Impact of brand image of the Business School: from the recruiters’ (employers’) perspectives

Impact of brand image of the Business School: from the recruiters’ (employers’) perspectives

Business Schools value their brand image as this is essential in recruiting top quality students and can assist in placing them in lucrative employment once they have graduated. A school’s brand image also provides a clear distinction between various business schools, and this image helps others to determine their elite status amongst competitors. While brand image is influenced by several factors, there are two clear domains emerging: curriculum‐related factors, and non‐curriculum related factors. In curriculum‐related factors, the quality of the curriculum, evidenced by strong quality assurance processes, and the high‐quality faculty, infrastructure and internal structures required to sustain employment are taken into consideration. In non‐curriculum‐related factors, the professional accreditation standards, quality of alumni and their performance in employment positions, physical location of the Business School, access to research infrastructure both internally and externally and emotional factors are domains that influence brand image.

While the literature globally has identified many factors associated with the brand image of Business Schools, this study aims to discern which factors have relevance to modern Business Schools. For example, the role of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and their influence in curriculum delivery has gained attention in recent years, and this study seeks to explore other similar domains which are relevant in a contemporary context.

Due to the plethora of information available in this domain, and the vast awareness found, this study identified specific constructs that needed revalidation. These eight constructs included: (1) expectation of recruiters; (2) alumni quality, (3) placement record, (4) governance, (5) the reputation of the business school, (6) faculty competency, (7) infrastructure, and (8) emotional factors. These were further discussed in terms of their attributes to filter down to the key aspects that determine these eight constructs. In total, this study identified 41 key influences which were tested through a quantitative survey to assert their influence on the brand image of a Business School. In doing so, a Partial Least Square model was designed to test eight hypotheses which matched the eight research questions raised.

The Partial Least Square based Structure Equation Modelling – a second order regression statistical technique – employed in this study provided robustness to the statistical testing. A total of 438 datasets were used in the modelling and the confidence interval was set to at least at 90% to assert the variables. The chosen context was Indian Business Schools. Due to the researcher’s prior knowledge of this field, and the strong support in the literature, this study set directional hypotheses rather than null hypotheses. As a result of rigorous data analyses, all eight hypotheses were found to be strongly supporting the notion that the eight factors contribute to the brand image of Business Schools.

The theoretical implication of the study is that curriculum and other educational administrators should carefully consider how these eight constructs are handled in their own environment as each environment is unique. Regardless of the educational institution context factors – in terms of recruiters – graduate attributes are treated uniformly, so normalising these eight factors within the educational institution will provide assurance to the recruiters, as they will have confidence in a Business School that has made these variables visible. In terms of practice, these eight factors present an essentialset of characteristics both students and recruiters are looking for to make study and employment selections respectively. By paying attention to these eight constructs and the 41 factors dictating these domains, there is assurance that a Business School can improve its brand image from the perspective of recruiters.