The roles of student trust, identity and commitment in the relationship between university reputation and behavioral intention

This dissertation aims to investigate and explore the roles of student trustST, student identity SI, and student commitment SC in a relationship betweenthe reputation of a university UR

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY

-BUI HUY KHOI

The roles of student trust, identity and commitment in the relationship between university reputation and

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH

CITY

-BUI HUY KHOI

The roles of student trust, identity

and commitment in the relationship

between university reputation and

Dr Nguyen Huu Lam

Dr Dang Ngoc Dai

Ho Chi Minh City – 2021

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I please declare that this submission is my work and except where duereference is made; this dissertation contains no material previously published orwritten by another person(s)

This dissertation does not contain material extracted in the whole or partfrom the dissertation or report presented for another degree or diploma in University

of Economics Ho Chi Minh city or any other educational institution

January 2021

Bui Huy Khoi

First of all, this dissertation is dedicated to the thank of my wife-Nguyen Thi

Ngan, to my daughter-Bui Mai Anh (9 years), my daughter-Bui Mai Vy (6 years),

my son-Bui Minh Nhat (4 years), and to my son-Bui Minh Hoang (4 years) Theyhelp me have many efforts to overcome difficulties in completing my dissertation It

is the biggest achievement of my life

Second, I would like to express my best gratitude to Ph.D Nguyen Huu Lamand Ph.D Dang Ngoc Dai, who supervise and help me conduct my dissertation formany years at University of Economics HCM City

Third, I am deeply thankful to Prof Vladik Kreinovich, University of Texas,USA for supporting me to publish my paper related to my dissertation in the Scopussystem

Especially, I would express my gratefulness to Ph.D Ngo Quang Huan,University of Economics HCM City and Ph.D Nguyen Thanh Long, IndustrialUniversity of HCM City who indirectly or directly support and help me conduct thedissertation Moreover, I am thankful to the board of professors in School of UEHGraduate, the independent reviewers for their constructive reviewing andcomments

Bui Huy Khoi

TABLE OF CONTENT

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

TABLE OF CONTENT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF FIGURES ix

ABSTRACT x

TÓM TẮT xi

CHAPTER 1 RESEARCH OVERVIEW 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Research background 1

1.3 The research gap identification 9

1.4 Research object and scope 10

1.4.1 Research object 10

1.4.2 Research scope 11

1.5 Research aim 11

1.6 The research questions 13

1.7 Methodology 13

1.8 Dissertation contributions 14

1.8.1 Theory contributions 15

1.8.2 Practice implications 16

1.9 Dissertation structure 17

1.10 Conclusion 18

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 19

2.1 Introduction 19

2.2 Reputation 19

2.2.1 Student guidance 28

2.2.2 Social contributions 29

2.2.3 Environments 31

2.2.4 Leadership 32

2.2.5 Funding 33

2.2.6 Research and development 33

2.3 Student trust 34

2.4 Student identity 35

2.5 Student commitment 37

2.6 Behavioral intention 38

2.7 Foundation theories 43

2.7.1 Market signaling theory 43

2.7.2 The theory of planned behavior (TPB) 45

2.7.3 Theory of reasoned action (TRA) and extended valence framework 50

2.8 The research model and hypotheses 51

2.8.1 Factors affecting university reputation 51

2.8.2 The roles of student trust, student identity, and student commitment 53

2.9 Conclusion 62

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 64

3.1 Introduction 64

3.2 The research process 64

3.3 Sample and data collection 97

3.4 PLS-SEM 100

3.5 Quantitative analysis frame 104

3.6 Conclusion 106

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS 107

4.1 Introduction 107

4.2 Internal consistency and convergent validity 107

4.3 Indicator reliability 108

4.4 Discriminant validity 110

4.5 Collinearity issue 112

4.6 The fitness of the structural model 113

4.7 Stability of parameter estimates 116

4.8 Discussion 119

4.9 Conclusion 120

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS 121

5.1 Introduction 121

5.2 Conclusions 121

5.3 Key Contributions 122

5.4 Contributions to methodology 124

5.5 New contribution to the measurement model 125

5.6 Implications 126

5.6.1 Practical Implications 126

5.6.2 Implications for domestic manager 128

5.6.3 Implications for university manager 128

5.7 Limitations and recommendations for further research 135

PUBLICATION 137

REFERENCES 138

APPENDIX 159

EDITED CONFIRMATION BY CAMBRIDGE 187

Student GuidanceSocial ContributionsEnvironments

LeadershipFundingResearch and DevelopmentStudent Trust

Student IdentityStudent CommitmentBehavioral IntentionHypothesis

The theory of reasoned actionThe theory of planned behaviorThe composite reliabilityThe average variance extractedThe standardized root mean square residualOuter loading

Variance Inflation Factor

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Variables and their proposing authors. 41

