IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v69y2016i8p3049-3057.html

The role of brand attachment strength in higher education

Author

Listed:
  • Dennis, Charles
  • Papagiannidis, Savvas
  • Alamanos, Eleftherios
  • Bourlakis, Michael

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of brand attachment and its antecedents on commitment, satisfaction, trust, and brand equity in the context of higher education institutions. The findings from an online survey with students and recent graduates (n=605) in the United States indicate that brand meaning is the main antecedent of brand attachment strength that affects satisfaction, trust, and commitment as well as brand equity. The effect of the brand attachment antecedents on satisfaction is stronger for current students whereas the effect of brand attachment antecedents on commitment is stronger for recent graduates. The effect of attachment strength on brand equity is also stronger for recent graduates. The paper also highlights practical implications for higher education managers and policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Dennis, Charles & Papagiannidis, Savvas & Alamanos, Eleftherios & Bourlakis, Michael, 2016. "The role of brand attachment strength in higher education," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 3049-3057.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:69:y:2016:i:8:p:3049-3057
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.01.020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296316000333
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2016.01.020?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer Edson Escalas & James R. Bettman, 2005. "Self-Construal, Reference Groups, and Brand Meaning," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(3), pages 378-389, December.
    2. Monks, James, 2003. "Patterns of giving to one's alma mater among young graduates from selective institutions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 121-130, April.
    3. Amit K. Ghosh & Thomas W. Whipple & Glenn A. Bryan, 2001. "Student Trust and its Antecedents in Higher Education," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 322-340, May.
    4. Ruby Roy Dholakia & Linda A. Acciardo, 2014. "Branding a state university: doing it right," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 144-163, June.
    5. da Silveira, Catherine & Lages, Carmen & Simões, Cláudia, 2013. "Reconceptualizing brand identity in a dynamic environment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 28-36.
    6. Brandi A. Watkins & William J. Gonzenbach, 2013. "Assessing university brand personality through logos: an analysis of the use of academics and athletics in university branding," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 15-33, June.
    7. Ilicic, Jasmina & Webster, Cynthia M., 2011. "Effects of multiple endorsements and consumer–celebrity attachment on attitude and purchase intention," Australasian marketing journal, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 230-237.
    8. McCracken, Grant, 1989. "Who Is the Celebrity Endorser? Cultural Foundations of the Endorsement Process," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 16(3), pages 310-321, December.
    9. Dora E. Bock & Sonja Martin Poole & Mathew Joseph, 2014. "Does branding impact student recruitment: a critical evaluation," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 11-21, June.
    10. Ravi K. Jillapalli & Regina Jillapalli, 2014. "Do professors have customer-based brand equity?," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 22-40, June.
    11. Mei Teh Goi & Chai Lee Goi & David Wong, 2014. "Constructing a brand identity scale for higher education institutions," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 59-74, June.
    12. R. Chumpitaz & N. Paparoidamis, 2007. "Service quality, relationship satisfaction, trust, commitment, and business-to-business loyalty," Post-Print hal-00199063, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Roland Helm & Martin Kloyer & Christin Aust, 2018. "R&D Collaboration Between Firms: Hard And Soft Antecedents Of Supplier Knowledge Sharing," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 24(01), pages 1-42, December.
    2. Anwar Sadat Shimul, 2022. "Brand attachment: a review and future research," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 29(4), pages 400-419, July.
    3. Vikrant Kaushal & Nurmahmud Ali, 2020. "University Reputation, Brand Attachment and Brand Personality as Antecedents of Student Loyalty: A Study in Higher Education Context," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(4), pages 254-266, November.
    4. Chandan A. Chavadi & Monika Sirothiya & Sindhu R. Menon & Vishwanatha M R, 2023. "Modelling the Effects of Social Media–based Brand Communities on Brand Trust, Brand Equity and Consumer Response," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 48(2), pages 114-141, June.
    5. Kelly Cartwright & Fernando Angulo-Ruiz, 2025. "An Exploration of the Influence of Having International Family on Higher Education Reputation and Loyalty," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 108-129, May.
    6. Marta Retamosa & Ángel Millán & Miguel Moital, 2020. "Does the Type of Degree Predict Different Levels of Satisfaction and Loyalty? A Brand Equity Perspective," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 57-77, May.
    7. Nazife KaradaÄŸ, 2016. "Examining the Branding of Turkish Universities in the Context of Socioeconomic Development of Their Cities," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 5(4), pages 173-173, November.
    8. Ayşegül Acar & Naci Büyükdağ & Burak Türten & Ersin Diker & Gülsüm Çalışır, 2024. "The role of brand identity, brand lifestyle congruence, and brand satisfaction on repurchase intention: a multi-group structural equation model," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Dongmei Zha & Pantea Foroudi & T. C. Melewar & Zhongqi Jin, 2025. "Examining the Impact of Sensory Brand Experience on Brand Loyalty," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(1), pages 14-42, February.
    10. Xiaodan Wu & Richard Amoasi, 2024. "The role of CSR in sustaining corporate brands in the global market: The perspective of telecommunication companies in Ghana," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 433-447, January.
