Factors of the brand image influencing students’ choices in higher education institutions in ho chi minh city

This study aims to investigate factors of brand image which influence the choices of students in terms of postgraduate universities, the case of three universities in Ho Chi Minh City: I

PHD.CO.001 Research Proposal and Writing Final Assignment – Research Proposal

Table of Contents

1 Introduction 2

2 Problem Statement 2

3 Research objectives 3

4 Research questions 3

5 Literature Review 3

5.1 Research Concepts and Definitions 3

5.1.1 Higher education 3

5.1.2 Brand and brand management 4

5.1.3 Brand approach 5

5.1.4 Brand identity 6

5.1.5 Brand image 7

5.1.6 The theory of student’s choice – choice theory 8

5.2 Previous Research Studies 9

5.3 Conceptual model and Hypotheses 11

6 Methodology 13

6.1 Sampling Design 13

6.1.1 Description of Population 13

6.1.2 Sample size determination 13

6.1.3 Data collection 14

6.1.4 Survey questionnaire development 14

6.1.5 Different types of bias 15

6.2 Basic Experimental Design 15

6.2.1 Research Hypotheses 16

6.2.2 Blocking variables 18

6.2.3 Extraneous variables 18

6.2.4 Internal and external validity 18

6.2.5 How to deal with low external validity 19

7 Overview of Chapters: 20

8 Plan of Work 20

References 21

List of tables

Table 1 The seven brand approaches 6

Table 2 Brand image concept in the brand literature 8

Table 3 Summarize previous studies 11

Table 4 Proposed Hypothesis 12

List of figures Figure 1 The Research Conceptual Model 12

Abstract

The awareness of brand image increasingly becomes a great of importance in students’ choice towards higher education institution This study aims to investigate factors of brand image which influence the choices of students in terms of postgraduate universities, the case of three universities in Ho Chi Minh City: International University HCMC, University of Economics HCMC, University of Economics and Law HCMC In particularly, these factors will be identified in reference with students’ choice in higher programs at these universities Furthermore, the most factor affecting students ‘choice would be defined and taken in to consideration Focus group technique and paper-based are applied to build questionnaire forming The surveys of 450 samples would be collected by email survey technique The technique of Conbach’s Alpha and Exploratory Factor Analysis are applied to test a reliability

of all measurement scales The next stage of analysis illustrates a regression between identified factors and choice of students Besides, there is the influence between type of job and the choices

of students

1 Introduction

In the context of integration with the world economy, the affirmation and enhancing the position

of country become a general trend of all countries, especially developing countries Moreover, education in Vietnam currently plays a very important role not only students and parents but also for teachers and lecturers in order to create useful people for society development In particular, higher education has an essential thing in creating and increasing value of national brand Thus, building brand name for institutions in Vietnam is necessary In an increasing competition in higher education, institutions have to face the huge challenges in the high caliber students and academic staff This competition drives the need for universities to focus on clearly articulating and developing their brand (Hemsley-Brown & Goonawardana, 2007)) How universities manage the relationships between administrative staff and academics, and between students and administrative Moreover, how the awareness of students about brand of institution may have influences on the success of institutions and student’s intentions to engage with the university in the future Branding in higher education is a strategic tool which enables easier identification and measure of the quality of certain university Additionally, since it has been noted that the greater the congruence between student’s values, goals and attitudes and those of the institution, the less likely a student is to drop out, the concept of branding has become more significant to the field of higher education University image branding management are gaining on the importance since a university brand assists potential students in making right decision and guarantees that their values and norms will match the institution ones By examining the factors

of brand image in higher education which influence choices of students in three universities in

Ho Chi Minh City, this paper provides further empirical evidences of brand image In addition, managers in higher education will also benefit from this research in terms of the major marketing and the appropriate strategies in order to connect and engage better with students and graduates From that these universities can have appropriate strategies to develop brand in order to bring more benefits to such universities

