Measuring COVID-19’s impact on international HE students and intervention satisfaction: implications for marketing theory and practice

ABSTRACT

Research is urgently required to understand COVID-19’s impact on international students and satisfaction with support interventions. This study investigated these dimensions for international business students studying in Australia to inform international HE policy and marketing. Qualitative research identified the main impacts: financial hardship and income loss, social and lifestyle changes, cessation of travel, and mental health concerns. Six COVID-19 intervention dimensions were identified and a survey then captured ratings of importance, as well as the performance of CDU and the government across these dimensions. Intervention improvement priorities varied according to the analytical approach used. For example, importance-performance analysis revealed financial support as the priority for improvement. In contrast, regression analysis revealed social distancing as the key driver of intervention satisfaction. Closing the loop research then revealed ways to improve COVID-19 interventions and provided input for future marketing for attracting and maintaining international students. Implications for measuring student satisfaction are also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19 interventions
• international higher education
• importance-performance analysis [IPA]
• satisfaction regression analysis
• Leximancer
• methodological pluralism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).