Come on higher ed … get with the programme! A study of market orientation in international student recruitment

Abstract

This paper investigates higher education (HE) student recruitment practices from the standpoint of market orientation. By adopting the well-established market orientation framework of Narver and Slater [1990, The effect of a market orientation on a business profitability. Journal of Marketing 54, no. 4: 20–35], we examine the extent to which individual market orientation components are reflected in the strategies adopted by international student recruitment (ISR) departments in Australian HE institutions and how these, in turn, influence ISR performance. The analysis of data collected from ISR practitioners, via online survey, suggests a number of important theoretical and practical implications and strong recommendations for further research in this area.

Keywords:

• higher education
• international student recruitment
• market orientation
• customer orientation
• competitor orientation
• inter-functional orientation
• performance

Notes

1. Analytical considerations: Given the choice of perceptual measures for ISR market performance, it was important to acknowledge the potential for data contamination through common-method bias (as previously discussed). Furthermore, the use of formative measures for perceived market performance requires the use of appropriate analysis (which differs to that of reflective measures). Both of these issues are addressed in the “Analysis and results” section.