2 Problem Statement

It can be seen that there are many opportunities for universities to develop and attract more students in higher education programs The fact that nowadays more and more students would like to study higher education program in domestic not only in programs of English taught but also in Vietnamese Understanding of demand of market, there are many studies related to brand management for universities to get more students According to Nguyen Tran Sy and Nguyen Thuy Phuong (2014), there are four mains ways to spread brand name of universities, which influence students through brand image of the universities Almost studies are related to how to

build and develop brand name for universities in general and there are lacking of research about higher education program which linked to brand image of universities Thus, this study will investigate the factors of image influencing choices of students in higher programs and such study will take place in three universities in Ho Chi Minh City: International University Ho Chi Minh City, The University of Economics and Law and University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City

3 Research objectives

Research objectives are what the researcher want to achieve in his paper (Zikmund, Babin, & Griffin, 2013) The first objective is to investigate the factors of brand image that influence choices of students in term of higher education The second objective is to examine the relationship between these factors and find out the most influenced factors of image toward students’ choices and then proposing recommendations to increase the percentage of students choosing institutions

• Which are the most factors affecting students’ choices?

• What are measures needed to improve increase the percentage of students choosing institutions?

students which are studying master programs at three universities: International University HCMC, University of Economics and Law and University of Economics HCMC

5.1.2 Brand and brand management

Brand is a term which has been defined by many author and many organizations through many years One of the definition of brand which is mentioned by the American Marketing Association (AMA) is as follows:

Name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those

of other sellers A “brand” is “the means by which a company aims to differentiate its product from competition and [to] protect its position in the market, profitability, overtime (Advancing Intellectual Property Protection, n.d.)

Many authors have been had definition of brand and Kotler defined brand which can be understood that “a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, [that] is intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors” (Kotler 1997, p 443) According to Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre (2009, p 9) they stated that the definition of brand can be in some more aspects which included internal and organizational processes

With the development of marketing brand management has become more and more important not only in businesses but also in academic filed But what is brand management? Jean- Noel Kapferer (2012, p 7) stated that brand management starts with the product and service as the prime vector of perceived value, while communication is there to structure, to orient tangible perceptions and to add intangibles ones Another understanding about brand management which

is mentioned in Management Study Guide (n.d) is that management of tangible and intangible

in terms of characteristic of brand

Understanding the importance of brand management in development of brand in order to get more benefits from businesses, there are many studies which have been investigated the application of brand management, especially in the field of universities Gili S Drori, Guiseppe Delmestri and Achim Oberg (2013, p 137-151) built brand for the university based on relational strategy of identity construction in a competitive field Hanover Research studied changes recently in higher education in terms of branding and marketing, recruitment and technology This research provides many useful information about significant trends that recent institution pay attention more to branding and marketing than the previous More over the study shows that online marketing may take into consideration to encourage apply for programs Besides many researches related to brand and brand management in universities aspects have been done over years Le (2012) showed that there were many solutions to improve the brand image of faculty

of business of administration- Sai Gon University The author found out mains factor that influence to the brand image business of administration faculty through evaluation of students

of Sai Gon University

5.1.3 Brand approach

According to Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre (2009) there are seven main brand approaches that need to be considered He divided into two paradigms which are positivistic and constructivist These seven brand approached are illustrated through three periods of time which are human/receiver focus, company/ sender focus and cultural/ context focus These seven brand approaches are named the economic approach, the identity approach, the personality approach, the consumer-based approach and the relational approach

In the economic approach, the transaction theory and marketing mix theory are applied to analyze the economic brand The main method of the economic approach is quantitative method using in order to investigate the relationship between variables of management of marketing mix and consumer choice in terms of brand From that the author found out how these variables affect consumer choices For the implication of the economic approach, the Four Ps is very famous and important for brand manager to plan a brand strategy for a company

In the identity approach, four primary supporting themes related to brand identity are mentioned and they are corporate identity, organizational identity, brand image There are two aspects that are illustrated in the identity approach and they are internal and external side In the internal side the corporate identity and organizational identity are mentioned However, for the external side the brand image elements are considered to analyze through cognitive and social psychology methods This identity approach can be applied to improve the brand identity for organizations through many actions related to brand image, reputation, behavior and culture of organizations The personality approach is applied through the concepts of the cognitive consumer perspective and a theory of a process of information in terms of consumer choice More over customer- based brand equity is taken into account for this approach