Table 2.2 Summary of the correlations in the model 61

Table 3.1 The discussion group code. 68

Table 3.2 Social Contributions’ items 75

Table 3.3 Environments’ items. 77

Table 3.4 Leadership’s items. 78

Table 3.5 Funding’s items. 79

Table 3.6 Research and Development’s items. 81

Table 3.7 Student Guidance’s items. 82

Table 3.8 Student Trust’s items. 83

Table 3.9 Student identity’s items. 84

Table 3.10 Student Commitment’s items. 85

Table 3.11 Behavioral Intention’s items. 86

Table 3.12 Items and factors in the reputation scale. 90

Table 3.13 Item and factor in the university reputation scale. 95

Table 3.14 University Reputation’s items. 96

Table 3.15 Sample Statistics. 99

Table 4.1 Internal consistency and convergent validity 107

Table 4.2 Outer Loadings. 109

Table 4.3 Fornell-Larcker Criterion 111

Table 4.4 Inner VIF Values. 112

Table 4.5 Measurement of model PLS-SEM. 115

Table 4.6 Path Coefficients. 116

Table 4.7 f2 (effect size). 117

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Valence Framework Model 51

Figure 2.2 The model of Keh and Xie (2009) 54

Figure 2.3 The model of Rather (2018) 55

Figure 2.4 The model of Heffernan et al (2018) 56

Figure 2.5 The model of Nuraryo et al (2018) 57

Figure 2.8 The theoretical model 61

Figure 3.1 The process of quantitative analysis 105

Figure 4.1 Model Testing and Analysis 114

This dissertation aims to investigate and explore the roles of student trust(ST), student identity (SI), and student commitment (SC) in a relationship betweenthe reputation of a university (UR) and its students’ behavioral intention (BI) inVietnam's higher education sector The dissertation builds an empirically testedmodel from a sample of 1,538 Vietnamese graduates Its purpose determines thefactors affecting university reputation and the roles of student trust, student identity,and student commitment in the relationship between university reputation andbehavioral intention to understand student choices of master’s programs Next,these factors will be measured by some analysis quantitative tools Finally, thisdissertation will also give some implications to develop the relationship betweenuniversity reputation and behavioral intention in Vietnamese higher education Theanalysis results revealed that the tested relationship between university reputationand behavioral intention to continue studying is positive Twelve of the proposedhypotheses were confirmed, including the direct relationship of the variables andthe mediating role of SI, SC, and ST in the model The results suggest that auniversity reputation can be a driving force toward students’ behavioral intention toachieve positive goals in the development of their higher education Thisdissertation significantly contributes to the understanding of university reputationand student behavioral intention in higher education In both theory and practice, itprovides vital findings and suggestions to scientists, university administrators, andstrategic marketers applying in their working environment

Keywords: University reputation, behavioral intention, student trust, student identity, student commitment, higher education

TÓM TẮT

Luận án này nhằm mục đích khám phá và kiểm tra vai trò của niền tin (ST),nhận biết (SI) và cam kết (SC) của sinh viên trong mối quan hệ giữa danh tiếngtrường đại học (UR) và dự định hành vi của sinh viên (BI) tốt nghiệp đại học trongbối cảnh giáo dục sau đại học tại Việt Nam Luận án xây dựng một mô hình đượckiểm nghiệm từ thực tế trong một mẫu nghiên cứu gồm 1.538 sinh viên tốt nghiệpđại học ở Việt Nam Mục đích của luận án là xác định các yếu tố ảnh hưởng đếndanh tiếng trường đại học và vai trò của niền tin, nhận biết và cam kết của sinh viêntrong mối quan hệ giữa danh tiếng trường đại học và dự định hành vi để hiểu sự lựachọn của sinh viên đối với các chương trình đào tạo thạc sĩ Ttiếp theo, các yếu tốnày sẽ được đo lường bằng một số công cụ phân tích định lượng Cuối cùng, luận áncũng sẽ đưa ra một số hàm ý quản trị nhắm phát triển mối quan hệ giữa danh tiếngtrường đại học và dự định hành vi trong giáo dục sau đại học tại Việt Nam Kết quảphân tích cho thấy mối quan hệ đã được kiểm định giữa danh tiếng trường đại học

và hành vi có dự định tiếp tục lựa chon việc học tập là tích cực Mười hai giả thuyếtđược đề xuất đã được xác nhận, bao gồm mối quan hệ trực tiếp của các yếu tố và vaitrò trung gian của niền tin (ST), nhận biết (SI) và cam kết (SC) của sinh viên trong

mô hình cũng được xác nhận Kết quả cho thấy danh tiếng trường đại học có thể làđộng lực thúc đẩy dự định hành vi của sinh viên nhằm đạt được các mục tiêu tíchcực trong sự phát triển giáo dục sau đại học của họ Luận án này góp phần đáng kểvào sự hiểu biết về danh tiếng trường đại học và dự định hành vi của sinh viên tronggiáo dục sau đại học Về cả lý thuyết và thực tế, nó cung cấp những phát hiện và đềxuất quan trọng cho các nhà khoa học, các nhà quản trị trường đại học và các nhàtiếp thị chiến lược ứng dụng vào môi trường làm việc của mình

Từ khóa: Danh tiếng trường đại học, dự định hành vi, niềm tin, nhận biết, cam kết, giáo dục sau đại học

CHAPTER 1 RESEARCH OVERVIEW

1.1 Introduction

This dissertation shows the roles of student trust, identity and commitment in therelationship between university reputation and behavioral intention in Vietnamesehigher education I present standard information about the studied problem anddissertation background, and I identify the dissertation’s aims and research questions.This chapter also briefly describes the dissertation structure

1.2 Research background

QS University Rankings for Asian 2021 based on 11 different criteria to evaluateone university, including academic reputation (30%), employer reputation (20%),lecturer/ student ratio (10 %), percentage of lecturers with doctoral degrees (5%), ratio

of published papers per lecturer (5%), citations per paper (10%), international researchnetwork (10%), international lecturer ratio (2.5%), international student rate (2.5%),domestic exchange students (2.5%), and foreign exchange students (2.5%) (DuongTam, 2020) Vietnam has 11 universities participating in the QS University Rankingsfor Asian 2021(QS, 2020) So, reputation is the most important key for ranking auniversity and that is a reason which Vietnamese universities are creating, building,and developing it

Nowadays, the university operates in a highly competitive market Feito et al., 2020; Lafuente-Ruiz-de-Sabando et al., 2018) where attracting resourceshas become a complicated task The current trends of globalization andinternationalization have led higher education institutions (HEIs) to receive increasinginterest from policymakers and educational leaders (Tran and Villano, 2017) This isbecause a nation’s human resources significantly affect its socioeconomic development(Agasisti and Pohl, 2012; Tran and Villano, 2017) The globalization of business

(Del-Castillo-has been embraced by the higher education sector, in which education is seen as aservice that is marketable worldwide Universities and other institutions of highereducation must compete to attract highly talented students, prestigious professors, andeffective employees (Del-Castillo-Feito et al., 2020; Hemsley-Brown et al, 2016;Nuraryo et al., 2018; Plewa et al., 2016; Wilson, 2016) Some individuals credit theglobalization of universities to the many changes and difficulties that the educationalsector is now facing Despite differences in opinion, school leaders and various othercommentators agree that competition between higher education institutions hasintensified over the last few years (Chen and Esangbedo, 2018; Plewa et al., 2016).Education plays an enormous role in a country’s development, and its progress in agiven country partly symbolizes that country’s growth in general (Chen andEsangbedo, 2018).

