Social Media Marketing and Customer-Based Brand Equity for Higher Educational Institutions : Case of Vietnam and Sri Lanka

This book examines the extent to which social media marketing influences the customer-based brand equity of higher education institutes. Higher education institutions operate in a strong competitive environment due to the homogenous nature of their services and always look for new marketing strategies to be competitive in the marketplace. Therefore, building customer-based brand equity has become crucial for higher education institutions to differentiate themselves from others to attract prospective students. Social media-based marketing facilitated prospective students to communicate and collaborate to gather information relevant to higher education institutions and their respective brand equity. However, many models on customer-based brand equity received limited support in the higher education sector, particularly in emerging Asian countries. As such, drawing from social information processing theory, this book empirically investigates how higher education institutions can develop customer-based brand equity by using social media marketing and subjective norms mediated by brand credibility, taking cross-country comparisons between Sri Lanka and Vietnam. The book goes on to examine the applications and implications of the findings for higher education institutions in developing branding strategies through social media. Declaration Acknowledgements Research Overview About This Book Contents Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Research Background 1.3 Problem Outline 1.4 Research Gap 1.5 Significance of the Study 1.6 Research Aim, Objectives, and Questions 1.7 Proposed Methodology 1.8 Structure of the Thesis References 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Brand and Branding 2.2.1 Branding in the Service Sector 2.3 Brand Equity 2.3.1 Definition of Brand Equity 2.3.2 Brand Equity in Higher Education 2.3.3 Benefits of Brand Equity 2.3.4 Different Perspectives on Brand Equity 2.4 Brand Equity Perspective of This Study 2.5 Overview of the Antecedents and Possible Outcomes of Customer-Based Brand Equity 2.6 Measuring “Customer-Based Brand Equity” in the Higher Education Sector 2.7 Social Media 2.7.1 Social Media Marketing 2.7.2 Social Media Marketing in Higher Education 2.8 Subjective Norms 2.9 Brand Credibility 2.10 Higher Education in South Asia and South-East Asia 2.10.1 Location 2.10.2 Brand Usage Experience 2.11 Summary References 3 Research Model and Hypotheses 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Hypotheses Development 3.2.1 Hypothesis H1: User-Generated Content and Brand Credibility 3.2.2 Hypothesis H2: Firm-Generated Content and Brand Credibility 3.2.3 Hypothesis H3: Subjective Norms and Brand Credibility 3.2.4 Hypothesis H4: Brand Credibility and Customer-Based Brand Equity 3.2.5 Hypothesis H5: Mediating Effect of Brand Credibility 3.2.6 Hypothesis H6: The Moderating Effects of Location 3.2.7 Hypothesis H7: The Moderating Effects of Brand Usage Experience 3.3 Development of the Conceptual Framework 3.4 Definition of Variables 3.5 Theoretical Foundation 3.5.1 Signalling Theory 3.5.2 Social Information Processing Theory 3.6 Summary References 4 Methodology and Methods 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Research Philosophy 4.2.1 Ontology and Epistemology 4.2.2 Philosophical Paradigm 4.2.3 The Current Study’s Philosophical Stance 4.3 Research Purpose 4.4 Research Approach 4.5 Research Methods 4.5.1 Survey Questionnaire 4.5.2 Questionnaire Design 4.5.3 Questionnaire Structure 4.5.4 Questionnaire Translation 4.6 Data Collection for the Pilot Study 4.6.1 Validity and Reliability of the Piloted Questionnaire 4.6.2 Validity 4.6.3 Reliability 4.7 Sample Design 4.7.1 Sample Size 4.7.2 Sampling Technique 4.7.3 A Sampling of the Questionnaire Respondents 4.8 Statistical Analysis Techniques Used 4.9 Ethical Consideration 4.10 Summary References 5 Quantitative Data Presentation and Analysis: Descriptive Analysis 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Preliminary Data Consideration 5.2.1 Response Rate 5.2.2 Data Screening and Cleaning 5.3 Background and Demographic Profile of the Study Sample 5.3.1 Demographics 5.4 Respondents’ Segmentation 5.4.1 Sri Lankans and Vietnamese Demographic Observations on Dependence 5.5 Descriptive Analysis of Respondents’ Responses 5.5.1 Firm-Generated Content 5.5.2 User-Generated Content 5.5.3 Brand Credibility 5.5.4 Customer-Based Brand Equity 5.5.5 Subjective Norm 5.6 Summary References 6 Quantitative Data Presentation and Analysis: Inferential Analysis 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) 6.2.1 Test for Common Method Bias 6.2.2 Test of Sampling Adequacy and Data Sphericity 6.2.3 Performing EFA 6.2.4 EFA Results 6.2.5 EFA for the Final Data Set 6.3 The Measurement Model: CFA 6.3.1 The Measurement Model Evaluation: Goodness-of-Fit 6.3.2 CFA for Path Diagram 6.4 The Measurement Model Enhancement 6.5 The Measurement Model Evaluation 6.5.1 Reliability Assessment 6.5.2 The Measurement Model Evaluation: Construct Validity 6.6 The Structural Model: Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) 6.6.1 The Structural Model Evaluation: Goodness-of-Fit 6.6.2 Testing Research Hypotheses 6.6.3 Testing the Mediating Effect of Brand Credibility 6.6.4 Moderating Effect of Location and Brand Usage Experience 6.7 Covariance Among UGC, FGC, and SN 6.8 Summary References 7 Discussion 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Overview of the Study 7.2.1 Discussion and Implications: Research Question 1 7.2.2 Discussion and Implications: Research Question 2 7.2.3 Discussion and Implications: Research Question 3 7.3 Comparative Analysis Between Sri Lanka and Vietnam Based on Their Demographic Observations 7.4 Theoretical and Managerial Contribution of the Study 7.4.1 Theoretical Contribution 7.4.2 Practical Implications 7.5 Summary References 8 Conclusion 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Brief Overview of the Study 8.3 Limitation of the Study 8.4 Suggestions for Future Research 8.5 Summary Appendix 4A: Sources of the Measurement Scales for the Questionnaire Appendix 4B: The Questionnaire Sampling Process Appendix 4C: Data Analysis Techniques Used Appendix 5A: P-P Plot of Each Variable Appendix 5B: Descriptive Statistics for the Questionnaire Measurement Items Appendix 5C: Gender Distribution Among Sri Lankans and Vietnamese Appendix 5D: Studying Year of Sri Lankans and Vietnamese Appendix 5E: Field of Study of Sri Lankans and Vietnamese Appendix 5F: Hours on Social Media of Sri Lankans and Vietnamese Appendix 5G: Widely Used Social Networking Site of Sri Lankans and Vietnamese Appendix 5H: Frequency of Visits to Social Networking Sites of Sri Lankans and Vietnamese Appendix 5I: Frequency of Posting on Social Networking Sites by Sri Lankans and Vietnamese Appendix 5J: Traditional Media Usage Among Sri Lankans and Vietnamese Appendix 5K: Expected Frequencies for Sri Lankans, and Vietnamese and Results of Chi-square Tests Appendix 6A: Communality Statistics for the Observable Variables (EFA) Appendix 6B: The EFA Summary for the Study’s Constructs Appendix 6C: Model-Fit Summary for CFA (first-run) Appendix 6D: Model-Fit Summary for CFA (Second-Run) Appendix 6E: Model-Fit Summary for CFA (Structural Model) References