Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Managing brand identity and reputation -A case study from Finnish higher educationFinnish universities have gone through major changes.The University Reform in 2010 in particular resulted in fundamental restructuring, including a decrease in the number of universities through several mergers, the tightening of competition for funding, and increasing evaluation of the work of university personnel.Moreover, Finnish degree structures have been revised as part of the Bologna Process, the aim of which is to increase competitiveness in European higher education by unifying degree structures, for example.Intensifying competition focuses attention on the branding and reputation of university education given the need to acquire and retain competent students and academic staff, to secure funding and to attract positive media publicity.The marketing of higher education (HE) is established as a research area in the academic literature on marketing.However, studies on brand and reputation management are still scarce, conducted primarily in the USA and the UK and concentrating on big universities.In addition, the research is typically limited to the perceptions of representatives of just one or a few stakeholder groups.On the holistic level there is thus a need to consider stakeholders from a broader perspective.The extant marketing literature typically considers brand and reputation as distinct but closely aligned concepts.It is argued that a favourable brand and a favourable reputation constitute immaterial equity for an organisation and a source of competitive advantage, as well as increasing differentiation and being difficult for competitors to imitate.This study combines these bodies of literature in a novel way.The objective of this thesis is to develop an empirically grounded framework for managing brand identity and reputation in the HE context.The study is positioned in the academic literature on the marketing of higher education, as well as brand management and reputation management.This qualitative case study concentrates on a multidisciplinary Master's degree programme in a Finnish university consortium.The data comprise 28 interviews with representatives of the programme's internal and external stakeholders, a survey comprising open-ended questions conducted among 32 students on the programme, and participant observation.Secondary material further complements the data.The results show that the brand identity of the Master's degree programme is the essence of the brand which was being built with stakeholders.These people represent both internal and external stakeholder groups.The building of the brand identity began in the local context long before the actual programme planning started.It is crucial in this process to identify the components that comprise the brand identity and aim at building a coherent entity.In this study the components of a brand identity in higher education comprise vision and culture, positioning, personality, relationships, presentation and place.Brand reputation, in turn, is considered the stakeholders' overall assessment of the brand.This is difficult to manage as such, but much can be achieved through focusing on the quality dimensions, in other words the predictors.The following quality dimensions were identified in the context of higher education: teaching, research, services and support, leadership and governance, financial resources, relations and co-branding, the workplace climate, interaction with society, students, uniqueness and visibility.These dimensions should form a consistent entity and reflect the brand identity on the concrete level.An outcome of the study is an empirically grounded framework for managing brand identity and reputation in higher education, comprising three levels: 1) brand identity, 2) the quality dimensions of brand reputation and 3) brand reputation.The results show that reputation risks may occur on each level of the framework, but they are most detrimental to the brand reputation on the level of brand identity.Reputation risks on the different levels may emanate from both internal and external sources.It can be concluded from the findings that managing brand reputation in higher education requires: 1) identifying and consistently building the components of brand identity and the quality dimensions of brand reputation, and 2) proactively identifying and managing the reputation risks.In addition, it can be argued that the dilemma approach is a favourable starting point for identifying and managing sources of reputation risk during the early stages.This study contributes to the bodies of academic literature on the marketing of higher education, brand management and reputation management.
Source: UTUPub (University of Turku)
Author: Kati Suomi
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2283144109