According to Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre (2009) the personality approach assumes that personality traits are important drivers for analysis between brand and consumer There are three supporting themes in the personality approach They are personality, consumer self and brand- self congruence

In the relational approach, three theories are applied to analyze brand management and they are animism, human relationships and brand relationship (Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre, 2009) The author emphasizes the method of depth interviews and life story used to research relationships

In the community approach, there are three primary theories has been used and they are community theory, subcultures of consumption and brand community Many methods which are ethnographic methods and netnography methods used to research brand communities (Charlotte

F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre, 2009)

In the cultural approach, the theory of cultural branding, the No Logo movement and its resistance to branding and the theory of the citizen-artist brand prospect are three main theories Variety methods has been used to research cultural consumption and they are macro-level analysis and micro- level data (Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre, 2009)

The seven brand approaches can be summarized by the table as follows:

Table 1 The seven brand approaches

The relational approach

Source: Charlotte F Knudtzen and Mogens Bjerre (2009)

5.1.4 Brand identity

There are many definitions of brand identity in many books but one of the popular definitions is that tangible and appeals to the senses You can see it, touch it, hold it, hear it, watch it move Brand identity fuels recognition, amplifies differentiation, and makes big ideas and meaning accessible Brand identity takes disparate elements and unifies them into whole systems (Alina Wheeler, 2009) Another definition of brand identity which is more clearly is that brand identity

is a unique set of brand associations that the brand strategists aspire to create or maintain These associations represent what the brand stands for and imply a promise to customers from the organization members (Aaker, 1996, p 68) Aaker (1996) described brand identity is a foundation for brand strategy and building brand name therefore brand identity is essential element for development in the long-term

To build a good brand identity, the internal and external aspects need to be taken into account Internal side includes corporate identity and organizational identity While the corporate identity focusses on visual and strategic of an organization, the organizational identity concentrates on behavior of people and culture of an organization External side consists on brand image De

Chernatony (1999) stated that brand identity management needs to pay attention to organizational elements- internal elements Members or employees of an organization play a very important role in building brand for the organization

Brand identity is one of primary factor in identification, evaluation and orientation of brand building Firstly, brand identity limits vague understanding about brand by different explanations

of brand elements in order to identify brand and suggest appropriate decision making Secondly, the brand identity helps decision makers evaluating the orientation possibility of identity when interacting with customers in order to make differential brand strategy Thirdly, this identity support in suggesting new ideas which are suitable and efficient to brand building (Aaker and Joachimsthaler, 2000; Han, 2006)

Another definition of Aaker & Joachimshaler (2000) is that brand identity is a lot of connections related to brand Strategists uses these connections to keep in mind or to create in mind of customers Moreover, brand identity is associations of logic and emotion that the brand maintains

in the minds of customers (Coop, 2005)

5.1.5 Brand image

Nowadays brand image becomes more and more important and strategic elements that contribute significantly to the success of companies not only in intangible assets aspect but also in long-term strategy of the development Hitesh Bhasin (2016) stated that brand image is a deciding factor that affect directly to the sales of the product Moreover, he mentioned that brand image

is an accumulation of beliefs and views about that particular brand The brand value and brand character are described by their image and this is the primary element in the scheme of things One of the essential this is that the brand image is the mirror which reflects key values of the organization Some organization which has a range of good quality products but has bad evaluation of brand image may lead to a decrease in sales and profit as well Therefore, the brand image is one of important factors that influence the success and long-term strategy of the company

Many researchers has been studies brand image and the definition of brand image can be summarized by the following table:

Table 2 Brand image concept in the brand literature

Source: Zi Yang (2015)

5.1.6 The theory of student’s choice – choice theory

There are many researchers that examined these factors influencing students’ choice in higher education institutions The theory is used to investigate this study is choice theory Crossman (2010) emphasized the importance of economics in human behavior related to choose decision

It could be seen that the monetary motivation plays an essential role in in what people would do

in order to get the opportunity of profit They will take into consideration of the benefits in the future The students will pay attention to a range of cost and benefits when they intent to choose the university for education Do, Nguyen and Nguyen (2015) also mentioned the economics perspective which is factor affect students’ choice of universities They will compare the cost and benefits

