Identification and emotional attachment in higher education: antecedents and consequences

ÖZER M., ÖZER A., Kocak A.

JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, cilt.33, sa.2, ss.264-288, 2023 (SSCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 33 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1080/08841241.2021.1936744
  • Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF MARKETING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, Academic Search Premier, IBZ Online, Business Source Elite, Business Source Premier, EBSCO Education Source, Educational research abstracts (ERA), ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.264-288
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: School brands, higher education, emotional attachment, identification, social identity, value congruence, WORD-OF-MOUTH, CUSTOMER-COMPANY IDENTIFICATION, BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS, SOCIAL IDENTITY, BRAND ATTACHMENT, CONSUMERS RELATIONSHIPS, COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE, MEDIATING ROLE, FIT INDEXES, SATISFACTION
  • Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Identification and attachment are topics comprehensively investigated in consumer-brand and person-non-business institution relationships. However, little is known about the antecedents and consequences of these concepts in the university-student relationship. We investigate the attachment-identification connection with the student-university relationship viewpoint. Therefore, we first researched the effects of trust, faculty image, perceived quality, and value congruence on student-university identification. Second, we assessed emotional attachment and student satisfaction as identification's consequences. Finally, we considered positive word-of-mouth as the outputs of attachment and satisfaction. We found that perceived quality, faculty image, trust, and value congruence reinforce student-school identification. Also, identification is the emotional glue that cements the bond between students and school to ensure satisfaction. Besides, attachment and satisfaction lead to positive word-of-mouth. Additionally, serial mediation analyses showed that identification, attachment, and satisfaction create the links between the identification's antecedents and positive WOM. We also found differences between students and graduates in some relationships.