How commitment influences students’ conversations about higher education

ABSTRACT

Commitment and word-of-mouth communication are important relational ideas: commitment a central and defining aspect of relationships; word-of-mouth a key relational outcome. This research examines the relationship between commitment and word-of-mouth communication within the context of higher education. The study tests a new conceptual framework which explains the impact of students’ commitment on students’ intentions to emit word-of-mouth. It uses structural equation modelling to analyse data from undergraduate students studying at four UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Interestingly, whilst students feel stronger levels of affective commitment towards their university than towards their academic tutors, it is the affective commitment towards academics which has the greatest influence on students’ intentions to talk positively about their university experience. This research corroborates extant studies which articulate the importance of affective commitment as a driver of positive word-of-mouth, highlighting the critical contribution of affective commitment directed towards people. If Universities are looking to generate positive stories about the experiences they offer, then the relationships between students and academics are a likely determinant of success.

KEYWORDS:

• Commitment
• word-of-mouth communication
• academics
• students
• higher education

Acknowledgements

The author sincerely thanks the reviewers for their constructive help and also thanks Dr John Beavis and Prof Daniel Muijs for their advice.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Fiona Cownie

Dr Fiona Cownie’s research focus is a relational approach to HE and its implications for the student experience. She is particularly interested in the student-academic relationship and its importance to contemporary higher education. Fiona is an experienced educator and her teaching lies within the areas of relationship marketing and word-of-mouth communication.