Another factor that affect choice is sociological factor The factor of cultural and social capital which are socioeconomic background prospects, achievement of academic will affect the choice decision of student related to university (Oya Tamtekin Ayd›n, 2015)

He also stated that besides economics and sociological aspects, there are another model called three-stage model The three-stage model will focus on predisposition stage, search stage and choice The predisposition is related to where the student would like to continue to study while the search stage will bring a variety of information for the choice stage

5.2 Previous Research Studies

Understanding the important of brand image this study tries to illustrate all indicators that influence the choices of students in higher education institutions and the case is in three universities in Ho Chi Minh City

According to Kevin Land Keller (2013, p 72) he stated that:

Creating brand awareness by increasing the familiarity of the brand through repeated exposure (for brand recognition) and forging strong associations with the appropriate product category or other relevant purchase or consumption cues (for brand recall) is an important first step in building brand equity Once a sufficient level of brand awareness is created, marketers can put more emphasis on crafting a brand image

Brand image has been studies for long time and is proved that this is an important concept in marketing Brand image is considered that this is related to the consistent with associative network memory model which mentions the perceptions of consumers about a brand The brand image reflects consumer memory by the brand associations In other words, information of brand association links to brand memory of consumers and this has meaning to consumers Associations may come from characteristics of the product or any related aspects of the product (Kevin Lane Keller, 2013, p 79)

Corporate image will depend on many dimensions as follows:

• Common product, attributes, benefits or attitudes: there are two dimension that contribute noticeably to strong association of brand image and they are high quality and innovation (Kevin Lane Keller, 2013, p 411) High quality for higher education programs may come from many aspects such as a quality of human resource, a quality of program structure, infrastructure of the universities It is clear that the quality program related to all courses and contents which satisfy a expectation of students Le Nguyen Binh Minh (2012) suggest that all these above dimensions have positive effect to the brand image of Sai Gon University Moreover, attribute dimension of corporate image which bring positive association of brand image is cost of the program The second dimension is about

image Keller (2013, p 412) stated that perceived innovativeness is also a key competitive weapon and priority for firms in other countries According Nhat Hong (2017) she emphasized that innovation in training methods, service quality and management contribute significantly to the brand of the university

• People and relationship: according to Kevin Lane Keller (2013, p412) these elements related to the professional of employees and service quality in order to bring the best quality product to the consumers A customer-focused corporate image association creates consumer perceptions of a company as responsive to and caring about its customers (Keller, 2013, p412) Thus the professional of human resource in university play a primary role in creation of strong association of brand image to students’ memory

in order to increase the choices of students

• Value and program: Keller (2013, p 413) stated that these dimension are related to social responsibility A socially responsible corporate image association portrays the company

as contributing to community programs, supporting artistic and social activities, and generally attempting to improve the welfare of society as a whole

According to Le Nguyen Binh Minh (2012) stated that the reputation of the university has a positive effect to brand image of the university Moreover, Ioan-Constantin Enache (2011) also mentioned that the importance of reputation in modern educational institutes The universities are more and more orient to develop and keep a good reputation

The concept of reputation is used in order to influence student’s choice when selecting higher education institution Understanding of a reputation concept enables management to use it more effectively in communication strategy which has a major role in positioning of an institution (Nguyen & LeBlanc, 2001, p.303) Those with whom the institutions have the need to communicate are, on the one hand those from internal surrounding such as present students, faculty staff, but on the other hand recruiters and potential applicants It is relevant to say that all these subject from internal and external environment interact with each other, thus, consistency is here particularly important The message which is created for the public can be in the form of publications, press releases, speechless, memos, report and the variety of other channels which schools use to interact with their constituencies

There are numerous benefits from having a good reputation on the higher education market For instance, favorable reputation on the foreign market can be beneficial in two ways On the one hand, it is in institution’s interest to attract talented foreign students, while on the other hand by attracting foreign students and enjoying good reputation abroad the institution will reinforce the idea that the educational programs are of a high quality, internationally oriented, acknowledged and appreciated outside the country borders Additionally, a good reputation among employees