Brand management in higher education: Effect of brand equity on attracting scientific talents (A measure of university brand identity)

Zamani, A.; Pouratashi, M.; Ghajarbeigi, S.

doi:10.22061/jte.2018.2835.1727

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

¹ Institute for Research and Planning in Higher Education. Tehran. Iran

² Insurance Management.Tehran. Iran

https://doi.org/10.22061/jte.2018.2835.1727

Abstract

Background and Objective:One of the activities in the field of branding is brand management, which tries to create value for the brand with accurate and principled policy and timely planning, and then, in order to lead changes for striving to develop and improve it. The university brand succeeds when higher education administrators and policymakers in the higher education sector have an understanding of the intangible assets of the university and the higher education system and the university brand. In this regard, it is necessary to have strategic planning for brand management of the university, which means that first by defining the mission statement and vision of the university, the goals are well and accurately and clearly defined. Then, based on the evaluation of the internal and external environment of the university, it adopted strategies to achieve the desired university brand. And by using careful monitoring at each stage, the necessary feedback should be given to the university administrators regarding the extent to which the goal has been achieved. In other words, an accurate brand must be chosen for each university, and when it is managed in a comprehensive and integrated manner, it is a valuable asset. Brand identity of university and a positive image is an important part of what is now considered by many universities around the world. Therefore, this research aimed to study brand management in higher education and to study brand equity to attract scientific talent.
Methods: The population of this study included all faculty members at public universities in Tehran and random sampling method was used for data collection. To collect data, a questionnaire was used whose validity and reliability were confirmed by professors’ views and calculating Cronbach's alpha. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used by SPSS; and structural equation modeling was used by LISREL.
Findings: The results indicated that the university brand identity and brand equity affects attracting scientific talents and the highest path coefficient among the research variables is "brand identity" (0.88).
Conclusion: Now that universities in our country are gradually moving towards competing with each other to attract scientific talents and attract the best people, they should try to increase their brand and mental image in the society and among the elites and develop the strategic university brand identity in prospective document of the university. As the credible identity of the university stems from its perceived success and credibility, which can include the overall brand of the university or its various sub-brands, such as the brand of campuses, faculties, associations and scientific groups, and sports teams. In fact the role of brand identity is effective in the marketing and success of the university as well as the public policy perspective of the university.

Keywords

20.1001.1.20080441.1397.12.4.9.9

Main Subjects

Education technology - higher education

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