Higher education institutions play an important role in society: they are essentialpartners of the knowledge-creation and knowledge-exchange networks, and theycatalyze innovation, supply tangible benefits of research, and provide consulting andadvisory services Universities are meant to foster progress, build social capital,prepare students for outside realities, provide access to knowledge, and extend thebounds of justice, thereby contributing to the creation and maintenance of a democraticand sustainable society However, the increasingly competitive and dynamic nature ofeducational environments raises many challenges, such as declining enrollment.(Dzimińska et al., 2018)

Vietnam, a transitional economy in the Asia–Pacific region, has a population ofover 96 million people (Nguyen and McDonald, 2019) In background terms, it isnoteworthy that since the mid-1980s, Vietnam has been pursuing a path of market-oriented economic reform This course of change has helped the economy to free itselffrom absolute poverty and achieve substantial and sustainable economic growth

RGDP of Vietnam was 2,563 U.S dollars (USD) in 2018 In contrast to most otherASEAN member states, their youth literacy rates are relatively high (Salmi, 2019) TheVietnamese general education system is divided into three levels: primary education(grades 1–5), lower secondary education (grades 6–9), and upper secondary education(grades 10–12) Higher education in Vietnam consists of universities and academies,which are classified into three categories: public-, private-, and foreign-related In

2018, Vietnam had 454 HEIs, including 95 private universities and schools, and therewere 2.2 million students in higher education (MOET, 2019)

Vietnam's higher education environment has changed dramatically after twodecades of rapid growth The number of students, institutions, and faculty members hasrisen dramatically, and a further aspect of the system's evolution has been the advent of

a private education sector Such improvements have significantly led to economicgrowth and social progress However, improvements have occurred more slowly in thegovernance systems and leadership modes of the framework — a fact that presentscertain pressing issues for the future of the system (Salmi, 2019) As in otherdeveloping nations, economic reforms in Vietnam (which began in 1986) are stronglylinked to the higher education sector After 33 years of economic reform policy, themaster’s training program in Vietnam has increased remarkably quickly Having begun

in 1976 (Hoang Thi Phuong Thao, 2014), the program now encompasses 105,000students across 180 domestic universities and 212 programs with various joint-trainingforms (bachelor’s and master’s degrees) and includes partnerships with many reputableglobal universities and educational institutions (Chen et al., 2017)

Student decisions to continue their education at a particular university in thedesired field of study play an important role in their future success When selecting auniversity, many factors and possible consequences are part of the decision-makingprocess If the reality of the university does not match student expectations, their

success becomes uncertain Increasingly intense competition between institutions hasmade every university aware of the need to fully exploit its assets, maximizeperformance, and develop a competitive advantage One way to achieve this has been

to develop a reputable name and build trust in the eyes of students (Harahap et al.,2018) When a university has an excellent reputation, students will select thatuniversity when enrolling in higher education

In the competition between universities, reputation can be considered one of themost vital issues because it is viewed as an upper hand that competitors can mimic onlywith significant effort (Chun et al., 2005; Hall, 1992) It is believed that an enterprise’sintangible attributes, such as reputation, are longer-term and more sustainable than thequalities of products or services, and are thus more helpful in giving businesses acompetitive advantage Reputation is one of the essential factors affecting customers'attitudes and behaviors because what people know and believe regarding anorganization strongly affects their reactions to that organization Because ofreputation’s importance as a valuable intangible asset, businesses must manage itcarefully, understanding both its strategic importance and the potential factors thatcould enhance it (Berens and Van Riel, 2004)

The contemporary developments in the university system have made auniversity’s reputation even more consequential When certain characteristics ofuniversities were camouflaged or otherwise difficult to recognize (Aula, 2015;Engwall, 2007), prospective students, future specialists, backers, and other partnersessentially based their discernments about universities on notoriety Additionally,reputation indicated enthusiasm for a greater number of colleges than beforehand Asthe matter of higher education has become increasingly open, state-funded universitiesthat had recently worked inside closed national frameworks began vying for assets Incurrent higher education, reputation has translated to crucial enthusiasm for the

university (Aula, 2015) Hence, the question arises of how to best develop a solidreputation in higher education.

Much research has been conducted on the influence of a university’s reputation.This research showed that a college’s repute is the first mark of a school’s uniqueness(Hemsley-Brown et al, 2016) With the verification of this “brand” theory, reputationgrows even more central to promoting a university’s identity and increasing itsattractiveness in globally competitive conditions

Although the university’s reputation is becoming a necessary part of globalizedhigher education, helping it attract students, staff, and research investments (Chen andEsangbedo, 2018), the breadth of university reputation’s effect is a contested matter,largely due to a lack of consensus regarding the relationship between reputation andbehavior

Research about organizations’ reputations takes two directions The first isconcerned with factors affecting the reputation itself, and the second is concerned withthe effects of reputation on other relationships

