such as "Factors affecting consumer behavior for mobile marketing activities in Hanoi urban areas" (Nguyen Hai Ninh, 2012)

Thirdly, previous studies were mostly based on technology acceptance

model, but have not analyzed internal resources of organization or viewpoint of leaders or external environment such as innovation effects and competition pressure

Fourth, in terms of research methods, most of prior researches use

first-generation data analysis methods such as correlation, regression,

so there are certain limitations on reliability, due to unrealistic statistical assumptions The thesis uses the second-generation data analysis with linear structure model to bring more reliable results

In summary, although education marketing is increasingly concerned,

literature and empirical studies about the adoption of digital marketing

to attract prospective learners from the perspective of educational institutions is still limited This is the first research about digital marketing adoption for student recruitment which has comprehensively approached from both viewpoints of consumers and education service providers

3 Aims and Research questions

3.1 Aims and objectives

This study aims to focus on digital marketing for student recruitment, learning from international experience of attracting and encouraging interactive functions with these prospective consumers then boost their decision-making process In order to achieve the above objectives, 4 specific objectives were identified:

- Systematizing theoretical background on adopting digital marketing in education to attract potential learners

- Analyzing experience of digital marketing activities for student recruitmnet of educational institutions in some developed countries, then drawing some typical lessons

- Analyzing and verifying the status of applying digital marketing in educational institutions in Vietnam to attract potential learners

- Proposing some recommendations to enhance the adoption of digital marketing to attract potential learners at Vietnamese educational institutions

- How have Vietnamese educational institutions adopt digital marketing to attract potential learners?

- What can Vietnamese educational institutions do to boost digital marketing for student recruitment?

4 Scope of the study

Under the pressure of increasingly fierce competition and the context

of higher education 4.0 in Vietnam today, the research only focuses on digital marketing for student recruitment at higher education institutions (HEI), so the following topics are put outside the scope of research: digital marketing to improve e-learning efficiency, e-library, brand development, fundraising and attracting alumni, developing scientific research, internal marketing, community connection The scenario of rivalry is expected to be most intensified for tertiary education because increasing autonomy of higher educational institutions while universalization of primary and secondary education was implemented years ago or even exempted from tuition fees in many countries all over the world Therefore, the study aims to higher education service sector, especially universities

The research analyzes experience of digital marketing for student recruitment at educational institutions in developed nations such as the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Australia, etc., with outstanding achievements in adopting digital marketing to attract and recruit prospective learners The secondary data was collected in the period 2015-2018 and first quarter of 2019 To establish the research framework, the research context is carried out in Vietnam, with data collected in the period of 2017-2018

5 Theoretical and practical contributions of the work

First, the concept of digital education marketing was built up and

introduced

Figure 1.0 Digital marketing framework for student recruitment

at HEI

Secondly, the research has theoretically contributed when building a

model to measure the impact of digital marketing to attract prospective learners (TIAMC)

Search engine Website Social media

Digital marketing adoption

eWOM livechat Email UCG

Quality

Acceptance Source

Informa-Need

to study Information Search

Satisfaction Loyalty

Information Assessment

Relevance Timeliness Accuracy Comprehen siveness Interactivity Expertise Reliability

Thirdly, marketing technology has developed increasingly, so the

research does not analyze digital marketing tools, but exploits typical features these modern marketing methods

Fourthly, the study has also brought new theoretical contributions by

setting up a technology - organization - environment - innovation framework (TOEIF) to identify determinant of adopting digital marketing in educational institutions to attract potential learners and support enrollment

Finally, two models of TOEIF and TIAMC were logically and

scientifically integrated into a framework of digital marketing adoption for student recruitment at educational institutions (DMA)

6 Structure of the study

The remainder of this thesis is structured as followed

First, an overview of digital marketing of education service and an analysis of digital marketing for student recruitment at education institutions of specific developed nations

Second, the theoretical background for this study is presented and hypotheses development is discussed

Third, the research methodology of the study is described

Then, the results of data analysis are presented

Finally, some recommendations for enhancement of digital marketing for student recruitment at education institutions I also address the limitations and future research directions

Chapter 1 OVERVIEW OF DIGITAL EDUCATION MARKETING AND AN ANALYSIS OF DIGITAL MARKETING ADOPTION

INSTITUTIONS IN SOME DEVELOPED NATIONS

1.1 Overview of digital education marketing

1.1.1 Education service

According to the marketing perspective of Kotler and Fox (1995, 2002), educational institutions are the providers of this type of special service The curriculum of the school is the educational service, and these training programs are full of characteristics of the service industry (Ivy, 2008), both marketable, non-market, financial balanced and must be profitable and non-profit

1.1.2 Educational institutions and learners

Educational institutions are providers of educational services in the form of training programs Learners are one of the main customers

1.1.3 Digital marketing

Kannan and Li (2017) defined digital marketing as a coordinated process between businesses, customers and partners, integrated with online, measurable and highly flexible platforms, to form, exchange, transmit and maintain value for all stakeholders

1.1.4 Digital education marketing

The research proposed: "Digital education marketing is the use of digital platforms by educational institutions to establish integrated, targeted, measurable and interactive channels to attract and retain customers through which to build & develop sustainable customer relationships”