Uncovering university brand pride – the road towards building a university brand pride scale
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15170/MM.2024.58.KSZ.01.05Keywords:
higher education, brand pride, higher education marketingAbstract
THE AIMS OF THE PAPER
The prominent role of universities in community building is becoming more important in modern societies, as a significant majority of young generations belong to some kind of university community after graduating from high school. The post-pandemic period has brought immense transformation to these communities, so the importance of the university brand and the relationship with this brand have been reevaluated. The aim of the present research is to explore brand pride and its expression in university communities, and to compare these factors with previously uncovered factors of scales expressing brand pride in the literature. Subsequently, the article attempts to adapt a brand pride scale specifically for universities, so that this tool can later be used to measure brand pride among university students.
METHODOLOGY
The present research utilized qualitative focus group discussions to assess brand pride present in university communities and their means of expression among full-time graduate students at the University of Szeged, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, who currently have active student status in the International Economy and Business (INEB) study program. Following an arbitrary sample selection, a total of 29 students participated in 8 mini focus group discussions in the spring of 2024. In addition to providing insight into the concepts studied and their appearance in higher education, this qualitative exploratory research also serves as the basis for later quantitative research.
MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS
The results show that university brand pride can include bragging, positive and joyful expressions about the university, buying university merchandise, and sharing information about the university on social media. These factors correspond to most elements of previous brand pride scales, but university brand pride measurement requires a modification of the existing scale.
RECOMMENDATIONS
After comparing the qualitative results with previous brand pride scales, the study proposes the initial steps of creating a university brand pride scale. Based on the qualitative research results, by adapting the scale of Nandy et al. (2024), a university brand pride scale was obtained, which can serve as a unique measurement tool for students’ university brand pride at any university.
Acknowledgments: Supported by the ÚNKP-23-4 -SZTE-176 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund.
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