Examples of research in the first direction include the work of Del-Castillo-Feito et

al (2020), who showed that the university operates in a highly competitive market inwhich the attraction of capital has become a dynamic activity Intangible assets such asreputation have been considered vital components of organizations' sustainability andsuccess Del-Castillo-Feito et al (2020) highlighted their relevance within theliterature, but the changes and relations among these factors remained uncertain.Therefore, the researchers measured the relationships surrounding universityreputation Student perceptions would be made considering the results because manyauthors had previously highlighted the complexity, due to their diverse characteristics,

of handling the association between these crowds and attaining useful valuations Their

results confirmed their proposed hypotheses on the relationships with universityreputation; nevertheless, the stakeholder group's moderating impact was not verified.The discoveries of Del-Castillo-Feito et al (2020) showed additional empiricalevidence has been given for the relationship between the variables considered, as well

as for the importance of taking more than one stakeholder group into account forreview They indicated that university reputation was impacted by the followingfactors: performance, innovation, citizenship, services, governance, and workplaceclimate This knowledge may be applied by administrators to boost the reputation oftheir university

A study conducted by Esangbedo and Bai (2019), additional research in the samedirection, tested reputation as a benchmark for universities’ continuous improvement

In multicriteria decision making, the calculation of each criterion’s weight is essentialfor the accurate evaluation of research outcomes Esangbedo and Bai defineduniversity reputation, assigning it six components: social contributions, environments,leadership, funding, R&D, and student guidance

A third example is a research by Plewa et al (2016), which highlighted the criticalrole of a reputation for HEIs The article offered insight into how brand prestige played

a key role in determining student–university identity The more attractively theuniversity’s identity was by students, the more strongly they would identify with theuniversity, leading to goals, identities, and values shared between the university and thestudents The authors recommended that universities should engage in brandingactivities that develop a strong student–university identity to enhance the students'university-supportive behaviors (Plewa et al., 2016)

In the final study, more information on university reputation had becomeavailable Chen and Esangbedo (2018) demonstrated that six factors affecteduniversities: contributions, environments, leadership, funding, R&D, and student

guidance The authors evaluated the reputation of Chinese universities through ahierarchical model.

The second direction of research on organizations’ reputations also presentsseveral useful examples One study indicated that the reputation of corporationscontrols consumers’ behavioral intentions (Keh and Xie, 2009) This research proposed

a model with client trust, client identity, and client commitment as the fundamentalmediating factors between corporate reputation and customer buying intentions,including eagerness to purchase at a premium cost The authors tested the model byutilizing the data of 351 customers of B2B administration firms, and the outcomesindicated that reputation positively affected both customer trust and customer identity.Client commitment mediated the relationships between customer trust, customeridentity, and behavioral intentions

The study of Rather (2018) developed and empirically tested an integrative modelthat reflects a complete opinion of the associations between customer brandidentification, agreement, trust, and commitment and their impact on brandtrustworthiness Results demonstrated that consumer brand identity has an optimisticimpact on faithfulness, commitment, satisfaction, and trust Commitment intermediatesthe relations among consumer identity, trust, satisfaction, and brand trustworthiness.Furthermore, consumer identity and commitment were strictly linked, but theyremained distinct concepts in friendliness backgrounds

The research of Liu et al (2019) proposed a new model based on organizationalidentity The model's hypotheses for the investigation were assembled from a literatureaudit to perceive and extricate the determinants of adaptability and organizationalidentity The authors affirmed that commitment and trust had a significant positiveeffect on the identity of an organization

In Vietnam, Nguyen and Pham (2018) studied the effect of the image of a firm’scountry of origin on that firm’s reputation and the effect of such reputation, in turn, onits perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) Customer trust (CT) is assumed toplay a mediating role, and purchasing behavior (BI) is considered as the conclusiveoutcome The reputation of the firm had a positive, direct effect on the apparent CSR,which made and sustains customer trust (CT) Under that control, the client would seeCSR in a positive light What's more, the impact was seen as mostly affected by clienttrust Additionally, both CT and perceived CSR displayed an impact on BI.

The research of Khoi and Van Tuan (2019) investigated how reputation impactedpurchasing intention for imported goods in Vietnam Survey data was collected from

345 consumers They showed that purchase intention and reputation were related toeach other

The paper of Khoi et al (2019) explored the relationship between educationalservice quality, the reputation of the university, and intention of behavior in Vietnamesehigher education research data was obtained from 550 students in Ho Chi Minh Citywho graduated The research model was focused on a study by some domestic andforeign authors of the quality of education service, university reputation, andbehavioral purpose Their findings from the study showed that the standard ofeducation service, university reputation, and behavioral intentions were related

In Southeast Asia, in conditions similar to Vietnam, Nuraryo et al (2018)explained the influence of corporate identity, through corporate reputation and studentsatisfaction, on student retention in one business school The authors indicated thatcorporate identity had a very significant influence on corporate reputation Corporatereputation also had a small influence on student behavior intention This studycontributed to the studied university’s ability to increase student retention, which is

regarded as a factor of sustainability in the higher education sector (Nuraryo et al.,2018).

The research of Harahap et al (2018) aimed to analyze the influence ofuniversity reputation on Indonesian students’ educational decisions Results showedthat the reputation of the university had a limited but positive and meaningful effect onstudent decisions to learn In other words, prospective students considered universityreputation when determining a place to learn Universities should do moreprofessionally to provide satisfying equipment and support and should enhance thequality of instructors The presence of intense competition requires universities toconsistently create an excellent reputation by making discoveries that could have ahigh trading value or otherwise strengthen their reputation

1.3 The research gap identification

This study begins with the desire to better understand the construction of universityreputation The framework of university reputation and student behavioral intention isformed by the relationship between student trust, student identity, and studentcommitment Vietnam's higher education sector plays an essential role in education;this sector has been encountering various problems, and university reputation is a keypillar in educational management theory

As in the above research review, there are many types of reputation and behavior inhigher education; Esangbedo and Bai (2019), Chen and Esangbedo (2018), and Plewa

et al (2016) indicated some factors affecting university reputation in higher education.Rather (2018), Nuraryo et al (2018), and Harahap et al (2018) applied the model ofKeh and Xie (2009) from hotels to education; however, the authors did not prove thatreputation and behavioral intention are related to trust, identity, and commitment.Research is lacking on reputation and student behavioral intention’s

relationship to student trust, student identity, and student commitment in a specificallyVietnamese higher education context.

