Building a University Brand from Within: University Administrators' Perspectives of Internal Branding

Abstract

The branding process has evolved into a role that suggests a promise to meet consumer expectations. This promise has typically been developed based on external promotional strategies such as advertising and sales promotion. More recently, the brand messages conveyed to employees of an organization have been recognized as an important aspect of an organization's positioning. The objective of this study is to investigate the internal promotion of the brand within an industry that only recently began to embrace integrated marketing efforts: higher education. Administrators in higher education who regularly have an opportunity to convey the university brand promise to outside constituencies are surveyed. Respondents from private institutions reported greater brand clarity than respondents at public institutions.

KEYWORDS:

• administrators
• communication
• higher education
• internal branding
• media
• university brand

Notes

*N = 353, Valid Responses = 344.

**N = 353, Valid Responses = 331.

Mean based upon six point Likert-type scale: 1-Strongly Agree; 6-Strongly Disagree.

*p ≤ 0.05.

Alpha – University Brand Perception Strength −0.783.

Mean based upon six point Likert-type scale: 1-Strongly Agree; 6-Strongly Disagree.

*p < 0.05.

*N = 353, Mean based upon five point Likert-type scale: 1-Very Effective; 5-Very Ineffective.

*p ≤ 0.05.