    11. María Dolores Aledo‐Ruiz & Eva Martínez‐Caro & José Manuel Santos‐Jaén, 2022. "The influence of corporate social responsibility on students' emotional appeal in the HEIs: The mediating effect of reputation and corporate image," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 578-592, May.
    12. Iglesias, Oriol & Markovic, Stefan & Rialp, Josep, 2019. "How does sensory brand experience influence brand equity? Considering the roles of customer satisfaction, customer affective commitment, and employee empathy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 343-354.
    13. Tan, Teck Ming & Salo, Jari & Juntunen, Jouni & Kumar, Ashish, 2018. "A comparative study of creation of self-brand connection amongst well-liked, new, and unfavorable brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 71-80.
    14. Päivikki Kuoppakangas & Kati Suomi & Paul Clark & Chris Chapleo & Jari Stenvall, 2020. "Dilemmas in Re-branding a University—“Maybe People Just Don’t Like Change”: Linking Meaningfulness and Mutuality into the Reconciliation," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 92-105, May.
    15. Azzam Rifi & Rania B. Mostafa, 2022. "Brand credibility and customer-based brand equity: a service recovery perspective," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(1), pages 1-16, March.
    16. Balmer, John M.T. & Mahmoud, Rudiana & Chen, Weifeng, 2020. "Impact of multilateral place dimensions on corporate brand attractiveness and identification in higher education: Business school insights," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 628-641.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Balmer, John M.T. & Mahmoud, Rudiana & Chen, Weifeng, 2020. "Impact of multilateral place dimensions on corporate brand attractiveness and identification in higher education: Business school insights," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 628-641.
    2. Kettle, Keri L. & Mantonakis, Antonia, 2024. "Look for the signature: Using personal signatures as extrinsic cues promotes identity-congruent behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    3. Hollenbeck, Candice R. & Peters, Cara & Zinkhan, George M., 2008. "Retail Spectacles and Brand Meaning: Insights from a Brand Museum Case Study," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 84(3), pages 334-353.
    4. Ramendra Pratap Singh & Neelotpaul Banerjee, 2018. "Exploring the Influence of Celebrity Credibility on Brand Attitude, Advertisement Attitude and Purchase Intention," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(6), pages 1622-1639, December.
    5. Ki, Chung-Wha (Chloe) & Cuevas, Leslie M. & Chong, Sze Man & Lim, Heejin, 2020. "Influencer marketing: Social media influencers as human brands attaching to followers and yielding positive marketing results by fulfilling needs," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    6. Andreini, Daniela & Pedeliento, Giuseppe & Zarantonello, Lia & Solerio, Chiara, 2018. "A renaissance of brand experience: Advancing the concept through a multi-perspective analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 123-133.
    7. Aleksandar Brzaković & Tomislav Brzaković & Darjan Karabašević & Gabrijela Popović & Renata Činčikaitė, 2022. "The Interface between the Brand of Higher Education and the Influencing Factors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-22, May.
    8. Jiayu Zhou & Yerin Yhee & Eunmi Kim & Jin-Young Kim & Chulmo Koo, 2021. "Sustainable Tourism Cities: Linking Idol Attachment to Sense of Place," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-21, March.
    9. Palmer, Adrian & Koenig-Lewis, Nicole & Asaad, Yousra, 2016. "Brand identification in higher education: A conditional process analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 3033-3040.
    10. Wong, Jimmy & Lalwani, Ashok K. & Wang, Jessie J., 2022. "The interactive effect of power and self-construal on consumers’ preferences for brand-logo size," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 279-296.
    11. Andreini, Daniela & Pedeliento, Giuseppe & Zarantonello, Lia & Solerio, Chiara, 2019. "Reprint of "A renaissance of brand experience: Advancing the concept through a multi-perspective analysis"," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 355-365.
    12. Erin Willis & Ye Wang, 2016. "Blogging the brand: Meaning transfer and the case of Weight Watchers’ online community," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(4), pages 457-471, July.
    13. Zhang, Mingyue & Zhao, Haichuan & Chen, Haipeng (Allan), 2022. "How much is a picture worth? Online review picture background and its impact on purchase intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 134-144.
    14. Maria Teresa Cuomo & Pantea Foroudi & Debora Tortora & Shahzeb Hussain & T.C. Melewar, 2019. "Celebrity Endorsement and the Attitude Towards Luxury Brands for Sustainable Consumption," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-21, November.
    15. Arnold Japutra & Keni Keni & Bang Nguyen, 2016. "What’s in a university logo? Building commitment in higher education," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 137-152, March.
    16. Janssen, Catherine & Vanhamme, Joëlle & Leblanc, Sina, 2017. "Should luxury brands say it out loud? Brand conspicuousness and consumer perceptions of responsible luxury," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 167-174.
    17. Carsten Erfgen & Henrik Sattler & Isabel Victoria Villeda, 2016. "Effects of Celebrity Endorsers for Multiple Brands on Attitudes and Purchase Intentions," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 17(1), pages 49-67, April.
    18. Yi Xie & Siqing Peng & Daniel P. Hampson, 0. "Brand user imagery clarity (BUIC): conceptualization, measurement, and consequences," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 0, pages 1-17.
    19. Ozdemir, Ozan & Karabulut, Feyzan & Messinger, Paul R., 2025. "Can(’t) touch this: The effect of form realism and product domain in virtual influencer endorsements," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 298-310.
    20. Chan, Eugene Y. & Ilicic, Jasmina, 2019. "Political ideology and brand attachment," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 630-646.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:69:y:2016:i:8:p:3049-3057. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.