The quantity of literature on university reputation is nonetheless gradually rising Itconnects brand reputation and behavioral intention, and the writing can be isolated intotwo floods of exploration They contrast in their ontological and epistemological stormcellars and, consequently, in the way university reputation and its development becomeknown

In summary, there are two directions of research on university reputation: (1)research concerned with factors affecting university reputation and (2) researchconcerned with the roles of student trust, student identity, and student commitment inmediating university reputation and student behavioral intention Solutions that helpdevelop university reputation play a vital role in its future strategic development as thelevel of competition in Vietnam education is only expected to increase At the sametime, awareness of students’ perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors can affect thecompetitiveness and sustainability of universities Beginning from that urgent need, Ichose the following topic for a dissertation: The roles of student trust, identity, andcommitment in the relationship between university reputation and behavioral intention

1.4 Research object and scope

1.4.1 Research object

According to the aims presented above, the research object of this dissertation isthe perception of students about university reputation and the relationships around it Inparticular, the factors that create university reputation are considered the premise such

as social contributions, leadership, environments, student guidance, funding, research,and development The roles of student trust, student identity, student commitment, andstudent behavioral intention are regarded as a result of university reputation Student

trust, student identity, and student commitment are considered to mediate the impact ofthe reputation on students' behavioral intention Summarily, there are eleven objects inthis research.

1.4.2 Research scope

1.4.2.1 Content scope

The research concepts are comprehensive, involving many different fields andstakeholders This study limits research on the reputation and its related factors to theperceptions of university graduates in Vietnam The components considered in themodel include social contributions, leadership, environments, student guidance,funding, research and development, student trust, student identity, student commitment,and university reputation, and behavioral intention

1.4.2.2 Location scope

The research was conducted in the education sector of Vietnam A survey ofuniversity graduates was conducted to test the research issues in many representativeprovinces and cities in the South of Vietnam These are the nnational universities,national key universities, private universities, emerging universities that may partiallyrepresent higher education in Vietnam

1.4.2.3 Time scope

The research was carried from 2015–2020, the period during which theinternational economic integration roadmap requires Vietnam to increase the level ofcompetition in higher education

1.5 Research aim

This research’s purpose determines the factors affecting university reputation andthe roles of student trust, student identity, and student commitment in the relationship

between university reputation and behavioral intention to understand student choices ofmaster’s programs Second, these factors will be measured by some analysisquantitative tools Finally, this dissertation will also give some implications to developthe relationship between university reputation and behavioral intention in Vietnamesehigher education.

Reputation is considered an intangible asset that helps businesses maximizeprofits, increase market share, attract new customers, maintain existing customers, andinvalidate the actions of competitors Above all, it ensures the success and survival offirms in the market (Fombrun and Shanley, 1990; Sarstedt et al., 2013), sounderstanding the potential factors that can enhance reputation, as well as the outcome

of the reputation, is of strategic importance (Berens and Van Riel, 2004) However, due

to the intangible nature of reputation, its complex effects, and the ambiguity regardingits causal factors, it is essential to examine the real impact of individual components(Agarwal et al., 2015) Additionally, authors have also suggested that reputation and itsrelationships should be studied in different cultures, especially Asian ones (Fombrun etal., 2015) This research further develops the relationships around reputation andresearch in various disciplines (Fombrun et al., 2015; Walsh, 2007) The proposals byBerens and Van Riel (2004), Agarwal et al (2015), and Fombrun et al (2015) areconsidered the beginning of this study

With the above background in mind, the first aim of this dissertation is to increasethe understanding of university reputation and its construction Reputation has becomemore and more essential for higher education institutions such as universities andbusiness colleges; such schools are increasingly vying for notoriety (Aula, 2015;Wedlin, 2008) In contemporary higher education, college reputations are expertlydesigned, created, and ensured The second purpose of this dissertation is to identifythe factors that create university reputation and build a model of the relationship

between university reputation and behavioral intention in Vietnamese higher education,incorporating the roles of student trust, student identity, and student commitment tounderstand student choices of master’s programs in Vietnam However, understandingstudent behavioral intention in selecting a university and the process of constructing auniversity reputation is a complicated matter.

1.6 The research questions

The above section introduced two issues of the dissertation: first, examining thedeterminants of university reputation; second, analyzing the relationship betweenuniversity reputation and behavioral intention in higher education in Vietnam Thisdissertation follows the chapter format Hence, the overall construction of thisdissertation contains a mix of regular dissertation chapters The following sectionspresent the two questions of research discussed in the five chapters of this dissertation

Research Question 1: Which factors impact University Reputation?

Research Question 2: How are the roles of student trust, identity, and

commitment in the relationship between university reputation and behavioral intention tested?

1.7 Methodology

In the context of this dissertation, where many research hypotheses need to beinvestigated, the appropriate methodology would be quantitative analysis However,the concepts in this model are new in Vietnam, so they must be evaluated and built tosuit the specific conditions in Vietnam In this case, the appropriate methodologywould be qualitative research Consequently, considering both of the above points, amixed methodology is the most suitable research strategy for this study, in whichqualitative research adjusts a reputation scale, and quantitative research tests the

hypotheses Hence, this dissertation first reviews the related literature to identify thefactors that create a scale of university reputation and builds a research model withtwelve hypotheses about a relationship between the university reputation andbehavioral intention in Vietnamese higher education, incorporating the roles of studenttrust, student identity, and student commitment to understand student choices ofmaster’s programs in Vietnam.

