Students’ Enrolment in Nigerian Private Universities: The Pull Effect of Corporate Image and Promotional Appeal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53449/ije.v4i2.63Keywords:
corporate brand image, promotional appeal, students’ enrolmentAbstract
University’s corporate image and promotional appeal are fundamental to students’ decisions during enrolment into the private ivory towers in Nigeria. The proliferation and high- rate competition among private universities has warranted the adoption of marketing communication strategies that could capture and retain the attention of prospective students and their sponsors. The main objective of the study was to examine the influence of brand image and promotional appeal on students’ enrolment decisions into Nigerian private universities. To accomplish this goal, a survey research design was adopted and 354 undergraduates from two (2) purposively selected private universities were sampled, using simple random sampling. data was collected using a structured questionnaire. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Regression, were used for the data analyses. The results show positive significant influence of university’s brand image on students’ enrolment at F= 84.714, df= 353, sig. at 0.000. Similarly, the finding also shows that promotional appeal influences students’ enrolment at F= 291.125, df = 353, sig. at 0.000. This study contributes to the exiting knowledge in the area of brand image, promotional appeal and students’ enrolment. The insights discovered from this study would help to facilitate, develop and focus on building corporate brand image that will encourage students’ enrolment. This will also be useful for universities that wish to improve on the level of students’ subscription into different programmes offered by the institutions.
References
Adeniji, A. A; Falola, H. O, Adeyeye, J. O, Osibanjo, A. O & Ogueyungbo O. (2019). Measuring the dynamic model of employee resourcing strategies, corporate image and job performance in ICT driven Universities, International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology 10(3), 1065–1077. http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=10&IType=3
Beneke, J. H. (2011). Marketing the institution to prospective students – A review of brand (reputation) management in higher education. International Journal of Business and Management. 6(1), 29-44.
Benjamin, S. J., Marathamuthu, M. S., MuthaiyBridson, K., & Mavondo, F. (2011). Corporate image in the leisure services sector. Journal of Services Marketing, 25(3), 190-201.
Bloemer, J. & de Ruyter, K. (1998), “On the relationship between store image, store satisfaction and store loyalty”, European Journal of Marketing, 32(5/6), 499-513.
Bunzel, D. (2007). Universities sell their brands. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 16(2), 152-153.
Cretu, A. E., & Brodie, R. J. (2007). The influence of brand image and company reputation where manufacturers market to small firms: A customer value perspective. Industrial Marketing Management, 36(2), 230-240.
De-Boer, H., Enders, J., & Jongbloed, B. (2009). Market governance in higher education. The European Higher Education Area: Perspective on a Moving Target, 61-78.
Gathungu, J. J. W., & Karoki, A.W. (2010). Service branding: From developing service brands to value creation in the hospitality and tourism industry in Kenya. Paper presented at the international research symposium in service management. Republic of Mauritius.
Hua, L. T. (2011). Sustainable Competitive Advantage for Market Leadership amongst the Private Higher Education Institutes in Malaysia. Journal of Global Management. 2(1), 227-252.
Hussainy, S. K., Riaz, K., Kazi, A. K., &Herani, G. M. (2008). Advertising styles’ impact on attention in Pakistan. KASBIT Business Journal, 1(1), 28-38.
Mehrdach, A., Ali, A, Reza, A., & Seyyed, H. H. (2012). A new educational marketing mix: The 6ps for private school marketing in Iran. A Journal of Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology, 4(21), 4314-4319.
Ming, J. S. K. (2010). Institutional factors influencing students’ college choice decision in Malaysia: A conceptual framework. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 1(3), 53-58.
Moore, R. M. (2004). The rising tide: branding and the academic marketing place. Change, 36(3): 56–61.
Murtala, A. T., Lawal, A. A., Omosidi, A. S. & Ogbudinkpa, C. I. (2019). Marketing mix and students’ enrolment in private universities in Kwara State, Nigeria. Makerere Journal of Higher Education, 10 (2),53 – 63. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/majohe.v10i2.5
Muslim, N. (2012). An analysis on the perception and image of prestigious public higher learning institutions (IPTA) in Malaysia from development perspective. Journal of Applied Sciences Research, 8(7), 3277-3283.
National Universities Commission (2019). Nigerian university system statistical digest 2019. Retrieved from: www.nuc.edu.ng
Onyemaechi, J. O., (2013). Promoting the demand for private universities in Nigeria: A survey of representative private, private universities Singaporean. Journal of Business Economics and Management Studies, 1(11): 15-22.
Paden, N. & Stell, R. (2006). Branding options for distance learning programs: Managing the effect on university image. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 3(8): 45-54.
Pasternak, R. (2005). Choice of institution of higher education and academic expectations: the impact of cost-benefit factors. Teaching in Higher Education, 10(2), 189-201.
Rosenthal, G. (2003). A name by any other name: Responding to increasing role of marketing in higher education. Pennsylvania, US: University of Pennsylvania.
Smaiziene, I., & Jucevicius R. (2013). Structural composition of corporate reputation portfolio (sustainable development perspective) International Journal of Business and Management, 8(1), 107-113.
Uchendu, C. C., Nwafor, Innocent, A. & Nwaneri, M. G. (2015). Marketing strategies and students’ enrolment in private secondary schools in Calabar Municipality, Cross River State, Nigeria. International Journal of Education and Practice, 3(5), 212-223.
Weiwei, T., (2007). Impact of corporate image and corporate reputation on customer loyalty: a review. Management Science and Engineering, 1(2), 57-62.
Wind, J., Sthanunathan, S., & Malcom, R. (2013, June 18). Great Advertising in both local and global. Harvard Business Review Blog. http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/03/great-advertising-is-both-loca/Harvard Business Review Blog.
Yuksel, A., Kayacan, M. & Yılmaz, A. I. (2014). Appeals in destination promotion: A comparison between tour operators’ e-catalogues and the official website of Turkish NTO. Journal of Travel and Tourism Research, 5(1), 46-65.