Typically, the methodology section gathers and dissects research information in

a concise discourse In this dissertation, a survey was utilized to assemble information.The questionnaire was written in English based on the literature review andsubsequently converted to Vietnamese, the language is spoken by all respondents Themethodology was actualized through two rounds: qualitative research and quantitativeanalysis A sample of 61 individuals powered qualitative research The discussion wasdivided into interviews and seminars

This research employs a quantitative methodology primarily by relying on theempirical survey data of a sample of 1,538 Vietnamese graduates Due to thecomplexity of the research models, which have mediators and were designed withsmall sample sizes, data analysis is conducted by applying partial least squaresstructural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with the support of SPSS 20 and Adancosoftware packages

1.8 Dissertation contributions

This dissertation significantly contributes to the understanding of universityreputation and student behavioral intention in higher education In both theory andpractice, it provides vital findings and suggestions to scientists, universityadministrators, and strategic marketers

1.8.1 Theory contributions

Although corporate reputation is a topic that has attracted the attention ofresearchers worldwide, there is still much controversy in its study, and reputationresearch is still in the process of synthesizing a dominating theory However, studieshave mainly been conducted in developed countries; this research is still new in thecontext of developing nations (Fombrun et al., 2015) Research results in Vietnam,which has a unique culture and economic/educational development levels lower thanthose of developed countries, might vary significantly from previous research Thisdissertation also presents the literature concerning the university reputation andbehavioral intention in higher education, thereby connecting the two disciplines of dataprocessing and educational marketing This connection is appropriate, given thedeveloping interest in (and increased efforts toward) university reputation andbehavioral intention research It is expected to make the following five newcontributions:

First, it identifies six determinants of university reputation processing Theseprovide a more comprehensive and implemented basis for understanding the reputation

of universities and the collection of behavioral intention Situational determinants,enduring participation, and channel characteristics that suit social networkingenvironments are additional determinants identified by this dissertation

Second, university reputation and behavioral intention processing frames arerevealed to confirm the mutual relationships of factors Resolutions from this framesuggest avenues of future study

Third, this dissertation, during its examination of the relationship betweenuniversity reputation and behavioral intention, considers the literature on the roles of

student trust, student identity, and student commitment, which had not previously beenassessed.

Fourth, this study examines the influence of involvement in light of universityreputation and behavioral intention, including its indirect effects Cooperation is acommon aspect of marketing, but the study has rarely categorized loyalty orinvolvement in the situation, which can affect the processing of information separately

Fifth, this research explores university reputation and the behavioral intention ofprospective learners in the context of higher education It expands the literature ondeterminants of university reputation and behavioral intention of prospective students,which is of benefit to higher education marketing

1.8.2 Practice implications

From the perspective of many marketers and practitioners, this dissertationprovides a complete list of crucial determinants of university reputation and behavioralintention in higher education, within the context of student decision-making Through

a more in-depth understanding, marketing practitioners can develop and increase theircommunication strategies Such refinements could include the development of moretargeted and engaging messages to encourage the sharing of referrals by students Inthe context of higher education, this research provides recommendations foruniversities on how best to gain an advantage in a competitive landscape It also helpsuniversity managers to identify important attributes that support the growth of theiruniversity's reputation and the development of future strategies to suit the increasinglycompetitive economy Furthermore, this research can give students a betterunderstanding of educational competition and raise awareness of the connectionbetween university reputation and student behavior intention This study’s model canguide practitioners in planning and implementing university operations The purpose ofthis dissertation is to identify and evaluate university reputation and behavioral

intention in higher education; with this information, university managers andmarketing practitioners can better manage and plan for their institutions’ universityreputation and behavioral-intention marketing strategy.

of Vietnamese higher education It also presented details relevant to the dissertation:research background, research goals, research questions, the research model,methodology, the dissertation’s contributions, and the research structure

Chapter 2 Literature review details the literature on the roles of student trust,student identity, and student commitment in the relationship between universityreputation and behavioral intention in the Vietnamese higher educational context.Based on the reviewed literature, we develop a model with twelve hypotheses andexplore the connection between university reputation and behavioral intention Theroles of student trust, student identity, and student commitment are also tested in theirimpacts on university reputation and behavioral intention

Chapter 3 Methodology lays out in several sections the methodology thatsupports this dissertation First, a measurement scale with entries for each determinant

is provided Next, we explain the sample and data collection in detail The final sectionillustrates the processes and methods employed for data analysis

Chapter 4 Results will report the results of the data analysis process andapproves the value of the hypotheses mentioned in Chapter 2, as well as therelationships between factors It focuses on analytical results and in-depth discussion.

Chapter 5 Conclusion, implications, and limitations interpret the results derivedfrom this analysis This chapter explains the essential findings and discusses how theycompare to previous studies by other studies The contributions and implications of thisdissertation are discussed This chapter also discusses the limitations of the thesis andmakes suggestions for future research Finally, it presents a dissertation summary,which identifies problems and objectives of previous studies and provides the mainresults of this study, its contributions, and its implications for theory and practice

1.10 Conclusion

This chapter displays the dissertation’s background in order to present thecritical research problem, the research goals, and the research questions By reviewingthe existing literature, this research proposes to investigate the connection betweenuniversity reputation and behavioral intention in higher education in Vietnam:specifically, the mediating roles of student trust, student identity, and studentcommitment in student choices of Vietnamese master’s programs

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter performs a review of the literature on the relationship betweenuniversity reputation and behavioral intention in Vietnamese higher education:specifically, the mediating roles of student trust, student identity, and studentcommitment in higher education students’ choices First, I propose six hypotheses (H1,H2, H3, H4, H5, and H6) derived from the examined connection between universityreputation and its determinants, which are social contributions, leadership,environments, student guidance, funding, and research and development Second, I testthe effect of student trust, student identity, and student commitment on universityreputation and behavioral intention, leading to H7, H8, H9, H10, H11, and H12

2.2 Reputation

This section first discusses the concept and value of reputation Next, it treats theuniversity reputation directly Finally, this research’s main factors for reputationmeasurement factors are selected

Corporate Reputation

In marketing and business theory, the idea of corporate reputation has been seen

by many authors as an important primary indicator of good results The definition ofcorporate reputation first appeared in the list of the world's most respected corporations

in 1983, as compiled by the business journal Fortune Academic interest in this fieldhas risen exponentially since this first list appeared (Hong et al., 2016; Sokro, 2012).Articles on reputation, image, and corporate identity rose from a total of 12 in 1985 to6,410 in 2010; Over the same period, scholarly studies on the topic grew from 7 to 390

In terms of corporate reputation, the importance of these businesses wasassessed using a collection of main qualities relevant to hard and soft policy aspects;these characteristics currently include products and services efficiency, financialsoundness, human management, social responsibility, creativity, and internationalcompetitiveness (Suárez et al., 2020).

Actions to foster corporate reputation among researchers and professionals haveattracted great interest The element with the greatest effect on corporate reputation,along with financial results, was behavior analytics (Suárez et al., 2020) At the sametime, Vergin and Qoronfleh concluded that the financial market valuation of the top tenfirms saw a 20 percent annual rise between those years They concluded that reputation

is one of the keys to business success and that reputation is based not only on economicdata assessment but also on the intangible assets of a company

What is corporate reputation? Corporate reputation has been described as acumulative reflection of a company's past behavior and performance which defines theability of the company to deliver valued results to multiple stakeholders It assesses therelative position of an organization with staff both internally and externally with itsstakeholders in its strategic and institutional climate (Fombrun and Van Riel, 1997;Suárez et al., 2020) Following previous studies, this research defines corporatereputation as the public’s overall evaluation of a firm, or, as a perceptual representation

of a firm’s past actions and prospects (Dowling and Moran, 2012) A positive orpositive reputation indicates that a business has behaved well over time, resulting inhigher expectations from clients, stakeholders, and the general public The reputationwas described by previous researchers as an attitude construct consisting of cognitivecomponents (knowledge-based) and affective components (emotion-based) Inconsidering both cognitive and affective aspects, for example, Highhouse et al (2009)suggested that the information and emotions retained by stakeholders consist of

corporate reputation According to approach theory defined by Fishbein and Ajzen(1977) and Quintal et al (2010), effective and cognitive reputations, manifesting asaffective and cognitive, serve specific purposes for personalities because they are near

to the way the community typically thinks while assessing a business Therefore, whenresearching the public’s behavior at large, it is necessary to distinguish between thecognitive and affective components of corporate reputation (Suárez et al., 2020)

Reputation is an awareness or judgment which is made not only within thebusiness but also by stakeholders and the community that group affecting orexaggerated by the pursuit of the organization’s intentions According to studies bySuárez et al (2020), relevant past, organizational actions are the pillars of corporatereputation (Dutot et al., 2016) Evaluation of the cognitive component of reputation isbased on a firm’s past performance For example, a highly positive reputation (thatexists prior to a negative event) tends to suggest to consumers and the public that afirm can minimize uncertainty during the negative event by performing its duediligence and maintaining contractual safeguards (Ryschka et al., 2016)

Several scholars defend an integrative view of business and management studies

in which the reputation of the corporate behavior of an entity is comprised of, itsculture, its appearance, its ethical positions, and how its integrated reputation ismanaged (Confente et al., 2019; Syed, 2019) In addition, the key distinctions betweenimage and corporate reputation are identified by many scholars: on the one hand, image

is linked to the present moment As a consequence of partial excellence, it generatesexpectations, and it is hard to calculate Reputation, on the other hand, is structural; itprojects brand identity as a whole, creates value, and can be objectively calculated(Ryschka et al., 2016) Several scholars point out that one of the key conditions ofbusiness leadership is reputation (Schoofs et al., 2019)

In the past few decades, corporate reputation has been considered the mostvaluable intangible asset, one that is difficult to apprise or compare with resources such

as money, land, and hardware (Chun et al., 2005; Hall, 1992) Unlike other intangibleresources (e.g., trademarks, licenses, and copyrights), corporate notoriety can beachieved accomplished through its separation, for instance, a brand may becomeprevalent after a brief span or a long length of promotion (Hall, 1992) Thanks to suchqualities, corporate reputation cannot be effectively imitated by competitors Kay(1993) argued that reputation, alongside innovation, creates a unique value forbusinesses, allowing them to compete in the market

In a dynamic business environment with high levels of competition, firms arealways seeking ways to differentiate their products and build favorable relationshipswith their stakeholders Reputation is an essential means by which businesses canmaintain both a sustainable competitive advantage and a long-term relationship withstakeholders (Boyd et al., 2010; Roberts, 2002) It has been found that reputation is arare, valuable asset that is difficult to copy, although its causal factors were unclear(Agarwal et al., 2015; Boyd et al., 2010) Reputation is the most valuable intangibleasset, and it helps to maintain the organization’s success throughout its entire lifetime.Moreover, a good reputation helps to protect the organization in times of crisis

A good reputation is useful in many business activities When the reputation of abusiness increases, it attracts investors, improving the organization’s position (Caruana,1997) A strong reputation also indicates well (fulfilling and dedicated) connectionswith clients (Helm, 2007) Additionally, it impacts clients' purchasing decisions, asrelated to both goods and services Finally, it supports a positive association withrepresentatives and improves worker reliability while attracting high-quality employees(Balmer et al., 1997; Fombrun and Shanley, 1990)

In addition to these non-financial benefits, a firm’s corporate reputation was alsoclosely related to its financial performance (Chun et al., 2005; Roberts, 2002) Roberts(2002) suggested that successful firms had a good reputation and that reputationincreases firms’ performance Chun et al (2005) additionally found a definiteconnection through consumer loyalty between corporate reputation and the firm’sfinancial actions Firms with a positive reputation were more successful in severalfinancial areas; those firms had lower risks and less volatility in revenues and profits,were less likely to go bankrupt, and had smaller stock price fluctuations (Smith et al.,2010).

As discussed above, reputation confers many benefits to businesses Thedevelopment and maintenance of reputation is a vital task that affects a company’scontinued existence

Because of this importance, corporate reputation was considered in various fields

of study In business, corporate reputation was viewed as an image of a company's pastachievements In strategic management, it was viewed as a one-of-a-kind intangibleresource that is difficult to imitate (Agarwal et al., 2015) Fombrun's 1996 study wasthe first to perceive corporate reputation efficiently and is the most broadly referred to(Walker, 2010)

Reputation is based on the thoughts of the organization and the individual Itdefines the summative knowledge of a company that key stakeholders or componentgroups possess As mentioned earlier, the idea of reputation has been regularly utilizedwithout a reasonable operationalization or a single definition One of the reasons forthis was the number of factors that impact corporate repute: oversight, economy,advertising, business investigation, human science, brain research, and commonrelationships, for example (Verčič et al., 2016)

Fombrun and Van Riel (1997) employed one of the most common definitions, inwhich an organization’s reputation is understood as the perceived representation of itspast practices, as well as a gauge of its future activities i.e., the broad intrigue that afirm has for its principal constituents and others (Fombrun and Van Riel, 1997) Asubsequent expansion of this meaning incorporated that the reputation is an assessment

of how an organization is experienced internally, among workers, and externally,between other partners in its institutional environment (Verčič et al., 2016)

These definitions showed that although there were many ways to explain businessreputation, it is possible to define it as follows: the product of a process whereinstakeholders recognize and evaluate a firm’s past actions through direct and indirectexperiences, forming, as a result, a sense of awareness and trust of the business.Stakeholders then use this result to predict future responses to market conditions.Therefore, this study describes the corporate reputation as a collective awareness of thefirm's preceding achievements and its possibilities for stakeholders The mostimportant stakeholders who influence the reputation of a business are customers andemployees (Kitchen and Laurence, 2003)

Summarily, this research will apply the corporate reputation definition to developuniversity reputation definition from the previous studies

University reputation

Vidaver-Cohen (2007) proposed a conceptual framework for investigating theuniversity reputation Her proposal suggests business appearance, product and servicequality, leadership qualifications, managing styles, departmental social obligationmethodology, working environment, and approach to innovation as vital predictors ofthe firm reputation Each of these is characterized by many of the reputational qualitiesthat operationalize the measurements Vidaver-Cohen (2007) utilizes characterized

perspectives to create an advantage for organizational reputation, which incorporatesthe level of execution, items, administrations, initiative, the board, work climate,corporate social responsibility, and creativity Described measurements were utilized asthe building blocks of this exploration By perceiving the qualities and shortcomings of

a college's capacity to meet the desires of its partners, it should become possible toidentify the best method of channeling sources and achieve the best outcomes Further,

by inspecting reputation in every partner group independently, it is possible to conceive

of possible alternative methods (Verčič et al., 2016)

Reputation is an acute awareness of a particular firm It is established over a longperiod of perception and estimation of the company’s achievements (Balmer et al.,1997) It is the assessment made by different people (insiders and outsiders) about theorganization’s ability to meet expectations over time (Pérez and Torres, 2017).Alessandri et al (2006) indicated a relationship between university reputation andperformance goals that favored academic accomplishment, outside execution, andpassionate commitment N Nguyen and LeBlanc (2001) examined the role ofinstitutional image and institutional reputation in securing client loyalty Theiroutcomes demonstrated that loyalty would, in general, be higher when the impression

of both trustworthiness and administration quality is strong (Nguyen and LeBlanc,2001) Reputation is linked to the professional image projection of higher education,which is influenced by the media, alumni track record, and university achievement atthe national and international levels

Reputation refers to the complete impression that individuals construct in theirthoughts about something or someone (Chen and Esangbedo, 2018) It involves thefeelings, attitudes, stereotypes, ideas, behaviors, and impressions that a person has of

an object, person, or organization University reputation is a complicated constructbased on the thoughts of public individuals or those in a university’s staff who have

made a differentiating and comparative evaluation of its characteristics Márquez et al., 2013; Chen and Esangbedo, 2018).

(Delgado-This reputation was established by individuals or by the public by way of theirdistinction between information and disinformation regarding a university (Chen andEsangbedo, 2018) University reputation is the shared knowledge that people had about

a school and how it should work Also, University Reputation can be seen as aperceived external influence, as an organizational reputation, and as identity (Chen andEsangbedo, 2018; Pérez and Torres, 2017)

In the study of Keh and Xie (2009), three factors create corporate reputation: thefocal company was highly regarded, the focal company was successful, and the focalcompany is a well-established company

From a business aspect, organizational reputation can be described as a generalassessment of the argument that an organization is primarily successful or unsuccessful(Heffernan et al., 2018) It can also be described as a-run-of-the mill assessment of anorganization’s ability to deliver essential results to its partners (Heffernan et al., 2018)

A few investigations have discovered an association between strong reputation andorganizational personality among workers and customers (Su et al., 2016) People werelikely to identify with organizations they saw as having excellent reputations, and theycould meet their confidence and self-improvement requests (Heffernan et al., 2018).Fombrun et al (2004) claimed that firm reputation is one of the critical antecedents ofcustomer organization identity

According to Heffernan et al (2018), university reputation, an increasinglymarket-based system characterized by an educational context, creates powerful brandsthat have become essential indicators of organizational competitiveness and position.Moreover, the university reputation has been determined to affect supportive